As the final whistle blew and Argentina’s players celebrated their dramatic 3-2 victory, one of the most emotional moments of the 2026 FIFA World Cup unfolded on the other side of the pitch.Cape Verde striker Nuno Da Costa was in tears, surrounded by his equally emotional family members. Yet amid his own heartbreak following the end of his country’s historic World Cup run, Da Costa was seen comforted by his young son, who was also crying.Take a look:The scene perfectly encapsulated Cape Verde’s extraordinary journey. The small island nation of just over 500,000 people pushed defending champions Argentina to the brink in a thrilling last-32 clash before going down 3-2 after extra time.Lionel Messi, who scored his record 20th World Cup goal, admitted Argentina had been forced to dig deep to survive.“As this team has shown many times, and as I have said many times, they compete,” Messi said in Spanish. “And we competed until the end.”Few gave Cape Verde a chance going into the tournament. However, the World Cup debutants stunned the football world by becoming the smallest nation ever to reach the knockout stages, holding off former champions Spain and Uruguay in the draw before producing one of the tournament’s games against Argentina.Cape Verde equalized twice, once in regulation time and once in extra time, and looked capable of producing one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history before an own goal finally ended their dream.“I have to give credit to our opponents,” said Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni. “The truth is, when people say that there is no easy opponent, today (Cape Verde) showed that they are a great team.”Goalkeeper Vozinha again came up with a series of remarkable saves, while coach Bubista hailed the courage and identity of his players.“We dignified what our country is. We scored twice against the world champions, we took it to extra time,” said Bubista. “More than anything, he is proud of our players who were dignified in the World Cup. We showed our identity.”Defender Pico Lopes echoed that sentiment.“We got so close, we pushed them to the end,” he said. “But in the end, it was not to be. Disappointed … but I think we showed great character today, great quality to return to the game twice. They are the world champions for a reason.”As Cape Verde’s players remained on the pitch long after the final whistle, hugging each other through tears, Bubista summed up what his team had achieved.“We showed that we can be a small country,” he said, “but we can play against some of the best teams in the world.”