Cape Verde: What you need to know about the World Cup debutants who stunned Spain

SINGAPORE: Cape Verde has been thrust into the spotlight after holding European champions Spain to a 0-0 draw, with their veteran goalkeeper brought to tears after a player-of-the-match performance.

The African island nation weathered 27 shots, none of which found their way into the net, making an instant impression in their World Cup debut on Monday (Jun 15).

Here are eight things to know about Cape Verde's national football team.

The team is nicknamed the Blue Sharks, or Tubaroes Azuis in Portuguese, a nod to Cape Verde's location in the Atlantic Ocean, off the western coast of West Africa.

Animal-inspired nicknames are common in African teams. Algeria are the Fennecs (a type of fox), the Democratic Republic of the Congo go by the Leopards and the Ivory Coast are known as the Elephants.

With a population of just over half a million, Cape Verde is the third-smallest nation by population to qualify for the World Cup, behind only Iceland in 2018 and Curacao this year.

Officially known as the Republic of Cabo Verde, the Atlantic archipelago takes its name from the Portuguese term for "green cape", a reference to the nearby Cap-Vert peninsula in present-day Senegal.

Portuguese is the nation's official language.

Cape Verde booked their place at the World Cup by topping a group that included African giants Cameroon.

The Blue Sharks won seven of their 10 games in the qualifiers, losing just once. Their 3-0 victory over Eswatini sealed their first qualification for the world's biggest sporting event.

During qualifying, Cape Verde lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation and nearly 40 per cent of their goals came from set pieces.

More than half the squad hail from Cape Verde's diasporic communities.

Their centre-back Roberto Lopes, who is also