ATLANTA (AP) — It took Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha 40 years to make his World Cup debut.
The wait was worth it.
Vozinha recorded seven saves Monday, holding Spain’s star-studded lineup to a shocking 0-0 draw Monday. The 40-year-old was everywhere as the Spanish team and its fans became increasingly frustrated, despite dominating possession and unleashing 27 shots. Not even the second-half entrance of young superstar Yamine Lamal could crack the code to get past Vozinha and the Cape Verde defense.
As the final whistle blew, Vozinha hunched over near his net and cried, before being embraced by his teammates. Cape Verde, in its first-ever World Cup match, had gotten a point off of Spain, one of the tournament favorites.
Vozinha said he was overcome by emotions thinking about his loved ones who were unable to see his finest performance: his grandparents who had raised him, and his mother. His grandparents died a few years ago. And his mother had been unable to gather the money in time to get a visa to enter the U.S., Vozinha said.
The performance was a culmination of a career that didn’t even start until Vozinha made his professional team debut at the age of 25 for Angola’s Progresso. Since then, he’s had club stops at Moldova, Cyprus, Slovakia and Portugal, where he currently plays for Chaves in the Portuguese second division.
He joined the national team in 2012 and at times, Vozinha said, he thought about retiring from the national team, but he “continued because of this dream.”
“I work all my life for this, for this moment, for this dream,” said Vozinha. “A lot of generations in the past (dreamed of) this day but they did not achieve. And now the dream comes true.”
The word “vozinha” is Portuguese for “grandmother,” and the goalkeeper said he was given the nickname by older kids who would bully him on the soccer field and then laugh when he went home crying to his grandparents. Years later, he took on the nickname after someone else on his club also had the same first name, Josimar.
Steven Moreira said he and his teammates like to tease Vozinha about his age. He said he was proud of Vozinha, calling him a “big legend” who had a “crazy game” and showed that age doesn’t matter.
Fans across the world noticed too: Vozinha’s following on Instagram exploded from around 50,000 people to more than 2.4 million a few hours after the match.
“He lives and breathes Cape Verde,” said teammate Pico Lopes, who said that Vozinha can come across as a strict teammate during practice. “He’s always on us to keep us on time. But that’s what he does. He pushes us to be better. And you saw it today — he leads by example.”
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