Sidny Lopes Cabral about the World Cup stunt: 'Spanish fans clapped for us'
Sidny Lopes Cabral reflects on Cape Verde's World Cup draw against Spain, a major milestone in his career after a remarkable rise from the lower leagues to top clubs.
Cape Verde pulled off the biggest upset yet at the World Cup with a draw against Spain on Monday. For Sidny Lopes Cabral (23), this was a new chapter in his fairytale year. Just over a year ago, the Rotterdam-born wingback played in the 3. Liga, the third highest level in Germany. He has now worn the Benfica shirt and recently made a nice transfer to Turkish Trabzonspor. 'Every time Lamine Yamal had the ball, I thought for a moment: Shit.'
Lopes Cabral appears on screen from Tampa, Florida, where Cape Verde has its base camp. Immediately after they managed to stop European champion Spain from scoring, the selection boarded the plane. “Everything that happened hasn't really sunk in yet,” Lopes Cabral laughs. 'My WhatsApp, Instagram and Snapchat are completely full of messages. A lot of fans from Cabo, but also a lot of messages from Brazilians.' The latter has to do with the heroic role of their forty-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha. A Brazilian YouTube channel called for people to follow him en masse, which has now earned him almost twelve million followers. 'He has gone completely viral there, so all those Brazilians are now very supportive of us.'
'To be honest, we were already used to this from Vozinha in the selection.' The goalkeeper, who was still an amateur footballer at the age of 25 and then made his first foreign transfer to Angola, took all the Spaniards' attempts from his goal. “He played really well,” says Lopes Cabral. 'To be honest, we were already used to this from him in the selection. He has already shown those qualities several times. It was great that he now showed it to the rest of the world at the World Cup against Spain. He really took everything, he is like a cat sometimes.'
Vozinha's story is special, but Lopes Cabral's route is also film-worthy. He was not accepted by Sparta Rotterdam and Feyenoord in his youth and ultimately only ended up in the Under-17 at FC Twente. After two seasons he left again and was without a club for six months. In his search, he shared his CV on LinkedIn and eventually ended up at the Swedish Helsingborgs IF. After a season in Scandinavia, he moved to Germany and there he played his way from the fifth level to the 3. Liga in two years. His career gained momentum in the past year. Last July, the wingback moved to Estrela Amadora in Portugal, where he earned a spectacular transfer to Benfica within six months. There he heard the Champions League anthem and José Mourinho sent him on twice against Real Madrid.
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