The 40-year-old goalkeeper blocked four shots from Lionel Messi in the 3-2 loss to Argentina in extra time. His team, the smallest country to reach a World Cup qualifying phase, leaves the tournament undefeated in 90 minutes and with its goalkeeper becoming a global phenomenon.

First modification: 07/04/2026 - 20:50

The final image of Friday in Miami was not just the Argentine celebration. It was also a recognition: that of Lionel Messi, eight-time Ballon d'Or winner and considered by many to be the best footballer in history, to a goalkeeper who a month ago was little known to the general public and who had just finished in the second division of Portuguese football. Vozinha and his incredible Cape Verde left the World Cup with a bang, even if the result said otherwise.

Argentina won 3-2, but needed 120 minutes to get rid of the brave and worthy Cape Verde team in the round of 32.

Messi had overtaken the current world champion in the first half, after a pinpoint pass from Lisandro Martínez. Deroy Duarte equalized in the second half with a right cross after a good team play and Lisandro Martínez himself seemed to put the game on track at the start of extra time.

However, Sidny Lopes Cabral had another idea: he nailed a right hand into the corner, unstoppable by Emiliano "Dibu" Martínez. The great goal, which is already competing to be the best in the World Cup, unleashed madness in the African bank and among the new Cape Verdean supporters from all over the world.

The final 3-2 came only in the 111th minute, after a corner that ended with a header from Cristian Romero that deflected off defender Diney Borges.

Between goal and goal, the match had a repeated protagonist. Vozinha won four personal duels against Messi: he blocked a one-on-one, a free kick taken by surprise, a shot low on the ground at the end of regular time and a left-footed shot at the start of extra time.

"We are a little sad because we did enough to win," admitted the goalkeeper after the match against the Brazilian Cazé TV.

"We played with the current world champion and we managed to play as equals. We have to be satisfied and proud," he added.

An archer that no one saw coming

Nothing in Vozinha's career anticipated such a World Cup.

He was born in Mindelo, on the island of São Vicente, on June 3, 1986, and his professional life was anything but linear: he just signed his first contract as a footballer at the age of 26, and to improve his reflexes he resorted to an unorthodox method: studying videos of goalkeepers on YouTube.

Then came clubs in Angola, Moldova, Cyprus, Slovakia and Portugal, where last season he barely played any minutes for Chaves, in the Portuguese second category.

With the national shirt, however, it is a different story. He has defended the Cape Verde goal since 2012 and played in four editions of the Africa Cup before reaching this World Cup, the first in the history of his country.

The explosion came in the debut. Against Spain, Vozinha held the 0-0 lead with seven saves and won the award for best player of the match. No goalkeeper over the age of 40 has recorded such a number of interventions in a World Cup match since Pat Jennings, who saved ten shots for Northern Ireland against Brazil in 1986.

Starting that afternoon, his Instagram account skyrocketed: until this Saturday, July 4, he accumulated 22.9 million followers, more than forty times the population of his country.

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Fame had an unexpected side effect: media pressure helped resolve the visa procedure that prevented her mother from traveling to the United States.

Even its name hides an Argentine nod. "My father wanted to call me Valdano, after the Argentine striker Jorge Valdano, but the authorities did not allow it," he said in an interview with ESPN Brazil.

The civil registry accepted the second option, Josimar, in homage to the Brazilian full-back in the 1986 World Cup. The nickname, however, has family roots: Vozinha refers to "granny" in Portuguese.

"I never lived with my parents. When I was born, my father was in the military and my mother always had to work. So I always grew up with my grandparents," the goalkeeper revealed in statements to FIFA.

Read alsoArgentina advances to the round of 16 of the World Cup after suffering against a brave Cape Verde

The entire country in the field

Cape Verde reached the knockout phase as the country with the smallest population to do so in the history of the World Cup. The team led by Bubista finished second in its group with three draws, against Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia, and said goodbye to the tournament undefeated in regulation time after facing, in four games, three world champions: Spain, Uruguay and Argentina.

Before the duel with Argentina, Vozinha summarized on his networks what was at stake for the archipelago: "There will be more than 11 players, it will be a whole town on the field. Because there are no islands. There is no distance. There are no borders. We are a flag."

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After the final whistle came the scene that opened this story: the greeting between the goalkeeper and Messi, the world champion's recognition of the man who was about to ruin his night.

The flag was lowered in Miami, but Cape Verdean football will hardly be invisible again.

With local media

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