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On Monday, we were treated to a very unexpected outcome at the World Cup when Cape Verde managed to play Spain to a draw. The former didn’t get the win but still pulled off a massive upset with the help of Josimar Dias (a.k.a. “Vozinha”), the goalkeeper who found himself flooded with new followers on Instagram thanks to his efforts.
Curaçao is the only team competing in the 2026 World Cup with a smaller population than Cape Verde, with the latter boasting around 525,000 to the former’s 185,000. This also marks the first time either of those nations is competing in the tournament, as they were able to take advantage of the expanded field of 48 teams.
Neither of those squads was expected to advance from the group stage, and Curaçao got off on the wrong foot with a 7-1 loss at the hands of Germany. Most people expected Cape Verde to be dealt a similarly lopsided defeat when they opened things up against Spain on Monday, but that did not end up being the case.
The game ended in a 0-0 tie, and that result had a lot to do with the 40-year-old goalkeeper known as “Vozinha,” who found himself thrust into the spotlight after racking up seven saves during the contest.
Cape Verde’s goalie went from less than 50,000 Instagram followers to over 7 million after his team drew with Spain
Josmiar Dias, who is also known as Vozhina, hails from the island of São Vicente in Cape Verde and kicked off his professional career as a goalie for a squad in his native country in 2007. Since then, he’s spent time with more than half a dozen pro teams around Africa and Europe, and heading into the World Cup, he’d appeared in nearly 90 games for Cape Verde’s national team since making his debut in 2012.
Dias and the rest of his teammates didn’t have a chance against Spain on paper in their World Cup matchup on Monday, but there’s a reason those games are actually played. The keeper rose to the occasion to keep the Spaniards scoreless in a game where advanced analytics said they had 2.29 expected goals to Cape Verde’s .28, and he earned Man of the Match honors after both teams were knotted at zero when the final whistle blew.
Dias had approximately 46,000 followers on Instagram before the match got underway, but as of Monday morning, that number had grown to more than 7.4 million (a nearly 16,000% increase) and was still rising at an impressive rate.
Cape Verde will also face a tough test against Uruguay when the two teams face off in Miami on June 21st (they’ll cap off the group stage against Saudi Arabia in Houston on the 26th), and Dias will probably have to step up again if they want to keep their Cinderella story going.