It wasn’t a win. But for Cape Verde, Africa’s third-smallest country, holding the soccer giant Spain to a scoreless draw in its World Cup debut this week made history.
Now, as it prepares for Sunday’s game against Uruguay, a mixture of confidence and anxiety is building across the archipelago off West Africa’s Atlantic coast. Cape Verdeans are hoping for a repeat performance from their team, and especially its veteran goalkeeper, Josimar José Évora Dias, who became an unlikely star overnight after making seven saves.
Cape Verde’s team, the Blue Sharks, is not star-studded or particularly glamorous. Dias, at 40 one of the tournament’s oldest players, is known as Vozinha, Portuguese for Granny. Even on the African soccer scene, Cape Verde was not taken seriously until 2023, when it reached the African Cup of Nations quarterfinals for the first time since 2013.
But in this World Cup, it faces a considerable challenge: to advance from a group made up of Spain, the European champions; Uruguay, a two-time World Cup champion; and Saudi Arabia, whose star has been rising in recent years.
Cape Verde’s players have become heroes precisely because of their lack of heroics. A workaday approach had them, in Monday’s match, completely focused on guarding their goal rather than making risky forays into Spain’s half.
It worked.
“We were giants,” said Nuno Martins, 51, a resident of Mindelo, on the island of São Vicente. He had two explanations for the team’s success. One, they executed their tactical plan to perfection. The other: divine favor.
“God is Cape Verdean,” he said, “even though he lives in other lands.”
Africa is one of the biggest beneficiaries of FIFA’s decision to expand the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams, doubling its spots from five to 10, a decision that some critics claimed would reduce the quality of the competition. But through the opening game for each team, six of the 10 have either won or drawn their matches, many against some of world’s top teams.
This time, many Cape Verdeans are hoping the Blue Sharks will actually score — while keeping their defense tight.
“A little boldness is needed,” said Carlos Brazão Monteiro, a lawyer in Praia.
Dias, the goalkeeper, comes from hard-working stock. He earned his nickname because his mother, who is a caregiver in a nursing home, worked so much while he was growing up that he was mostly looked after by his late grandmother.
“He was raised with a lot of love by his grandmother,” said his mother, Ana Cândida Évora, 60. “I was there too, but he had a very strong bond with his grandmother. He loved her very much.”
After the game against Spain, Dias spoke of his disappointment that his mother could not be in Atlanta to watch him play. He said the family had struggled with the U.S. visa application, particularly the bond of up to $15,000 that most travelers are asked to pay.
Ms. Évora’s case has sparked renewed criticisms of U.S. visa restrictions, which have prevented family members from attending loved ones’ games. Africans, who have been increasingly targeted by the Trump administration’s visa policies, were left particularly frustrated.
But on Thursday, Ms. Évora finally left for the United States after the intervention of the State Department. Speaking with The New York Times, she blamed herself for not submitting her visa application on time.
She embraced family members at the airport in Cape Verde before setting off for Miami.
“We may be small, but our hearts are big,” she said.
Some Cape Verdeans seemed thrown by the success and doubtful it would last.
“I never believed in a positive result against Spain,” said José Eduardo Cardoso, a 65-year-old taxi driver who anxiously listened to the first half of the last game on his car radio as he drove passengers around Praia, the capital. He managed to get home for the second half, where he plans to watch all of the next game — though he has no great hopes for it.
“I’m not very confident that Cape Verde will advance to the second round,” he said.
Others had more faith, as long as the team does not get carried away by the moment.
“We’ll be the surprise of the tournament,” Mr. Martins said.
Whatever happens, said Erika Soares, 32, an economist on the island of Santiago, “We already feel like winners.”
