Month: July 2026

If Cape Verde, the 64th-ranked team in the FIFA World Rankings, beat Argentina on Friday in the round of 32 at the 2026 World Cup, the Blue Sharks may very well top this list. Cape Verde is making its first-ever World Cup appearance and advanced to the knockout stage after getting results against Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia in the group stage. Eliminating Argentina and Lionel Messi in a win-or-go-home scenario, though, is a next-level proposition. There have been amazing Cinderella runs across sports since the turn of the century, from international soccer to March Madness and the NFL. Here are the top 10, with the top of the list showing you just how unlikely Cape Verde advancing is. Honorable Mentions Dusty May’s coaching career took off during Florida Atlantic’s 2023 March Madness run. Entering the tournament as a No. 9 seed, the Owls stunned the college basketball world by upsetting Tennessee and Kansas State to reach the program’s first Final Four. It was one of the most memorable Cinderella runs in recent memory, ending in a heartbreaking 72-71 loss to San Diego State in the Final Four. After losing 110 games in 2021, they found themselves in the World Series just two years later, fueled by a young core that shattered expectations. Led by rookie phenom Corbin Carroll, the Diamondbacks went on a true Cinderella run. They upset the NL Central champions (the Milwaukee Brewers) in the Wild Card round before beating the NL West champions (the 100-win Los Angeles Dodgers) in the Division Series and NL East champions (Philadelphia Phillies) in the Championship Series. Ultimately, Arizona lost the World Series in five games to the Texas Rangers. George Mason has set the standard for Cinderella runs, becoming one of the most memorable tournament stories in recent memory. They tied the then-record for the lowest seed (No. 11) to reach the Final Four, becoming the first double-digit seed to do so since LSU in 1986. They reached the Final Four after knocking off No. 6 seed Michigan State Spartans, No. 3 seed North Carolina Tar Heels, the defending national champions, and No. 1 seed UConn Huskies in an overtime thriller. It remains one of the most shocking Cinderella runs in tournament history. The St. Louis Cardinals won 90 games, but they caught fire at the right time after falling behind earlier in the season. They pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in history, overcoming a 10.5-game deficit in late August despite having just a 1.3% chance of reaching the postseason. They entered the NLDS as heavy underdogs against a 102-win Philadelphia Phillies team, but pushed the series to five games behind a dominant 1-0 complete-game shutout from Chris Carpenter. From there, they went on to win the World Series, defeating the Texas Rangers in six games. Little was expected of the Moroccans at the World Cup. They were in the same group as Croatia, Belgium and Canada. Morocco opened with a draw against Croatia before getting a huge 2-0 win over Belgium and dispatching Canada in its final group game. That was good enough to win the group. What happened next was one of the greatest runs in World Cup history as Morocco became the first African and first Arab team to ever reach a World Cup semifinal. In the knockout rounds, Morocco took out its two closest European neighbors in sensational fashion. First was a penalty-shootout win over Spain that saw La Roja miss all three of its attempts. Then was a 1-0 win over Portugal, with Youssef En Nesyri scoring the winner late in the first half. Morocco then gave France a run for its money before a 79th-minute goal from Randal Kolo Muani sealed a 2-0 win. It was a magical moment that captivated the entire tournament held in Qatar. It was reminiscent of South Korea’s 2002 run that saw them make the semifinals with wins over Italy and Spain in the knockout rounds. One of the greatest Cinderella stories in NFL history belongs to the 2017 Philadelphia Eagles. After MVP frontrunner Carson Wentz went down with a season-ending knee injury in Week 14, backup quarterback Nick Foles led them on one of the most unexpected playoff runs in history. Foles put together a playoff run for the record books. The Eagles took down the Atlanta Falcons and Minnesota Vikings with ease before beating the New England Patriots 41-33 in Super Bowl LII, ending their historic dynasty run. Before Norway captivated the 2026 World Cup with its ‘Viking Row’ celebration, tiny Iceland roared onto the scene with its own iconic chant and memorable moments at the 2016 European Championship in France. Two draws against Portugal and Hungary set up a pivotal group stage finale with Austria, in which Arnór Traustason scored a stoppage-time goal to secure a knockout round appearance. In the round of 16, Iceland pulled off one of the most unexpected wins in tournament history by taking down heavy favorite England 2-1 in which all goals were scored within the first 18 minutes. The party ended in the quarterfinals with a 5-2 loss to tourney hosts France, but Iceland captivated the fans across the globe. Two years later, Iceland became the smallest nation by population to reach a men’s World Cup. Florida Gulf Coast made history as the first No. 15 seed to reach the Sweet 16 at the 2013 NCAA Tournament. Their Cinderella run featured upset wins over Georgetown and San Diego State before losing to Florida. Nicknamed “Dunk City,” the program captivated the tournament with acrobatic alley-oops and powerful slams. They finished with nearly 20 dunks across three games, injecting rare swagger into a small-school underdog and proving that mid-major programs can make a lasting impact. Greece entered Euro 2004 as the No. 35 team in the world according to the FIFA World Rankings. The Greeks were the 17th UEFA team