Josimar José Évora Dias, famously known as Vozinha, has made the headlines for his historic performance for Cape Verde in their World Cup debut against Spain.
The European Champions were the favourites to win the tournament prior to the game and Cape Verde has pulled off a defensive masterclass. Vozinha won the Player of the Match award on his FIFA World Cup debut with 7 huge saves to his name to deny the European heavyweights. His journey up till this game has been inspirational and his followers on social media have increased by a massive amount.
Spain were looking good to go in the game against Cape Verde with all of their star players declared fit and Lamine Yamal found his place on the bench. Cape Verde stuck to their defensive tactics and cleared every ball that they felt was dangerous. Vozinha’s work in the goal post was extraordinary with brilliant positioning and he was alert in keeping the ball far from his goal post. Cape Verde celebrated the draw like a win at the end of the game and they couldn’t have asked for a better start to their 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign.
Cape Verde pulls off defensive masterclass against Spain
The most insane factor about his professional career would be that he wasn’t even a professional footballer until the age of 25. He spent years in amateur football and he began his professional career in Angola. The 40-year-old plays in Portugal’s second tier and his portfolio wouldn’t directly fit the description of a FIFA World Cup hero.
Vozinha stepped up his game for his country and he simply denied all the goal-scoring opportunities of Spain in the game. One of his most remarkable saves came when he saved a header with a giant leap backwards and his performance frustrated the Spanish forwards. He was well supported by the defenders as well and they did a good job by helping him out at the back. Vozinha did everything possible to help his side maintain a clean sheet on his World Cup debut and it was a historic moment for Cape Verde in football.
Cape Verde started off on a solid note in the opening game against Spain and it was a fine performance to start the FIFA World Cup. It seemed that their intention throughout the game was to secure a draw or to lie deep in their own half, waiting for Spain to make a mistake. They did get a couple of chances to go on the charge but they weren’t able to make use of their chances. Cape Verde did a fabulous job right till the final whistle and their players were in tears as they managed to scrape a draw from absolutely nowhere.
As Cape Verde will be looking to build on the momentum they have gotten in the game, they will have to draw a positive result in their next game. Their next game against Uruguay would also be a challenging encounter but they will be hopeful of their compact defensive setup protecting the goal post with Vozinha in goal.