Cape Verde Were 'Clearly Inferior,' Spain Manager Says After Historic World Cup Draw

The beauty of the World Cup is that even a 0-0 draw can be a triumph for a nation such as Cape Verde.

But that didn't stop Spain's manager from calling his opponent "clearly inferior" in the aftermath of Monday's Group H contest.

"In this World Cup there's extreme equality and difficulty," Luis de la Fuente said, per ESPN's Alex Kirkland. "This team was clearly inferior to us, but they did the things they had to do well.

"We have to keep growing. With the talent these players have, that's the way. We're calm. This is a long tournament, and in our heads we've still got seven games left."

Frankly, nobody is going to realistically argue with de la Fuente. Spain created the vast majority of the chances and ended up with 27 shots to Cape Verde's six. While seven of those shots ended up on target, Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha was brilliant and turned them all away.

Vozinha drew international attention in the process:

The defense in front of him also played with poise in the final third and turned away a number of golden opportunities for Spain.

If Spain ends up with 74 percent of the possession in the rest of their World Cup games, they will surely find the back of the net and challenge for the title. De la Fuente didn't seem to be lacking in confidence, and having star Lamine Yamal available for more than the 20 minutes he played Monday will make a difference.

Yet for one magical game, the Cape Verde defense and goalkeeping was too much for a soccer powerhouse such as Spain to break through, even if there was a difference in the overall quality between the two teams.