in those rankings. Two months later, they were 14th. Greece was 150-1 to win the Euros, but there were signs that a run might be coming, like how it beat Spain to win its qualifying group. Greece beat host-nation Portugal and then drew Spain to open its group play at the tournament before getting lucky on Match Day 3 to advance. The Greeks lost to Russia, but Portugal beat Spain. Greece was tied with Spain on four points but went through to the knockout stage thanks to a tiebreaker. Greece won the title with three straight 1-0 wins in the knockout stage. The first came against a France team that included legends like Thierry Henry and Zinedine Zidane. Then, Greece took down the Czech Republic in extra time before a shocking win over in the final over Portugal in Lisbon. Saint Peter’s made history in 2022 by becoming the first No. 15 seed to reach the Elite Eight in the NCAA Men’s Tournament. Their Cinderella run included upset wins over No. 2 seed Kentucky Wildcats and No. 3 seed Purdue Boilermakers. After beating Purdue, Saint Peter’s finally ran into its final obstacle, falling 69-49 to North Carolina in the Elite Eight. The loss ended their Cinderella run, but it didn’t take away one of the most captivating March Madness stories in recent memory. The Cinderella story that helped launch the legendary career of New England Patriots icon Tom Brady began when starter Drew Bledsoe was injured early in the season. Brady stepped in and led the Patriots to their first Super Bowl title in franchise history. The rise was a true Cinderella story, beginning with a backup quarterback taking them all the way. Their playoff run featured the infamous “tuck rule” game against the Oakland Raiders, before they stunned the Los Angeles Rams as 14-point underdogs to win Super Bowl XXXVI. This one will be tough to top, especially because it lasted a 38-game season. Leicester City finished 17th in the previous Premier League season, barely avoiding relegation. The following season, the Foxes lifted the trophy after starting the campaign as a 5,000-1 underdog to do so. Leicester City lost three times that season, twice to Arsenal and once away to Liverpool. The dream became real when it went 9-2-0 from the start of October through Dec. 19. The Foxes also only lost once in 2016, and it took a stoppage-time winner for Arsenal to do that. There were no high-profile signings among the core of the squad. Kasper Schmeichel cost £1.5 million; Danny Drinkwater cost £630,000; Jamie Vardy joined from a team playing in the fifth division of English soccer for £1 million; N’Golo Kante cost £5.8 million; Riyad Mahrez joined for just £450,000.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Argentina’s 2026 World Cup round of 32 matchup against Cape Verde isn’t like David versus Goliath. It’s not even FCS Appalachian State looking to upset Michigan back in 2007.As far as college football is concerned, the comparison is what would happen if we played a 48-team College Football Playoff where the third-best team in the WAC received a berth against an undefeated defending national champion with a Heisman Trophy winner returning at quarterback. Lionel Messi, considered by many to be the greatest soccer player of all time, is the leading goalscorer in men’s FIFA World Cup history. The college football equivalent is 2004 Heisman winner Matt Leinart, who led USC to a perfect 13-0 season and a national championship. Imagine the 2005 Trojans facing Louisiana Tech, which finished third in the WAC with a 7-4 record and lost by 38 points the last time it played a top-10 opponent. That’s the task facing Cape Verde. Even Appalachian State’s famous 34-32 upset win over Michigan in 2007 falls short as a comparison because Cape Verde simply isn’t as good as Appalachian State turned out to be. The Mountaineers entered the 2007 season fresh off back-to-back FCS national championships. They posted a 14-1 record the previous year, with their only loss coming against NC State. And 2007 was just as much of a banner year for Appalachian State, as it once again won the FCS national title and posted a 13-2 record. During an eight-year run from 2005-12, Appalachian State won seven conference championships and captured three straight national titles. The only college football program more dominant than the Mountaineers during that time was Nick Saban’s Alabama teams. Cape Verde isn’t that. This is a nation with fewer people than the state of Wyoming. It’s a team that has won just one of its last nine matches in international competition — excluding friendlies — and hasn’t left a match victorious in international competition since October 2025. This is a team that built its World Cup reputation on its ability to defend and timely goalkeeping rather than overwhelming talent. In fact, when Cape Verde goalkeeper José Évora Dias — or Vozinha, if you prefer — was asked about the chance to face Argentina and possibly the best player who has ever lived, his answer was quite humbling.”It would be really special to face [Argentina] because Lionel Messi is the greatest of all time,” Vozinha said. “And I honestly would love the chance to play against Lionel Messi because maybe I’ll get Lionel Messi’s jersey.” That’s what makes this matchup feel less like Michigan-Appalachian State and more like what would happen if a Group of 5 team snuck into an expanded playoff and drew the defending national champion. In many ways, Argentina-Cape Verde is the exact matchup college football fans have spent years arguing about. Those in favor of expansion want more access for the outsiders and the underdogs. Everybody wants to play Alabama until Alabama shows up to beat them like they stole something. We all love a good Cinderella story, and a victory by Cape Verde over Argentina would extend the legend of this Blue Sharks