Sports

For Cape Verde, Tampa is the doorstep to its World Cup dream

By Nicolas Villamil, Tampa Bay Times The Tribune Content Agency

Updated June 15, 2026 8:55 AM

Off of Tampa's Veterans Expressway, behind a gas station and in the shadow of a billboard with rotating local advertisements, a soccer team arrives for practice at two nondescript fields - a nation's hopes in tow.

Its coach, Pedro Leitão Brito, steps out first, before the morning's training begins. Brito, better known as "Bubista," walks the grounds alone. The grass, typically home to the Tampa Bay Rowdies, is prepped for practice, nearly pristine. Florida's heat is strong but not yet scorching.

The rectangular pitch, its outline marked in white, is a universal terrain. Bubista's seen many across the globe, first as Cape Verde's captain and now as its head coach. But this field is something more,a doorstep to a dream.

Cape Verde (rhymes with "bird") is on the precipice of its debut at the World Cup, a tournament that, for many, rivals the Olympics in significance. On Monday, the Blue Sharks, as they are affectionately known, will become the third-smallest country to ever play in the tournament.

Bubista has the pedigree to see more than a quiet field as he walks the Rowdies' pitch. In his head, he holds the memories of the national team's slow ascent. Of its infancy after his country achieved independence from Portugal in 1975. Of his own international playing career, which lasted until 2005, when the team improved, but not nearly enough to play in soccer's most prestigious tournament.

Of the jubilation of last October, when his team qualified at its home stadium, and the capital city of Praia partied through the night.

Or, maybe, he simply uses the blank canvas to imagine the exhilaration that awaits.

"It's special," he says of the moment as he makes his way out onto the field.

"I've been working for this for a long time. Working. Working. Working."

‘They have seen the gutter'

Cape Verde, an archipelago of 10 islands about 500 miles west of Senegal, began playing international soccer almost immediately after separating itself from its colonizer. The national team debuted over a decade before the country held its first multiparty election in 1991. Fans have long nurtured a fervor for the sport, but it took years to make progress at the international stage.

"They have seen the gutter, especially our coach‚" Deroy Duarte, a current midfielder, said of the team's longtime supporters.

Cape Verde first qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations, a major continental tournament that has existed for nearly 70years, in 2012. Three years later, it stunned Portugal in a friendly match. Then it started to getmore competitive in World Cup preliminaries. The team, Duarte said, now boasts a roster filled with technically sound players who are at their best when controlling possession.

"You could feel that the unthinkable was going to happen," he said. "We started to believe in it more and more."

Decades of effort culminated in a 3-0 victory at its home stadium over Eswatini last October that clinched Cape Verde's place in an expanded World Cup field. The nation erupted in celebration, and its president likened the qualification to independence itself.

"It was a marvelous party," said Logan Costa, a French-born center-back who became a Cape Verde citizen to play for his family's home country in 2022.

Cape Verde's diaspora is a central part of the team's success. The number of Cape Verdeans living away from the islands exceeds the country's population, and the national team has drawn on that dispersed population for talent.

Its World Cup roster includes eight players born in the United States, Ireland, France and Portugal, and six players from the Dutch city of Rotterdam, including Duarte and his brother, Laros. The team has more foreign-born players than native Cape Verdeans.

Before arriving in Tampa, the team played a match in Connecticut against Bermuda, a 3-0 victory that drew nearly 10,000 Cape Verdeans. A vast majority were American members of the diaspora, particularly because U.S. President Donald Trump has implemented visa restrictions on African countries, including Cape Verde.

"It feels like we were at home, and that's a different feeling," said Garry Rodrigues, another Dutch-born player on the roster. "They are our 12th player, and I think they can make a difference for us."

Wherever it travels, the team is likely to find a conglomerate of locally based Cape Verdeans eager to celebrate them. A trip to New Zealand, however, has resulted in a stain that looms as the tournament begins.

The New Zealand Herald reported last month that a member of the Cape Verdean World Cup roster is under investigation. Police are looking into a case of alleged sexual violence at the team's hotel in Auckland after a match in March against Chile. The player has not been publicly identified.

Neither a spokesperson for Cape Verde's soccer federation nor FIFA, international soccer's governing body, responded to a request for comment.

The diaspora celebrates in Tampa

Outside the Rowdies' facility Tuesday, a Jeep filled with five passengers, a Cape Verdean flag draped over its hood, waits for the parking lot gates to open.

A day earlier, the team arrived in Tampa inconspicuously on a commercial flight from Boston, through a Tampa International terminal and into its hotel without the fanfare that follows larger federations. But local Cape Verdeans, along with a Pinellas youth soccer team, have turned out for the team's first afternoon practice. To them, the team selecting Tampa as its World Cup preparation site feels serendipitous.

Jorge Nacemento, now a Ruskin resident, remembers watching the team on the islands as a child. As he waits for Bubista and the players to sign autographs, he examines the field and marvels at the moment. He's holding his son in his arms, and his wife and other boy stand beside him.

"It's just out of this world how far we've come," he said. "It shows you that anything is possible."

Preston Viera and his family have emerged from the Jeep wearing a combination of Cape Verdean scarves, beanies and shirts, carrying soccer balls and flags to be signed. After clearing the facility's security screening, Viera and his family, most of them Tampa residents, clap hands and shout as soon as they set eyes on the practice field.

Bubista is not the only Cape Verdean who seems to see more than a field in Tampa. Nacemento is stunned by the symmetry of the moment, his children watching the same team he saw struggle, thrive.

Viera says the team has brought his family closer and calls the journey to the World Cup "a beautiful thing." Joaquin Centeio, his younger relative, speaks about how he believes the team can succeed on Monday in its opening match against Spain.

Joseph Leite, 72, a Cape Verdean immigrant who lives in Sun City Center, admits he never thought he'd see the day the team gained international attention. He Americanized his name from José after he moved, but never abandoned his national pride.

"They're putting our country, a tiny little country, on the map," he said. "They're talking about Cape Verde all over the world."

‘We are big, too'

Cape Verde's path toward an even greater dream of a World Cup victory is lined with opponents of a higher echelon.

Spain has competed in international soccer since 1920 and boasts a star-studded roster favored to win it all. Uruguay, whichthe Blue Sharks will play in their second match, won its second World Cup 25 years before Cape Verde achieved independence.

Even Saudi Arabia, the team's final pool match and most feasible victory, is nearly three decades older than the Blue Sharks. At the previous cup, the Saudis stunned Argentina, the eventual champion, in pool play.

"We want to work for our country, our people," Bubista said.

"We know of the difficulty of the games," he said. "But … we go."

Looking forward to the challenging games conjures memories of the hurdles they've alreadyconquered. As they step onto their practice turf in Tampa, Cape Verde and its supporters envision another chapter, their best memories illuminating their imaginations.

"They see us as a small country. Of course, it is," Rodrigues, the Dutch-born midfielder, said. "But I hope we can show them that we are big, too, if you understand what I mean. I hope we can surprise the world and show them our qualities. That our country has it also."