At one point toward the end of the first half of the match between Spain and Cape Verde on Monday afternoon, it became apparent that Vozinha, the Cape Verde goalkeeper, was up for the challenge of facing one of the most talented, successful teams in the world.
In the 39th minute, Spain looped a pass down the left side and, seconds later, had a wide-open chance directly in front of the net, with only Vozinha in the way. He dove at Spain’s Ferran Torres, who kicked the ball off the crossbar, which caused a mad scramble as the ball popped into the air. Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal tried heading the rebound into the net, but Vozinha hopped up, leapt into the air again and pushed the ball safely out of play.
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The play was eventually whistled dead, for Spain was called offside on the initial pass in. But the sequence revealed a lot about Vozinha. He wouldn’t be going down quietly. In the end, Vozinha made seven official saves and helped Cape Verde preserve a 0-0 tie against Spain, earning the tiny nation a point in its first-ever World Cup game.
Spain entered the match as the No. 2-ranked team in FIFA’s world rankings, behind only Argentina. Its roster featured, as the announcers pointed out, players on its bench who would surely start for any other World Cup team, let alone Cape Verde. It featured stars like Lamine Yamal, who play for powerful European clubs and are household names.
Yamal, though, started this game on the bench, as he continues to return from injury. With him sidelined, Spain couldn’t seem to solve Cape Verde’s defense, nor Vozinha.
Before this match, only the most die-hard of fans would have known of Vozinha. But he has carved out a long, if not glamorous, career in international soccer. He was born in Cape Verde by the name Josimar José Évora Dias. He was raised by his grandparents, who gave him the nickname Vozinha, which roughly translates to “voice.”
As Vozinha began his professional career, the name stuck. He went on to play for clubs in Angola, Moldova, Cyprus, Slovakia and Portugal.
He’s not playing for Real Madrid or AC Milan. But on Monday, he sure looked like he could. As the first half wore down, off a corner kick, a Spanish player headed the ball toward the far post. Vozinha dove and extended his right arm and deflected the ball away with his fingertips. He didn’t look 40 years old at that moment, until the camera zoomed in and revealed the creases in his face.
Throughout the match, Spain dominated in almost every statistical category. It outshot Cape Verde by a wide margin (27-6), had more shots on goal (7-1), lots more corner kicks (11-1) and a huge advantage in ball possession (74% to 26%). Spain seemed to have the ball in the Cape Verde end for much of the game.
But the Cape Verde defenders packed in together tightly, and Vozinha kept his cool in net. Even with Yamal coming on in the second half as a substitute, Spain couldn’t score.
After Cape Verde had made history, fans gathered outside the stadium and chanted while waving their country’s flag. Some held up scarves that read “Cabo Verde” for a TV camera capturing the scene. If the world didn’t know their name before, it did now.
