Cape Verde must have a plan to stop Argentina as a team rather than simply focusing on Lionel Messi, says their head coach Bubista.

Ranked 63rd when the tournament began, Cape Verde are the lowest-ranked nation since the FIFA rankings started in 1992 to reach the World Cup knockout stages at their tournament debut.

They did so by going unbeaten throughout the group stage, clinging on for a goalless draw with Spain before also holding Uruguay (2-2) and Saudi Arabia (0-0).

They are the lowest ranked side to advance past the first stage since Russia in 2018 (70th), who beat Spain on penalties in the round of 16 before losing to Croatia in the quarter-finals.

But they face a daunting challenge in the last 16 on Friday, as they go up against the reigning champions and their talisman, Messi, in Miami.

Messi has six goals at the 2026 tournament thus far, joining Kylian Mbappe as the joint-leader of the Golden Boot race, while he also has nine goal involvements in his last five knockout-stage appearances at the World Cup (five goals, four assists), scoring in each of his last four.

The only players to ever score in five knockout appearances in a row are Leonidas for Brazil (1934-38), Gyorgy Sarosi for Hungary (1934-38), and Vava for Brazil (1958-62).

But Bubista says Cape Verde cannot afford to become preoccupied with stopping Messi, saying: "We as a team have our own strategy, not only against Messi, but the whole team.

"They are the current world champions and one of the best teams in the tournament. We will play against the whole team. 

"We know Messi is one of the best players in the world, but we play against the whole team."

Cape Verde conceded just two goals in three group-stage games, the fewest by a debutant nation since Angola in 2006 (also two). 

They became the first team to progress from their group at the World Cup despite not winning a single match since Chile in 1998, who also drew all three of their group games.

But they did show plenty of attacking endeavour, particularly against Uruguay, and Bubista insists they will take the game to the champions.  

"The so-called small teams have shown they can compete on the same playing level with the so-called superior teams," he said.

"It goes to show that the small ones can also face up to the most challenging matches. Argentina will be challenging for us, but we want it to be challenging for them too.

"We are here on merit. In the last three matches, we have shown we can compete at a high level. We know the quality of our opponent, but we also have our dream.

"We will play with courage. We will be bold and fight for the qualification. We want the players to enjoy the match, but to be focused and do everything to go to the next phase.

"We believe in ourselves and our strengths, our players and our team. We know this will be a very difficult game, but we can hurt our opponent. We are brave and ambitious, and we will play to win."