If I must write (you can find more posts of me lately on Substack here!), I must add a disclaimer of how I’m not really a soccer fan.
However this World Cup is changing that, and specifically Cape Verde.
With my kids who have the soccer schedule up and have the matches blaring in the back, the games being played a literal 13 minutes (traffic not included!) from my house in Atlanta, and with an open floor layout, I find myself being sucked into the games.
Yesterday, Cape Verde played Argentina in a knock out round. I had just rooted for Egypt against Australia and was delighted when they won in a thrilling penalty shoot out.
Now, Cape Verde was to go against #1 ranked Argentina led by Lionel Messi, and I who have heard of Messi’s legendary status, knew this wouldn’t be good. Cape Verde is ranked 67 (my kids were delighted to point that out to me, cue the chorus of six sevvvvvennnn). I knew the Cape Verde goalie Vozinha had become a viral sensation- and was allowing myself to become excited to see What If?!
News articles had called this a game of David vs. Goliath, a game of the underdogs versus the champions, and who doesn’t love a good underdog story? I know these moments are what us writers, us humans, live for.
But when a goal careened past Vozinha, I couldn’t bear to see the team I’d been rooting for lose. I slunk upstairs and told one of my teens to get me if anything exciting happened. When she ran up yelling GOOOOOAL!, I leapt out of bed with my toddler and raced downstairs to watch how the rest of the game would unfold. A roller coaster of a game infused with every imaginable emotion!
With a 1-1 tie, I wondered if we would get a thrilling finish with penalties especially since Cape Verde’s goalie Vozinha has an excellent track record. Vozinha made some superb saves, especially against Messi, and the match looked like it could belong to anyone, even an underdog #67 rated island who made their debut this year! But then, cue Argentina scoring a powerful top of the net goal to avert Vozinha’s long arms.
I told myself Cape Verde should be proud of themselves for playing well, for making it this far, for being a team that barely anyone in my family could find on a map. It looks like a few faint pencil dotted islands near the coast of Africa! But as the first extra time drew to an end with Cape Verde trailing behind 2-1, I felt defeated and felt all my excited energy drain my body. My sixteen year old, reassured me, “Don’t give up hope! There’s still a few minutes.”
Resigned, I watched for only a few seconds later to see the most beautiful goal I’d ever seen come out of nowhere- I didn’t know it was possible to make such a goal, a far from the corner of the field goal that spun into the corner of the net, shocking us all, upon which the scorer Sidny Lopes Cabral who after a few frantic hugs from his team leapt into stands to hug his girlfriend. I heard the referee had to tap tap his watch, let’s go!, but I didn’t even register that part, our whole house had erupted in joyful yelly screams. It was a goal, (see replay here that the commentator here stated, “a goal that dreams are made of.”
Yes, Cape Verde let us dream, but they also gave us pure childish fizzy joy.
I’ve seen posts like these admire Cape Verde for dreaming, for their courage, their grit. Agreed 100,000%. And my daughter saw a post that said if you’re going to lose, lose like Cape Verde. Again, agreed 100,000%. I’ve seen other teams break down by the end of the game when they’re trailing behind. I’ve seen them fall apart, start bickering, and you can see the defeat and sweat mingling on their faces. But with Cape Verde, you didn’t see that: you saw determination, unity, and grit until the very last second. Cape Verde played in a manner that was powerful yet tender, elegant but scrappy, and overall incredible to watch as they really fought against the legendary Argentina.
So many lessons to dissect from that game. About determination, not giving up, that type of thing. But. But. But.
There’s a moment in a game where I live for, a moment in a game that blurs joy and reality, a moment of fizzy, unadulterated joy. Thank you Cape Verde for giving me that.
To the team of Cape Verde, for the briefest seconds I forgot who I was, where I was, and became you.
Doodling Through Life 