Cape Verde’s star goalkeeper Vozinha gets a family boost before Uruguay clash
TAMPA, Florida (AP) — Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha will have his family close by when his team takes on Uruguay on Sunday, days after his standout performance against Spain turned him into one of the most talked about players of the World Cup.
The 40-year-old was named player of the match in Cape Verde’s goalless draw on Monday, a display that brought him international attention and a surge in popularity on social media.
Among the fans cheering him on in the U.S. are his father, Jose Pedro Dias, and brother, Delmiro Évora Nascimento, who also is a soccer player. Vozinha’s mother, who had initially faced difficulties obtaining a visa, is also expected to arrive in the United States ahead of Sunday’s game.
Speaking before Thursday’s training session at Cape Verde’s training base in Tampa, Vozinha said having his family nearby was one of the most meaningful aspects of his World Cup experience.
“They always support me in everything I do, so having my mother here is something special. My father is here too, and my brother as well, so I’m very happy,” he said.
Vozinha’s full name is Josimar José Évora Dias. His father said he was named after Josimar, a defender in Brazil’s squad in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
“I watched the matches and fell in love with the Brazilian national team,” Dias said. “I really enjoyed it and there were a few players who stood out; one of them was Josimar, a right-back, who scored two goals and really made his mark at that World Cup.”
Like other fans cheering on the team at its training base in Tampa, Dias was beaming with pride over Cape Verde’s successful start to its first ever World Cup.
“As a father, I feel immense pride. All Cape Verdeans right now feel proud to be Cape Verdean and of Cape Verde’s current performance; it’s something we could never have imagined would be possible,” he said.
Vozinha’s brother agreed.
“I’ve no words to describe this moment,” he said. “We just have to live it because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime moment for a professional footballer – to be at the World Cup, to play against Spain, to put in the performance he did.”
RVs full of Cape Verde fans, dressed in the blue of the nation’s flag and adorned with matching beach hats and flags as capes, arrived in the small parking lot outside the training ground in Tampa.
One of them, Benjamin Ferrera, called the draw with Spain “unbelievable.”
“I don’t have words for it, because nobody expected it. We are just 500,000 people on small islands. To be on this type of stage with the world watching us is just magnificent,” he said.
Ferrera was born in Cape Verde but now lives in Massachusetts, which hosts the largest portion of the Cape Verdean diaspora in the United States and is sometimes called Cape Verde’s 11th island.
He is also part of the security team at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, one of the host venues at this year’s tournament.
“We’re all about joy,” Ferrera said. “When I grew up, I always heard that Cape Verde doesn’t have football, that we would never make a World Cup. Today I’m proud to say we’re here and we are going to make history.”
The archipelago nation off the west coast of Africa was the only one of the four debutants at the tournament to avoid defeat in its first game. If you ask Andreia Levy, an organizer for the Cape Verde supporters’ group, 12 Sharks, it was fate.
“Of course, I trusted the guys,” she said. “We knew that it was possible to do something here.”
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Zach Pascuzzi is a student in the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.
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