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Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Kane trading blows in an electric race for the Golden Boot<\/a> made plenty of headlines.<\/p>\n That in itself was a gift for Fifa, with the world’s most recognisable players all showing up and trying to outdo each other. <\/p>\n But the World Cup is not just about the star names, certainly at the group stage.<\/p>\n The colour and character of football from around the globe takes the focus.<\/p>\n We did not get any shock defeats in meaningful games for the big teams, like Saudi Arabia beating eventual champions Argentina four years ago.<\/p>\n But there were real stories.<\/p>\n Cape Verde, an archipelagic country in the Atlantic Ocean, may not have come to the World Cup expecting to qualify for the knockout rounds. And they were written off by many before they got on the plane. <\/p>\n After all, who could have imagined they would emerge from a group which included Uruguay and European champions Spain?<\/p>\n That Cape Verde could take a point off Spain, and stop them scoring too, was remarkable. Not just that, they then drew 2-2 with Uruguay, too.<\/p>\n The draw against Saudi Arabia in the final group game secured second placed in the group<\/a> and a date with world champions Argentina in Miami on Friday.<\/p>\n Ok, they might have been the only team to finish in the top two on three points, but they did what they needed to do.<\/p>\n There could be no greater vindication of Infantino’s plan. Cape Verde were the poster boys. <\/p>\n Vozinha, their 40-year-old goalkeeper, is now a social media star<\/a> thanks to his heroics against Spain.<\/p>\n Starting the game with 50,000 followers on Instagram, that shot up to five million after full-time. At the latest count, he has 16.7m.<\/p>\n