Good luck, Cape Verde. As if a first-ever knockout fixture, against the world champions, and a 63-place gap in the live FIFA World Rankings weren't enough, Argentina will play in Miami for the first time in the World Cup 2026.
Tournament venues across the United States have been full of Lionel Messi shirts for Argentina's games, but a game in Miami? This is going to be Messi overdrive.
- Kick-off time: 11:00pm BST / 6:00pm ET / 8:00am AEST (Sat)
- FREE Stream: ITV (UK) / SBS (AUS)
- TV & Streaming: Fox (US)
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Messi will lead Argentina out against Cape Verde backed by tens of thousands of fanatics who identify in some way with Inter Miami, where the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner plays his club football.
Such is the cult of personality around the Argentina captain that they might as well be playing this game in Rosario or Buenos Aires. Messi scored six goals in Argentina's three group games and is, for now, the World Cup's record goal-getter.
The size of the task facing Bubista, goalkeeper Vozinha and Cape Verde general is mountainous.
Read on as FourFourTwo brings you all the information you need to watch Argentina vs Cape Verde in the FIFA World Cup 2026 online, on TV, and from anywhere.
Watch Argentina vs Cape Verde for FREE
Argentina vs Cape Verde will be free-to-stream across multiple regions, including ITV in the UK, RTÉ Player in Ireland, SBS On Demand in Australia, CazéTV on YouTube in Brazil, NOS in the Netherlands, RTBF/VRT in Belgium, SRF/RTS/RSI in Switzerland, and TRT in Turkey.
English commentary will be provided on ITV, RTE Player and SBS On Demand.
‼️ Outside one of these countries? Use Norton VPN to unlock your stream from anywhere in the world — more on that below.
Watch Argentina vs Cape Verde from anywhere
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How to watch Argentina vs Cape Verde in the UK
In the UK, you can stream Argentina vs Cape Verde on ITV. The build-up starts at 10:15pm BST, ahead of the kick-off at 11:00pm BST.
How to watch Argentina vs Cape Verde in the US
In the US, you can stream Argentina vs Cape Verde on Fox.
This channel is accessible via Fox's own streaming platform Fox One or via a cord-cutting platform such as YouTube TV, Hulu+Live TV, Sling (select markets), Fubo or DirecTV.
How to watch Argentina vs Cape Verde in Australia
In Australia, you can watch Argentina vs Cape Verde on the free SBS On Demand.
Argentina vs Cape Verde: World Cup 2026 Preview
Cape Verde's path to this point is fairytale stuff, albeit with a captain-sized asterisk, and a win in the round of 32 would surely the biggest shock in World Cup history.
The Blue Sharks are here on merit. They finished second in Group H, four points behind Spain but one ahead of both Uruguay and Saudi Arabia. Those two are already back at home, while the Verdeans – responsible for Spain's two dropped points, no less – are still standing.
Bubista's boys have scored only twice and conceded only twice. Keeping the world champions out is surely an impossible feat over 90 minutes at a feverish Miami Stadium.
Lionel Scaloni's Argentina are climbing the favourites rankings as the World Cup progresses. A second successive final against France looks a distinct possibility even with more than two weeks of the competition to go.
Argentina won all three group stage games and the only goal they conceded came after they were already locked in at the top of Group H. Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez will compete to partner Messi up top, while Rodrigo De Paul will continue as the Flea's minder-in-chief.
This is the first meeting between these teams and the chances of a mismatch are high. Then again, we'd have said that before the Spain match too.
FourFourTwo's prediction
Argentina 4-0 Cape Verde
FourFourTwo predicts that Kylian Mbappe breathing down Messi's neck will spell bad news for the debutants.
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