Cape Verde came close to pulling off the greatest World Cup upset of all time against Argentina on Friday night – with soccer fans adamant their heroic display upstaged Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding.
The tiny West African nation, which has a population of just 530,000 people, gave Lionel Messi and the world champions an almighty scare in Miami after coming from behind twice before their eventual 3-2 defeat in extra-time.
Given they were up against a player considered by many as the best in history, and a team that conquered the world four years ago, few gave them any hope of getting past Argentina in the last 32, yet it took a 111th-minute own goal to finally see them off.
And as a spirited Cape Verde took Argentina the distance, an estimated 1,000 people in New York City were completely unaware of the sporting drama that was taking place over a thousand miles away in Miami.
Guests who attended Swift and Kelce’s highly-anticipated wedding at Madison Square Garden, which brought Midtown Manhattan to a standstill on Friday night, would have missed the match given there was a no-phone policy inside the venue.
As a result, several fans believe those lucky enough to have been invited were actually the unfortunate ones.
Cape Verde came close to pulling off the greatest World Cup upset of all time against Argentina
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were hosting their New York City wedding at the time of the game
‘Imagine being stuck in Taylor Swift’s wedding and not being able to watch Argentina vs Cape Verde. That’s why I declined the invite,’ one user joked on X.
‘The only event anyone will ever talk about from July 3rd, 2026 will be Argentina-Cape Verde,’ another posted. ‘Sorry Taylor Swift.’
‘You think they’re watching Cape Verde and Argentina at the Taylor Swift wedding?’ a third asked.
A fourth put: ‘feel terrible for all the attendees at taylor swift’s wedding who were unable to watch cape verde take argentina to the brink’.
A fifth joked: ‘Taylor Swift and husband to honeymoon in Cape Verde?’
While sports commentator Skip Bayless wrote: ‘How dare Taylor Swift make her guests miss this Messi-Cape Verde knockout match. They aren’t even allowed to keep tabs on their phones! She should’ve postponed.’
Swift and Kelce tied the knot at a star-studded ceremony in New York City, with a number of A-list names from Hollywood, the music industry, fashion and sport invited.
Incredibly, it was revealed on Friday evening that Hollywood icon Adam Sandler was the officiant of the wedding inside Madison Square Garden.
World Cup fans believe Cape Verde’s heroic display in their 3-2 loss upstaged the wedding
Lionel Messi and the world champions were nearly humiliated by the tiny West African nation
In the end they prevailed thanks to an own goal in the 111th minute of an extra-time thriller
Meanwhile, an estimated 1,000 guests were inside Madison Square Garden for Swift and Kelce’s wedding
The likes of Bradley Cooper, Gigi Hadid, Karlie Kloss, Steven Spielberg and Ed Sheeran also flooded into the venue to watch the singer marry the NFL player.
The area surrounding the famous venue was shut down to accommodate for the extravagant wedding, before signs outside it blared: ‘JUST&T MARRIED!’ at 7:30pm Friday.
Meanwhile, Cape Verde were dreaming of the most astonishing of victories over at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
After Messi opened the scoring in the 29th minute, Deroy Duarte popped up with an unlikely equalizer for the World Cup minnows on the hour mark to force extra-time.
Lisandro Martinez then restored Argentina’s lead two minutes after the restart, only for Sidny Lopes Cabral to bring Cape Verde level again 11 minutes later.
Yet as the sporting world held its breath ahead of a potential nail-biting penalty shootout, an own goal by Diney nine minutes from time ended Cape Verde’s valiant effort and sent Messi and Co. into the last 16.