team as one of the game’s greatest fairytales. But read another way, Cinderella is just a lady who lost her slipper and rode into the ball in a carriage made quite literally of hopes and dreams. Remember this: Cincinnati got its shot against Alabama in 2021 and found out what it meant to get rocked by a mean stepsister. Boise State went up against Penn State in 2024 and was pummeled back down the palace steps. Tulane and James Madison got their chance in 2025 and then Ole Miss and Oregon, respectively, smashed them like pumpkins. It’s what happens when you extend the field. Teams that would never have gotten into the tournament in years past gladly become cannon fodder for the true powers among them. But, hey, they get to say they made the tournament, that they won their way into the knockout stage. Good on you, Cape Verde: Worst case, your only loss in the World Cup would be against the defending champions when the matches matter most. Is that worth celebrating? You’re damn right it is.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Every World Cup needs a fairytale. This one features a 40-year-old goalkeeper from a second-division club, an island nation of half a million people and a date with the greatest player who ever lived. On Friday in Miami, Cape Verde will walk out at Miami Stadium to face Argentina, the reigning world champions, in a round of 32 tie the bookmakers have already filed under “formality.” Cape Verde is given a 4.8 percent chance. On paper, this isn’t a contest. But that’s the thing about Cape Verde. Nobody told them about the paper. Let’s start with the sheer scale of what these islands have already pulled off, because it belongs in the history books. Cape Verde is an archipelago off the west coast of Africa with a population of roughly 525,000. That makes it the smallest nation by population ever to reach the knockout stage of a men’s World Cup. Not the smallest this year, the smallest ever. Iceland (in 2018) and Curaçao couldn’t do it. The Blue Sharks, in their debut tournament, did it without losing a single game. They opened by holding Spain, one of the pre-tournament favorites, to a 0-0 draw. Then they went toe-to-toe with Uruguay in a 2-2 thriller with Kevin Pina and Hélio Varela scoring the first World Cup goals in the nation’s history. They closed with a goalless draw against Saudi Arabia to finish second in Group H, a point clear of two-time champions Uruguay. Three games, three draws, zero defeats and a place in the last 32 that nobody outside their dressing room saw coming. Coach Bubista said before the tournament that everyone is entitled to dream. His players took him at his word. And then there’s Vozinha. If you’ve been anywhere near the internet this month, you know the name. Josimar José Évora Dias, a 40-year-old goalkeeper who most recently played his club football for Chaves in the Portuguese second division, walked onto the pitch against Spain with about 50,000 Instagram followers and walked off a global phenomenon. Spain managed 27 shots, and Vozinha made seven saves, earning him the Man of the Match award. A clean sheet against Lamine Yamal and the might of Spain. By the next morning, his follower count had exploded into the millions, and it hasn’t stopped climbing since. It’s now north of 17 million, having sailed past the likes of Patrick Mahomes along the way. Not bad for a man whose nickname translates to “granny” in Portuguese. The story only gets better. Vozinha’s mother missed the Spain game because of a visa issue, then made it in time to watch her son shut out Saudi Arabia, waving a tiny Cape Verde flag from the stands. He’s spent the better part of two decades playing professionally across six countries, waiting his whole life for a stage this size. He has earned every single follower. Which brings us to the small matter of what’s waiting for him on Friday. Argentina is not merely the reigning World Cup champion. It is one of the most decorated football nations on the planet: three world titles, a record haul of Copa América trophies and a squad that has looked ruthlessly efficient in cruising through the group stage with three wins from three. Lionel Scaloni’s side sits second only to France in the tournament’s title odds, and it’s barely shifted out of second gear to get there. At the center of it, as ever, is Lionel Messi. At 39, in his sixth and surely final World Cup, Messi has done something this summer that once felt untouchable. He is now the all-time leading goalscorer in World Cup history with 19 goals, surpassing Germany legend Miroslav Klose (16) and Brazil women’s great Marta (17) — although France superstar Kylian Mbappé (18) is on his heels. Messi opened with a hat-trick against Algeria, added a brace to seize the record against Austria, then came off the bench to curl in a free-kick against Jordan, becoming the first man ever to score in seven consecutive World Cup matches. He is, somehow, sharper than ever at an age when most players have long since retired. So yes, this is about as lopsided as a knockout tie can get. The unlikeliest matchup of the round of 32: the greatest goalscorer the tournament has ever produced against a goalkeeper who was a second-division unknown three weeks ago. A nation of 46 million against an archipelago of half a million. Goliath arrives with the best player in history and no discernible weakness. David has “granny” in goal and absolutely nothing to lose. Cape Verde won’t be favored. It won’t be expected to keep it close. But it’s spent this entire tournament making a mockery of expectation, and if Vozinha conjures one more miracle in Miami, the internet may break for good. David has already made history just by getting here. On Friday, he picks up the slingshot one more time.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports