Dramatic Round-of-32 World Cup Game Shakes Hard Rock Stadium
Michelle Kaufman reflects on her view of last night's historic World Cup match, where Cape Verde clashed with Argentina and Messi in a memorable showdown.
Video Transcript
I gotta tell you, Michelle, last night watching Hard Rock with all those fans there, that was an amazing place and an amazing event last night.
Yeah.
I've covered seven World Cups, and I can tell you that that was the most dramatic, riveting game that I've covered in seven World Cups.
It was unbelievable.
It was just The back and forth, but not just that, it was the circumstances.
You've got Messi and Argentina, the defending champions, 65,000 people were there.
You know, 64,050 of them were from Argentina, and then there were, like, 50 people in the end zone for Cabo- for Cape Verde.
it was just a total One of these underdog of all underdogs, this little It's the tiniest country ever to advance in a World Cup ever.
and for them to be toe-to-toe, not just toe-to-toe, scaring the crap out of Argentina and Messi and all of their fans.
Their fans got there in a total party mood.
They were singing and dancing from the moment they got in, you know, off their buses and into the gates.
It was a huge Argentinian party.
And all of a sudden, that game, it started off like, "Whoa, this game is kind of close," but you know that Argentina, you know, they're gonna pull it out or whatever.
And then they take shot after shot.
Vozinha, the goalie from Cape Verde, 40 years old, unbelievable.
He stops Messi point blank.
Like, he did not get intimidated that the best player of all time was staring him face-to-face.
He stopped that shot.
He stopped a free kick.
The defense played great.
It was just incredible drama.
To be there in person, I have to tell you, the, the building actually shook.
I mean, I was in the press box, and the building was swaying at moments.
When the Argentines were all jumping up and down, 64,000 people jumping at the same time, the press box was also jumping.
So it was I mean, there are certain moments in your career, you've You know, I've been doing this for 40 years now, and there are certain moments where you know you're watching something incredible and historic, and that was definitely one of those moments.
Had to remind you of being back at the Orange Bowl a little bit when you're talking about swaying and going up and down in a press box- like that there.
I mean But you know, what was really wild is that, you know, there was some criticism at the beginning of the tournament that expanding it and putting more teams in, in your opinion, Michelle, has that been really something that has really been a pleasant surprise that adding more teams to the World Cup has actually been It's been a really entertaining sporting event.
Absolutely.
I mean, I think that, you know, I know FIFA gets a lot of criticism, but Africa has been underrepresented at the World Cup for the longest time.
There were 55 countries in Africa, and they only got five spots in the World Cup that they were competing for.
55 countries competing for five spots every four years, whereas Europe had 54 countries competing for 13 spots, so more than double the representation from the European countries.
The African nations have been underrepresented for so long.
So this time, because they expanded the field to 48, they gave Africa nine spots, and then a 10th spot was a playoff, a playoff spot against Jamaica.
And the African team won that, so it ended up being that 10 teams from Africa were in this World Cup, and nine of the 10, nine of the 10 advanced to the knockout round, which is unbelievable.
No one expected that.
And Cape Verde, what they did, it was not just what they did last night.
It was not just what they did last night.
They tied Spain.
They opened this tournament tying, you know, the European champion, the European champion that a lot of people think is a serious contender to win this whole thing, and Cape Verde opens with a tie against them, and everyone's like, "Oh, well, you know, that was probably a fluke or whatever."
Then they tie Uruguay, and you're like, "Okay, they have now tied two World Cup champions, two former World Cup champions."
Then they tie their third game.
So they go through their whole group stage without losing.
They didn't win, but they did not lose in three games.
And they come in second in their group, not third.
They went in as a runner-up in their group, and then they give Messi and Argentina another The defending World Cup champion.
They gave them everything that they could handle.
I mean, it was unbelievable how scared every Argentinian fan was that they were about to get knocked out of the World Cup, the defending champions, Lionel Messi, ruining the whole storyline of Lionel Messi, his final World Cup, maybe they're gonna repeat.
They were about to knock him out in the freaking round of You know, it's just insane.
and, and so they played amazing for all the games that they played.
Cape Verde and their coach have so much to be proud of.
