ATLANTA — When Josimar Dias was , he cherished soccer a lot that he’d play with older boys, regardless that they’d taunt and tease him. They’d push him round, beat him up, and he would reply within the worst method potential: telling them he was going to tattle on them to his grandparents. Naturally, they began calling him “,” or “granny” in Portuguese.
However Josimar dried his tears and, later, determined to assert the nickname as his personal. And no one’s laughing at little Vozinha now.
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Vozinha, in objective for the Cape Verde nationwide crew of their very first World Cup, simply authored one of many definitive performances in World Cup historical past, a clear sheet towards match favorites in . And he did it at age 40, towards gamers actually half his age.
“We have labored for this second, for an evening like this,” Vozinha stated in Portuguese after the match. “I am 40 years outdated; as everybody is aware of, I turned skilled again in 2012. That is fairly late for somebody like me. I thought of quitting the nationwide crew, however I saved going due to this dream.”
Cape Verde’s Vozinha makes a save to maintain the rating stage towards Spain.
(REUTERS / REUTERS)
You may sum up Vozinha’s brilliance — and Spain’s frustration — in a single two-shot, five-second sequence late within the first half. In considered one of their many assaults, Spain had Vozinha surrounded, and the inevitable appeared nigh. Spain’s acquired behind the Cape Verde protection and headed a ball again to , who had a transparent shot on the objective. However Vozinha dove straight on the ball, and that was sufficient to change Torres’ shot in order that it spang excessive off the crossbar.
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Oh, however we’re not carried out but. Whereas the ball was within the air and caroming again into the sector of play, Vozinha was on the bottom, going through the mistaken method, with a teammate on high of him. In some way he managed to leap to his toes, flip round into place, and tip a screamer from simply excessive of the crossbar. And, sure, he did this all in 5 seconds. We’re just a few days into the World Cup and we have already got one of many best performs we’ll see all summer time.
After the match ended, and as blue-clad Cape Verde followers danced within the stands, a visibly emotional, clearly exhausted Vozinha embraced his teammates. He accepted FIFA’s Michelob Extremely Superior Participant of the Match Cup, and embraced it by means of interviews prefer it was an in-play ball.
“I would be the Man of the Match, however this award is for all my teammates,” he stated, tapping the trophy. “I by no means thought any of this was inconceivable, and I will preserve working for the sake of the dream and for the individuals.”
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In a match that includes gamers from probably the most elite soccer leagues on Earth — the Premier League, La Liga and extra — Vozinha hails from the modest Chaves membership, in ‘s second-tier Liga Portugal 2. He is performed for golf equipment from Angola, Moldova and Cyprus, in addition to Portugal and Cape Verde. He hails from a nation so small that each single American state tops it in inhabitants … a nation that, even so, managed to remain stage with Spain.
“Everybody thought we got here right here simply to benefit from the expertise or take a trip on the World Cup, however that is not the case,” Vozinha stated. “We’re right here to compete and to struggle for our nation.”
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Subsequent up: a match with on Sunday in Miami. Advancing out of the group stage remains to be an extended shot, however then, so was holding Spain scoreless.
“Our best energy — our greatest weapon — is our dream,” Vozinha stated. “Whether or not it is a participant becoming a member of immediately or one who has been with the nationwide crew for 10 years, the way in which we deal with one another like household is our best asset.”
Cape Verde arrived on the World Cup with hope. Now, due to Vozinha, they’ve additionally acquired perception.