Image: MI NEWS/AFP

Cape Verde have stunned European Champions Spain to a goalless draw, how did they do it?

Goalkeeping Heorics

Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha was crucial in their heroic performance. He made 7 saves stopping Spanish attackers from point blank range and was outstanding throughout the entire match. The 40 year old Gaines over 4 million instagram followers in 24 hours and has put a great impression of himself on the world stage. In addition, he made 3 diving saves and caught 3 high balls. He also had a 1.46 gGOT single handedly thwarting a Spanish win. In the game, he took 65 touches and acted a pressure-releasing valve for his team who were put under pressure by the European Champions, Spain. His passing was also impressive with him acing 24 out of his 28 passes in his own half and had a 69% passing accuracy throughout the game. Also, being 40 means he is a very old player in football terms and to have those reflexes and talent it makes it an even more impressive and amazing feat from a country with a population less than Birmingham against the unbelievable talents like Lamine Yamal and Pedri.

Video: YouTube, BBC

Poor Spanish Finishing 

Despite Cape Verde defending valiantly, a lot of this result has to be on Spain, they had 23 shots with 8 being on target and still scored nothing and had a whopping xG of 2.29 compared to Cape Verde's 0.29. In possession it was very Spain heavy as they had 76% of the ball and their passing accuracy was an outstanding 92%, with 754 accurate passes which is 489 more than Cape Verde. They had a lack in dynamic width as they had to bench star wingers Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams due to injury. Their main striker Mikel Oyarzabal had a lack of service and failed to record a single touch in the first half an hour. Their build up play was also slow and predictable. Around the box, they had a horseshoe formation with them passing the ball horizontally across the 18 yard box and were lacking the conviction to get the ball into the box and also had no real width in their formation. Their midfield was also easy to read as they dictated the tempo so obviously and didn't really change the tempo. Overall, it looked like Spain were cocky and were expecting to roll Cape Verde over and get the job done with ease.

Image: Biso, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

Cape Verde Tactics

    Cape Verde set out in a defensive 4-5-1 formation heavily prioritising defensive solidity over attacking, sexy football. Their main goal was to eliminate spaces between the defensive and midfield lines to make it hard for Spain to get forward. Their midfield 5 utilised Spain's slow midfield control to get forward as one in order to squeeze them and significantly limit their passing ability and it was clearly obvious from the start that they were playing for the draw and had no intention of going for the win. Seen as Spain had no real designated wingers, they had rotations and the Cape Verde Fullbacks perfectly anticipated the diagonal runs. Also, their wide midfielders dropped exceptionally deep to aid the wide defenders in keeping Spain's wide players like Lamine Yamal and Marc Cucurella. In order to get this result, they utilised the 'Dark Arts' of the game and were time wasting from the 30 minute mark and taking their time on set pieces and had no intention on attacking the Spanish goal or testing Spanish Goalkeeper Unai Símon. As the game went on, Spain started relying on crosses to try and score, however the Cape Verde central defensive partnership resulted in 52 clearances, which averages about one clearance every 90 seconds. When they were extra desperate, a central midfielder dropped deep making it a 6-3-1 formation. In order to get past the Spanish counter press, Cape Verde used short, risky passes to get the ball into midfield and then using a swift triangular shape, lured in the Spain's midfield and allowed them to get the ball into wide channels to go forward. Their striker, Dailon Livramento was very isolated up front and his main job was the shadow midfield anchor Rodri and had to make sure that Rodri couldn't slide the ball into half spaces and get it into midfield.

Cape Verde's Next Games

    Cape Verde's next opponents are Uruguay and Saudi Arabia. The result against Spain, who are favourites for the whole tournament. If thry play as a team against these sides and play in the way the played against Spain, the have a chance of getting a result against anyone. Against Uruguay, they are expected to play in the same 4-5-1 formation and will be very structured in defence. Seen as Uruguay aren't as good quality as Spain either, they will have more chances on going forward and scoring goals. However, after the Spain game, other teams will have found out a lot about them and they will change their tactics in order to exploit their weaknesses. For instance Uruguay play a very all out high press system that will target their midfield line and will have to come up against players like Real Madrid star Frederico Valverde who is the engine room of the team and recycles play and gets forward,over going and is highly skilled from long range. Saudi Arabia will also be n immense challenge to the African Island Nation. Saudi Arabia are expected to play attacking football which goes against their typical counter attacking style of play. One way they will do this is overloading the wide areas of the pitch creating 2v1 isolated plays on the wing. This makes the Cape Verde midfield drift out wide and allows space for the overlapping fullbacks to get into space or let the wingers cut in and shoot.

Final Words