Cape Verde’s World Cup run ended Friday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, but the goalkeeper who defined it leaves as one of the tournament’s most talked-about figures. Josimar José Évora Dias, known as Vozinha, made eight saves against Argentina, four directly against Lionel Messi, as the Blue Sharks fell 3-2 in extra time in the Round of 32.

Messi opened the scoring in the 29th minute, recording his seventh goal of the tournament and his 20th across all World Cup appearances, extending his own all-time record. Cape Verde equalized through Deroy Duarte in the 59th minute. Vozinha then denied Messi one-on-one in the 63rd minute, stopped his left-footed free kick in the 72nd, and turned away another Messi attempt deep in stoppage time to force extra time. Argentina eventually prevailed when an own goal in the 111th minute gave the defending champions the win.

Vozinha’s Instagram following jumped from 500K to 17 million

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Vozinha finished the 2026 World Cup with 18 total saves, a 78.3 percent save percentage, two clean sheets, and 4.20 saves per 90 minutes played. The only goalkeepers aged 40 or older to register more saves at a single World Cup are England’s Peter Shilton, who made 28 in 1990, and Italy’s Dino Zoff, who made 27 in 1982.

Cape Verde conceded just five goals across four matches, drawing all three group-stage games against Spain, Uruguay, and Saudi Arabia before the Argentina defeat.

He is 40 years old and most recently played for Chaves in the Portuguese second division. His follower count on Instagram grew from roughly 500,000 when the tournament started to more than 17 million as of this week, passing the social media standing of multiple major sports figures.

His mother was unable to attend his first group match due to a visa issue, then secured the necessary documentation in time to watch him keep a clean sheet against Saudi Arabia from the stands, waving a Cape Verde flag.

Cape Verde, a nation of approximately 525,000 people, became the smallest country by population to reach the World Cup knockout round. Their coach, Bubista, summarized the run directly after the Argentina loss:

“Argentina is a world champion and they have one of the best players in the world, so that in itself speaks of the challenge it was for our team to overcome them. We want to evolve so that we can have more opportunities to face the so-called big dogs of the tournament.”

Vozinha is an unrestricted free agent. His World Cup numbers make the case for him without any elaboration.