Valdano praises Argentina and Messi, warns against underestimating Cabo Verde

Jorge Valdano placed Argentina among his four favorites for the 2026 World Cup and used Lionel Messi’s champions to make a sharper point: reputation no longer protects anyone from a serious tactical test. Valdano said Argentina “no perdió el hambre” after winning the Copa América 2021, the World Cup 2022 and the Copa América 2024, a view that kept the Albiceleste in the top tier while warning against any hint of complacency.

That assessment fit a wider picture of a tournament where the margins have narrowed. Valdano had already grouped Argentina with Spain, Portugal and France as his four leading contenders, and the team under Lionel Scaloni remained a reference point for how sustained success can coexist with urgency. Messi still anchored the conversation around Argentina, but Valdano’s remarks also reflected a simple reality: a heavyweight can only stay dominant if it treats every opponent as capable of exposing even small lapses.

Cabo Verde supplied the clearest example. The island nation, an archipelago of around half a million people and roughly 4,000 square kilometres of land, played its first World Cup and turned that debut into a historic milestone. FIFA described Cabo Verde’s qualification for the 2026 tournament as historic, then called its 0-0 draw with Spain in the opener an extraordinary performance by World Cup debutants and a shock with major impact on the competition.

The results did not stop there. Cabo Verde followed the draw with Spain by holding Uruguay to a 2-2 result, reinforcing the sense that Bubista’s side had arrived with more than enthusiasm. Bubista led Cabo Verde to its first World Cup place, while Dailon Livramento emerged as one of the key figures in the qualifying campaign and Vozinha drew international attention for his display against Spain. The team’s structure and tactical identity gave those performances shape, and the message to Argentina, and to every established power, was plain: Cabo Verde was not there to supply a comforting underdog story, but to compete with sides that still expect history to do the talking.