The Arsenal icon heaped a lot of praise towards the Cape Verde’s players and manager, being impressed by their passion, grit and ever present ‘never give up’ mentality.

Reflecting on the Cape Verdeans’ performance against the South American giants, Henry added, “How do you believe that you can do that? This is why I always say to people like, it reminds me, I know it’s not the same competition, Iceland. And what Iceland did at one point, and I know it was the Euro (first appearance in 2016, reaching quarterfinals) and I know it was against your beloved England, but it reminded me, sorry, that it does not matter the amount of people that you have, if you have that belief that you can achieve something, you can always do it.”

“Make them know and let them know where you’re from with how you perform. Now everybody knows where Cabo Verde is. That is the most important thing.”

Argentina experienced one of their most difficult outings in recent memory on a football pitch, considering that the Verdeans came back after being behind twice in the game, for what was earlier thought to be a one-sided contest.

Initially after being drawn in the same group as Spain, Uruguay, and Saudi Arabia, the expectations of this nation even winning a game here were almost nonexistent. But after holding the current European champions Spain to a 0-0 draw thanks to the heroics of their 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha, and also scoring their first-ever World Cup goals in a 2-2 draw against Uruguay, the Verdeans, against all odds, qualified for the knockout stage.

Written by Madhav Sachdeva, an intern with the online sports desk.