Miami, July 3 (IANS) Cabo Verde head coach Bubista shrugged off any lingering outside doubt and insisted his side has earned its place among the FIFA World Cup 2026 last 32, warning Argentina that the debutant will not be overawed in knockout clash at Miami Stadium.

The African side navigated a group featuring Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia with three draws to reach the knockout stage, and will now face an Argentina outfit that swept through Group J with three wins.

“If other teams had no respect, the problem is theirs. We trust in what we do, in what we have done. We demonstrated this in our qualification, with also quite difficult teams. We are here by our merit,” Bubista told a pre-match press conference, responding to a Xinhua question about whether his side had been underestimated.

“We enjoyed the three games, face-to-face with the opponents, with the possibility of winning the games. That’s what we’re going to do tomorrow. We know the quality of our opponent, but we have our dream, we continue with it.”

Bubista stressed that his game plan was designed for Argentina as a whole, not simply to contain Lionel Messi.

“We know that Argentina is the current world champion and is one of the best teams in the competition, and that’s where our task will be – for all the Argentina team. Obviously, we know that Messi is one of the best players in the world. But everything we did with our team we will have to do for the entire Argentina team,” he said.

Defender Stopira echoed that collective approach and said the underdogs were determined to make life uncomfortable for the titleholder.

“We don’t just look at Messi himself; we know Messi’s ability and Messi’s quality, but we look at the whole Argentina team. We want to do our job on the field and make Argentina’s life as difficult as possible,” Stopira said.

The coach said his side would need to strike a balance between bravery and humility to pull off a major upset.

“First of all, against the current champion, we want to have courage; during the game, have humility; and try to play a good game. We want our players to enjoy the game itself, but with humility, with fire and determination to overcome our opponent,” Bubista said.

Stopira, who hasn’t played a minute so far, said personal playing time was irrelevant to the team’s mission.

“I am very proud of what my teammates are doing in the defensive part. It doesn’t occur to me to be angry. I give all my support to my teammates to keep doing what we are doing,” said the 38-year-old. “The most important thing is that we arrive at the match trying to overcome and achieve the goal that keeps us going.”

Asked about social media chatter suggesting Argentina has benefitted from favourable refereeing, Bubista refused to be drawn into the debate.

“We have nothing to say about it. We prefer to face the games with concentration on the game itself, on what we can do. Refereeing is a separate matter. We will always think that we will have a good refereeing team that can make a good game. On our part we always try to play with fair play, with discipline. Refereeing is not our focus,” he said.

–IANS

bc/