Featured Image Credit: Simon M Bruty / Contributor via Getty
Performing under the lights is one thing, but showing up at the World Cup can completely change your career — as Cape Verde goalkeeper Josimar Dias, known mononymously as Vozinha, discovered after gaining over six million followers on Instagram since his iconic effort against Spain.
Cape Verde are – by FIFA's own metrics – one of the worst nations at the World Cup, currently ranking 64th globally which led many to expect a swift and rather unpleasant exit from the tournament despite the excitement of the country's first participation in football's biggest tournament.
Things were likely to get off to a terrible start too with the country's opening match scheduled against Spain – the second best team in the world heading into the World Cup – yet miraculously the match ended in a scoreless draw, with a large part of that down to heroics between the sticks from Vozinha.
The goalkeeper, who currently plays for Chavez in the Portuguese second division, registered seven saves in total and prevented an expected goals total of 1.45 according to Sofascore, earning himself a jaw-dropping 9.7 rating.
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While Spain's attack was definitely depleted by the absence of the injured Lamine Yamal, Vozinha's star-making performance has not gone unnoticed by the masses as he's witness an unfathomable social media transformation overnight.
Before the whistle blew at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Monday, Vozinha had just 50,000 followers on Instagram. Less than 24 hours later at the time of writing, he's gained over 6 million, taking his total follower count to a staggering 6.2 million.
He has certainly made the most of his newly found fame too, as he has shared seven new posts since the match came to a conclusion, with nearly all of them earning over a million likes each.
Of course, he was not alone in having an amazing performance as the defense as a whole stepped up to the challenge, and while Cape Verde didn't walk away with a win, it's likely already made its way into World Cup history as one of the biggest 'David v Goliath' results.
Cape Verde's total population sits at 524,877 according to a 2024 census, and this would place it sixth on the list of Spain's largest cities with Málaga, Seville, Zaragoza, Valencia, Barcelona, and Madrid all more populous than the African nation.
With the biggest challenge of Group H out of the way there's the real possibility that Cape Verde could snatch a result against either Uruguay or Saudi Arabia – especially at that match also finished with a draw – and all eyes will be on Vozinha to see if he can match his performance once more to potentially send his country into both the knockouts and the history books.
