One of world football’s most storied sides — and the reigning world champions — take on opponents who only made their Africa Cup of Nations debut in 2013.
When Argentina played in the inaugural World Cup in 1930, finishing runners-up to Uruguay, Cape Verde was still a Portuguese colony.
Nicknamed La Albiceleste, Argentina have missed only one World Cup — Mexico 1970 — although they withdrew from the editions of 1938, 1950 and 1954 around World War Two.
Argentina claimed their first World Cup in 1978, defeating the Netherlands 3-1 in the final, and added a second in 1986 with a 3-2 win over West Germany.
They secured a third crown in Qatar in 2022, beating France on penalties after a 3-3 draw.
On the continental stage, Argentina have also excelled, winning the Copa América a record 16 times, including the most recent two editions.
They have remained inside Fifa’s top three since March 2022 and spent two years as the world’s number one before being overtaken by France last year.
The Cape Verdean Football Federation was founded in 1982 and joined Fifa in 1986 — the same year Argentina lifted their second World Cup.
The Blue Sharks entered World Cup qualifying for the first time in 2002 but did not come close to making the finals until the 2022 campaign.
In that cycle, they narrowly missed out to Nigeria, drawing 1-1 in Lagos in the final group match when a win would have sent them to Qatar.
For the 2026 qualifiers, despite sharing a group with eight-time finalists Cameroon, Cape Verde topped the section with just one loss in 10 games.
Their Afcon debut arrived in 2013, and they reached the quarter-finals before falling to Ghana.
They have now appeared at four Afcon tournaments, making the last eight again in 2023.
However, they did not qualify for the 2025 Afcon, even as they booked a World Cup place.
Cape Verde first cracked Fifa’s top 100 in 2006 and surged to 36th after their maiden Afcon appearance. In 2014, having qualified for the 2015 finals, they achieved a national-best ranking of 27th.
Over the past nine years they have generally sat between 60th and 80th, and head into Friday’s match ranked 64th.