Cape Verde’s 40-Year-Old Goalkeeper Keeping Spain Scoreless at His First World Cup

Cape Verde, appearing in a World Cup for the first time, is surprising the football world by holding Spain scoreless, and much of the credit goes to goalkeeper Vozinha. The 40-year-old, who turned 40 earlier this month, is one of the tournament’s oldest players and an idol at home.

Vozinha has 89 international caps, the second-highest total in Cape Verde’s national team history. He made his first senior call-up in 2012 and has since played in four Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, helping Cape Verde reach its first-ever World Cup finals.

His club career has largely been built at modest teams. He began at Batuque and moved to Mindelense before leaving Cape Verde’s domestic league. He later played for Progresso in Angola, Zimbru Chișinău in Moldova, AEL Limassol, Trenčín in Slovakia, and Gil Vicente before joining Chaves.

His real name is Josimar José Abreu Días, but he became known as Vozinha while playing on São Vicente, where he often took heavy knocks in matches. He said the nickname came from his grandparents because he grew up with them, not his parents. He also explained that he left Cape Verde still known as Josimar, but in Angola he met another goalkeeper with that name and decided to adopt Vozinha. His given name was chosen by his father as a tribute to a Botafogo right-back who played for Brazil at the 1986 World Cup.