On Father”s Day, it was about a mother watching her son make more history.
There were 64,003 people in the stadium for the 2-2 draw between Cape Verde and Uruguay on Sunday night, none of them with a better how-they-got-there story than Ana Candida Evora — the mother of Vozinha, Cape Verde’s goalkeeper.
Evora arrived in Miami on Friday, reunited with her son over the weekend and watched Sunday’s game from a suite at Miami Stadium.
Cape Verde’s fairytale run now has a chance of reaching the knockout stage, depending largely on how its group stage finale against Saudi Arabia goes.
Cape Verde is one of the absolute feel-good stories of the World Cup, a tiny island nation with two draws in its two matches to this point. Vozinha — whose name is Josimar Jose Evora Dias — had his mother in the stands Sunday; she was unable to attend Cape Verde’s opening draw against Spain because she couldn’t obtain a United States visa.
And even without a win — in fact, her 40-year-old son didn’t even make a save Sunday — her presence makes Cape Verde’s story even better.
Goalkeepers don’t always have to make a save to be effective. Vozinha’s best two plays of the match might not even show up on a stat sheet — he was perfectly positioned on a pair of Uruguay’s scoring chances in the closing minutes, cutting down angles and forcing shooters to aim at tight spaces. Both shots sailed high, and Vozinha exhaled deeply both times.
“I want to thank all the fans, everyone who helped in the process, for the support you gave to the team, especially to Cape Verde,” Evora said Sunday in remarks distributed by FIFA in a video message before the match. “We’re all rooting for Cape Verde to play well, to shine on the pitch. The players need to have faith and everything will go well.
“Keep your heads held high, go onto that pitch, push for a goal and you’ll perform beautifully, my boys. A kiss for you, be strong and brave. Blue Sharks!”
Evora carried a Cape Verde flag into the stadium Sunday, her son’s name and jersey number on the back of her shirt, and she was ushered into a suite to watch the contest.
Vozinha heard roars from the fans — even with a mostly pro-Uruguay crowd — whenever he was shown on the video screens during warm-ups, and got perhaps the loudest ovation of any player when starters were introduced.
Evora’s visa issues — primarily raising the money needed for one — were worked out after the US State Department and Cape Verde’s soccer federation combined efforts to help Evora to fly to Miami. There was also assistance from an unlikely source: Lin Jie, a Cape Verde-based Chinese entrepreneur, who reportedly helped Evora with her visa paperwork, and provided travel necessities and transportation to the airport. “Vozinha’s cousin happened to work in my wife’s clothes shop,” Lin told reporters.
“I offered to help.”
She arrived Friday afternoon after more than 24 hours of travel from Cape Verde and was greeted by FIFA officials and volunteers.
Vozinha had about 50,000 followers on Instagram as the World Cup was starting.
He was up to 15 million followers by game time Sunday, after he grabbed the world’s attention by leading the defense against Spain — one of the tournament favorites.
That equates to around 30 followers every second since the end of the Spain match up to kickoff on Sunday.
He went viral after the Spain match for tearful comments, wishing that his late grandparents could have seen him play in the World Cup and that his mother’s visa issues had been resolved in time to be there. That sparked an immediate effort to find ways for Evora to get to the US.
The historic draw, combined with the story of a goalie and his mom, has thrust Cape Verde’s soccer team into the global spotlight both on and off the pitch.
“It’s been intense,” Cape Verde forward Garry Rodrigues said.
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