Who is Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper from Cape Verde who shut out Spain? He costs 50,000 euros.

For the twelfth time in World Cup history, Spain failed to win its opening match: the Red Fury could not go beyond a 0-0 draw against newcomer Cape Verde, considered (at this point, wrongly) the underdog of Group H (the other opponents are Saudi Arabia and Uruguay) and making its debut in the World Cup.

“When the ball doesn’t want to go in, it doesn’t want to go in,” said coach De La Fuente after the match. “They’re a very organized team; we saw that they closed down the defense—it’s very difficult to create space against them.” On the rare occasions when Spain managed to get a shot off, it was the most unlikely hero who came to the rescue: Cape Verde’s 40-year-old goalkeeper, Vozinha.

The islanders’ goalkeeper, with a market value of 50,000 euros, was the man of the match, thwarting all of Spain’s chances with his saves. He’s already a sensation on social media, and his Instagram following has skyrocketed from 20,000 to over 1.5 million.

Josimar José Évora Dias, known as Vozinha (“old lady”), grew up playing soccer at Batuque in Cape Verde, and spent the early years of his career defending the goal for Mindelense and Progresso, two teams on the African island. In 2015, he moved to Europe, joining Zimbru Chisinau in Moldova, and then in 2016–2017 he was the starting goalkeeper for Gil Vicente in Portugal’s second division. From 2017 to 2022, he played for AEL Limassol in Cyprus, winning a local cup.

He then spent two years in Slovakia with AS Trencin and is currently the goalkeeper for Chaves in Portugal’s second division. He has made a total of 89 appearances for the Cape Verde national team. Needless to say, he is already a national hero in his homeland.