Riyad Mahrez link as Ryan Mendes leads Cape Verde's World Cup push
ryad mahrez is part of the trail that led Cape Verde captain Ryan Mendes to this moment, because the same scouting path that once tracked Mendes at Le Havre later helped uncover Mahrez. Mendes now heads into Cape Verde’s first-ever FIFA World Cup with 94 international caps and 22 goals, the most in the national team’s history.
Ryan Mendes and Cape Verde
Mendes made his senior debut in 2010 and has spent more than 15 years helping lift Cape Verde’s national side. He is the team’s longtime captain, its all-time leading scorer and its most-capped player, which puts him at the center of the country’s run to the 2026 World Cup.
Cape Verde, an island nation of just over 500,000 people, became a FIFA member in 1985 and had never qualified for a World Cup until now. Mendes helped lead the team to multiple Africa Cup of Nations appearances before this breakthrough, giving the qualification a longer arc than a single tournament run.
Steve Walsh and Riyad Mahrez
The connection to Mahrez runs through Steve Walsh, who watched Mendes during his time at Le Havre. That scouting trip eventually led Walsh to Mahrez, while Mendes went on to join Lille as a replacement for Eden Hazard after Hazard signed with Chelsea.
Mendes also spent the 2015-16 season on loan with Nottingham Forest, another stop in a club career that kept his name in circulation while Cape Verde built toward its biggest stage. The country’s ticket to the 2026 World Cup now turns him from long-serving captain into the face of the national team’s first appearance there.
Dailon Livramento's four goals
There is also a newer layer to the story. Dailon Livramento scored four goals during World Cup qualifying, a reminder that Cape Verde did not reach this point on Mendes alone.
Still, the captain’s own words fit the scale of the achievement. “Cabo Verde are going to the World Cup and it’s incredible. We’re so happy now that we’ve stamped our ticket there.” “As time goes on, you begin to realise what you’ve achieved,” he said. “Us Cabo Verdeans are like that. We’ve always lived well together, actually, across all the generations I’ve known.” “The difference now is that there is a little more quality, and you can see that on the pitch. But on a human level, it’s always been the same.”
For Mendes, the milestone is personal and national at once: a 94-cap captain with 22 goals, leading Cape Verde into a tournament it had never reached before.
