The performance of goalkeeper Vozinha, 40, and the goalless draw with Spain placed Cape Verde in the spotlight of the World Cup this Monday (15).
A debutant in the World Cup, the small African archipelago of just over half a million inhabitants has an old relationship with Brazil, built over decades through the circulation of people, products, television programs and religious movements.
The main character of the match was Vozinha, or Josimar Dias, according to his baptism — a tribute from his father to the former right-back of Botafogo and the Brazilian team in the 1986 World Cup.
The goalkeeper made seven saves against the Spaniards and was decisive for the African team to win their first point in World Cups. After the game, emotional, he summed up: “I worked my whole life for this.”
Another highlight of the team, midfielder Ryan Mendes took advantage of the repercussions of the match to thank the support received from Brazilians during Cape Verde’s debut in the World Cup.
“A big hug to everyone in Brazil. Brazilians are a very dear people to us Cape Verdeans. We grew up watching Ronaldo and Romário, samba, carnival, all of this gives us goosebumps. It’s a brotherly country. Much luck to you too,” he said.
For the player, Brazilian references such as Romário, Ronaldo and Neymar helped inspire generations of Cape Verdean athletes.
If the goalkeeper’s nickname aroused curiosity among Brazilians during the match, the connections between the two countries go far beyond linguistic coincidences.
According to Vinícius Venancio de Sousa, doctor in social anthropology from UnB (University of Brasília), contacts between Brazil and Cape Verde can still be identified in the 19th century.
“When Brazil gains independence, there are independence movements in Cape Verde wanting Cape Verde to be disconnected from Portugal and linked to the new nation of Brazil”, he states.
The rapprochement, however, gained strength especially throughout the 20th century. Still under Portuguese colonial rule, Cape Verde saw the emergence of a generation of intellectuals who began to discuss the national identity of the archipelago.
In this context, the ideas of sociologist Gilberto Freyre found receptivity among members of the literary and intellectual movement known as Claridade. But it was through mass culture that the Brazilian presence became more visible in Cape Verdean daily life.
“With Atlantic circulation, a lot of music from Brazil reaches Cape Verde. This is consolidated with the expansion of radio and television”, says Sousa.
Brazilian soap operas played a central role in this process. According to the researcher, for decades they occupied a significant portion of local television programming.
The influence left permanent marks on the country’s urban geography. The main popular fair in Cape Verde was named Sucupira, a reference to the fictional city created by Dias Gomes for the soap opera “O Bem-Amado”.
The researcher says that the presence of Brazilian productions helped create shared references between the two countries.
“So much so that, if you look at the way Cape Verdeans give interviews to Portuguese channels and Brazilian channels, there is a difference. They themselves distinguish between what they call speaking Brazilian and speaking Portuguese.”
Brazilian influence also spread through trade. For years, Cape Verdean traders known as “rabidantes” regularly traveled to Brazil to buy goods destined for resale in the archipelago.
“When there were direct flights, first to Fortaleza and also to São Paulo, there was a constant flow of these traders who came to buy products in Brazil and resell them in Cape Verde”, he states.
In May this year, direct flights between Recife and Praia, capital of Cape Verde, were resumed.
Among the most sought after items were popular consumer products, such as Havaianas, says Sousa. Products aimed at curly and frizzy hair also gained space in the Cape Verdean market. “This boom in affirmative blackness in Brazil also impacts Cape Verde”, summarizes the researcher.
The Brazilian presence also appears in the religious field. In recent decades, Brazilian evangelical denominations have expanded their operations in the archipelago, accompanied by the expansion of television content produced in Brazil.
“There is a Record in Cape Verde that broadcasts content practically 24 hours a day from Brazil”, says the anthropologist. “We have a very large number of Brazilian evangelical missionaries in Cape Verde.”
World Cup debutant, Cape Verde returns to the field, certainly with Vozinha in goal, against Uruguay, on Sunday (21), in Group H. Spain faces Saudi Arabia on the same day.
