World Cup history makers

It's just past 5pm in the noisy Sucupira market on the Rua de Lisboa.

- Alasdair Howorth reports

The conversations in Creole between aunties are punctuated by car horns, not from impatient drivers but simply friends sharing a greeting. This might be Cape Verde's busiest road, but rarely is anybody in a huge rush, especially today.

Today, traffic is moving even slower than usual. The market stalls and tarps covering them have encroached onto the road, making it a single-track path, and that has been temporarily closed by the police to allow a couple of small buses to park up. Out of them come the Tubaroes Azuis (Blue Sharks), the heroes of Cape Verde who the next day will play the match of their lives: a qualifier against Eswatini, with the chance to reach their first-ever FIFA World Cup on the line. Without hyperbole, many Cape Verdeans have described it as the biggest moment in the country's history.

Most of those in the market look up and smile. Some get up and greet the players, and a couple ask for photos with captain Vozinha or all-time caps holder and record scorer Ryan Mendes as the players make their way through the market. Maria Jose, who runs her own stall, brings out a two-metre tall Cape Verdean flag and waves, chanting: “We're going to win 3-0!”

Yet for the most part, the players are greeted with respectful indifference. It is less than 24 hours until the biggest moment in the country's history and people barely bat an eyelid at the players walking among them.

Welcome to Cape Verde.

This is the land of “Morabeza”. The Creole word roughly translates to hospitality, kindness and a laidback attitude all rolled into one. Put more simply into the nation's unofficial national slogan, it means “no stress”. Life is slower here. It has to be. When you are a nation of half a million people spread across ten islands that span an area the size of Florida, it is impossible to move fast.