Vozinha could not contain himself after keeping Spain at bay. The veteran goalkeeper was overcome with emotion. As the final whistle blew, he sank to his knees and began to sob.
Moments later, to hide his tears, he covered his face with both hands. Teammates rushed from all sides to console him. Some embraced him, others put a hand on his shoulder. Every eye was wet by then.
Hidden in Vozinha’s tears was the satisfaction of achieving the near-impossible. One of the finest moments in Cape Verde’s history rested on his hands. He made seven saves to keep his side in the match.
At 40 years and 12 days, he became the oldest player to appear in a World Cup match on his country’s debut, and he also won the man-of-the-match award.
After the match, Vozinha said his tears carried regret as well as satisfaction. Speaking to reporters, he said he had been unable to bring his mother to the World Cup because of a lack of money.
“After the match I cried, because I grew up with my grandparents as a child. But they could not be here today. They died a few years ago. They were everything to me,” he said.
“But my mother could not be here either. She could not come because of the visa. We could not arrange the money needed for the visa in time. I wanted her to be here,” he said.
Vozinha’s path to this success was also deeply difficult. Rising to the world stage from Cape Verde, a nation of barely 600,000 people, is no small feat.
Debutants Cape Verde faced Spain, the former world champions and current European champions. The match ended goalless thanks to Vozinha’s performance.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report