The "dividends" created by the expansion of the World Cup are obvious, especially for small countries. In the past, this competition that could only be enjoyed in front of the TV now has the possibility of being on the stage in person. For them, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Of course, God will only favor those who work hard, and those who can seize opportunities are not ordinary people. For example, in the small African country of Cape Verde, they have successfully realized their dreams by relying on their unique "naturalization" model.
Defeat the best players to advance, but it is not an "accidental victory"
Cape Verde, a small island country that many people have never heard of and don't even know where it is, has achieved a series of achievements through its own efforts. It defeated Cameroon, Libya and other good players in the African preliminaries of the World Cup to advance. It can be said that it is well-deserved. Because they were so excited, the government declared a national holiday to celebrate, which shows their pride. Of course, with a population of only 540,000, the "Ship Small U-Turn" was successful only by implementing a unique naturalization policy; however, this also proves from another aspect that the football career can really succeed as long as you recognize, respect, and practice the rules well.
Return to the game. Cape Verde was assigned to Group D. Along with Cameroon, Libya, Angola and other teams, they were not favored at the beginning. The enemy was too strong, which was also an inevitable disadvantage. However, Cape Verde's performance in the game was excellent. They scored 16 goals and conceded 8 goals with 7 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss. They were very "rich". The 1-0 victory over Cameroon also laid a solid foundation for their dominance in this group. No one will question their strength.
This is not the end. Maybe it was because Cape Verde played "too smoothly" in the World Cup preliminaries. During the international competition day, they invited Malaysia from Asia and Georgia from Europe to try their skills. As a result, they beat Malaysia 3-0 without giving their opponents a chance, and the situation was dominant in the 1-1 draw with Georgia, which speaks volumes.
So, why is Cape Verde so strong? How did they become stronger?
Geographic and cultural factors, Cape Verde is "born to love football"
It is true that Cape Verde was a weak football country in the past that "no one paid attention to". When their FIFA world ranking was the lowest, it was stuck at around 150 for a long time. To put it bluntly, this is a pure team. However, football is one of the most popular sports in this island country. Why? This is closely related to their history, culture, and heritage factors.
Cape Verde is an island country at the westernmost point of the African continent. It is located in the North Atlantic according to geographical classification. Roughly speaking, you can imagine it is an island in the ocean halfway from Brazil to Senegal. This can probably mark his location.
Because it is an island country and is located on the waterways of Africa, South America and Europe, it was inevitable that it had also been discovered by the kings of the Age of Discovery. In 1456, Cape Verde was discovered by Portuguese voyagers and "dedicated" to the king. At this point, Cape Verde became a colony. However, this island is actually different from many colonies. Before the arrival of the Portuguese, it was almost an empty island; therefore, it can be regarded as Portugal "creating" a new history.
At that time, the Portuguese king wanted to transform Cape Verde into an agricultural base. In this way, it is indeed a good idea to grow the land here, harvest the fruits and then transport them back to the mainland. Unfortunately, Cape Verde has no people, no resources, and its dry land nature has caused this plan to be shelved. At this point, Cape Verde can only "use it for other purposes".
Later, due to the warm climate in South America that was very suitable for farming and the expansion of the European maritime colonial model, Cape Verde became an important transit point. Caravans rested and fleets passed by, and there were more trade transactions here. In reference to the above, since there are not many resources, most of the trade in Cape Verde is related to "people": it has gradually become a European-American slave trading place, and it is indeed bloody.
It was not until 1956, when the Cape Verdean political party was established, that they won the chance for independence. However, this movement lasted for 21 years before it was successful. On July 5, 1975, Cape Verde declared its official independence.
The history of being ruled by European powers for nearly four centuries has also given Cape Verde a Portuguese flavor. This includes not only food, life, and daily life, but also language, folk customs, and culture. In this regard, football, a very popular sport in Portugal, has become a favorite way of leisure for people here. Cape Verde is a small country, and they also recognize the existence of dual nationality. Therefore, many players from here later joined Portugal and became players in the Five Shields team.
How much is it? Even the world-famous superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is actually of Cape Verdean descent. His maternal great-grandmother (mother’s grandmother) was from here and immigrated to Portugal when he was 16 years old (in 2015, Cristiano Ronaldo biographer Bagla and then Portuguese President Sosa both talked about this in public), so he is considered “1/8 Cape Verdean”. In addition, Manchester United's Nani (the one everyone knows) and Bebe, the former golden boy Sanches, winger Gerson, full-back Semedo, Ricardo Pereira, etc., all have the pedigree here, which can be said to be a "luxurious lineup."
One more thing: Delgado, our own naturalized player, is also of Cape Verdean descent. This shows that his descendants have indeed "bloomed everywhere".
Why now
At first, the Portuguese economy and the life in Cape Verde were "inverted". For Cape Verde, most capable and talented people would find a way to leave and go to Portugal. This includes the football players mentioned above, so they may not have much ability to organize a reliable team. Therefore, most Cape Verdean fans actually support Portugal. After all, this is "very close" to them.. Compared with emotional criticism, we need to carefully study the laws and logic behind it. This is the biggest revelation that the "miracle of a small country" brings to us as a "populous country".
（里濃芃）
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