5ASIDE: So Close, Yet So Far: The Ones Who Fell Short

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00:00Speaking of teams to talk about, speaking of teams making history, Cape Verde, potentially the

00:05smallest nation ever to make a World Cup. The island nation, it's made up of several islands

00:10that create one country, have qualified for their first ever World Cup, topping a group with Cameroon,

00:17a country that has been to the most World Cups out of Africa. It's historic. We saw the celebrations

00:22in Praia when they won. They were saying that tickets were going like gold dust in the city.

00:27Guys, what are your thoughts on Cape Verde and this historic qualification?

00:30For me, it's funny. I was talking to a co-worker about it. It wasn't that surprising if you've

00:35been following AFCON in the previous years. So they made it to the quarterfinals in 2023.

00:39They beat Ghana that year. I think they tied Egypt in a 2-2 crazy game. And they shocked

00:45the world two years ago. And so for folks who have been following African football, you've

00:49been following AFCON, you know they've been on the come up. So for me, it's not a surprise.

00:54And it's just more happiness and celebration to see it actually happen.

00:58Yeah. And what I'll say from the U.S. perspective, it's been so beautiful to see the diaspora

01:02celebrating this win. My girlfriend grew up around a bunch of Cape Verdeans in Massachusetts.

01:06There's a ton there, a ton in Providence, Rhode Island. So to see them have this much representation

01:10of their country now in the World Cup and how fast this happened after the AFCON, I just

01:14think it's incredible to see.

01:15And I'll say the story of how Cape Verde even got some of the players on their team is incredible.

01:20There are stories about how players were found on LinkedIn.

01:22The captain. That's an ad right there.

01:24He didn't even speak Portuguese before he came to the team. Coaches found him on LinkedIn.

01:29Cape Verde is one of the teams in the world with some of the most representation in terms

01:33of players that play in different countries and never played in Cape Verde before.

01:37So it's kind of just a testament to how a team with a mindset of we're going to try and find

01:41the best talent that could possibly play for us, bring them together, create a sustainable

01:45project, and over five, six, seven years, make a World Cup as one of the smallest countries

01:50that LinkedIn story. Literally, I read that LinkedIn story and I was like, yo, like, what

01:54if I really train hard to play for Haiti?

01:56Yeah.

01:58Hey, man.

01:58Like, yo, low key, I'm going to post my videos on LinkedIn, bro.

02:03I want to see it.

02:03It might happen.

02:05And then lastly, Josh, you have to talk about your country.

02:08You guys aren't going to AFCON, but you're going to a World Cup.

02:10Ghana is in the 2026 World Cup.

02:12Birds like to sew, but you can't sew like the stars.

02:16That's tough.

02:17That's the bar right there.

02:18That's it right there.