Cape Verde’s World Cup fairy tale continues

Family ties seem to be an integral part of Cape Verde’s big World Cup surprise. After the 0–0 draw against European champion Spain, half the world was keeping their fingers crossed that the mother of goalkeeping hero Vozinha would receive a visa for the U.S. After the no less emotional 2–2 (1–2) draw against two-time World Cup champion Uruguay, defender Kevin Pina shared a touching story.

With a direct free kick from just under 30 meters, the 29-year-old from the Russian club FK Krasnodar scored the first World Cup goal in the history of the small island nation in that match (29th minute). But while everyone around him was in a state of complete ecstasy—from the substitute players to the last member of the support staff—he paused his celebration for a moment. “I tried to spot my daughter in the stands,” Pina said, visibly moved. But even this historic moment was too brief for that.

For everything that happened afterward, “I can only find one word,” he said: “Pride, pride, pride!” In its very first World Cup appearance, this massive underdog—with its 13 islands and not even 600,000 residents—can now even reach the knockout stage. A win against Saudi Arabia, the bottom team in the group, on Saturday (2:00 a.m.)—and the sensation would be complete.

Uruguay’s gift for the 2–2 draw

Unlike against Spain, the “Blue Sharks” also had to show resilience against Uruguay. Shortly before halftime, the new favorite team of many soccer fans conceded two goals in just seven minutes: Maxi Araujo (44th) and Agustin Canobbio (45’+6) scored for the otherwise very unimaginative and once again disappointing South Americans.

Uruguay then made the big mistake of simply trying to hold onto the lead. And the 2–2 equalizer by Helio Varela (61') was a gift of the kind you very rarely get at a World Cup: First, Uruguay’s Mathias Olivera played the ball right into the scorer’s feet without any pressure. And then goalkeeper Fernando Muslera completely unnecessarily left his goal—and arrived a split second too late.

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Still, in the match against Cape Verde, Uruguay fielded professionals from Real Madrid (Fede Valverde) and SSC Napoli (Olivera) against players from the Irish, Finnish, or Portuguese second divisions. And one of the keys to this team’s success is that their coach, Bubista, never speaks or acts like an underdog, but instead demands courage and leads by example.

Cape Verde player from Ireland

“Since the start of the tournament, I’ve been saying: We want to compete at the highest possible level,” he said. “We’ve managed to do that twice now. And now we want to fulfill a second dream: to qualify for the knockout round. We respect every opponent. But we’re now at a point where I say: Yes, we’re definitely fighting to reach the next round.”

The 56-year-old, whose full name is Pedro Leitão Brito, has been coaching this team for six years and has instilled in them a clear structure and a great deal of self-confidence. To achieve this, he searched all over the world for players with Cape Verdean roots. After the Uruguay game, Roberto Lopes—who was born in Dublin and plays for Shamrock Rovers—stood in a media tent next to the stadium and said with the broadest Irish accent: “This is a crazy story.” He never thought it was possible.

The hero of the Spain game was in the spotlight only once this time—when Uruguay nearly scored the winning goal. After a corner kick, goalkeeper Vozinha deflected the ball onto the post, and Maxi Araujo tapped it into the net from close range—but the referee and VAR ruled it offside (70th minute). Vozinha’s mother danced and trembled with excitement in the stands. In the end, everything had worked out for her to enter the country after all.

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