Residents of Cape Verde gather this Friday (26) in a square to watch, on a big screen, the decisive game of the African team against Saudi Arabia, which was worth qualifying for the next phase of the World Cup.
The scene, common in the African country of approximately 525 thousand inhabitants, also takes place in the city of the same name in the south of Minas Gerais, with 11.4 thousand residents.
The mobilization of Cape Verdeans from Minas Gerais to support the Cape Verdean team began even before the African nation’s debut in the world’s main football competition.
On a street in the São Bartolomeu de Minas neighborhood, residents painted the sidewalk on June 6 with the flags of Cape Verde and Brazil side by side.
“As soon as they qualified, there was that joke: ‘look at Cape Verde in the World Cup'”, says journalist Ana Karolina Dias, who helped with the painting.
She lives in Poços de Caldas, the main city in the region and 60 km away from Cape Verde, but returns to the city where she was born on weekends.
The journalist says that mobilization increased after the start of the World Cup team’s journey, when the 0-0 draw against Spain crowned goalkeeper Vozinha.
The viralization of a video in which a Cape Verdean influencer shows an error on a map of a FIFA event in the United States also contributed to local identification. The image showed the country’s flag positioned where the city of Minas Gerais is located.
Cape Verde City Hall supported the team and celebrated, on social media, their qualification for the World Cup. This Friday, he published a message about the match and stated that “the most Cape Verdean city in Brazil is already in the mood for today’s game”. The post received comments from Cape Verdean users.
The municipal management did not participate in organizing the broadcast in the square, but provided two chemical toilets, says Laís Podestá, owner of the bar that promoted the event.
The screen, which is also installed on Brazilian national team game days, this time was funded by sponsorship from a brewery.
Cape Verde’s last match, against Uruguay, was broadcast on the establishment’s television and brought together around a hundred people, according to Laís.
“Today I think it’s going to be like a Brazil game, especially since it’s Friday,” said the bar owner, before the match.
