The 2026 Fifa World Cup has already realised many firsts, and although there will be a winner between Argentina and Spain on Sunday, there will be many other winners in a sense.
Any talk of eventual winners can’t be complete without the mention of Cape Verde, who won the admiration of many football enthusiasts globally after stretching defending champions Argentina to the fullest in their round of 32 match, drawing 2-2 before losing 3-2 in extra time at Miami Stadium on July 4.
You could see the rush, panic and worry written all over the faces of Lionel Messi and most of his teammates as they were stretched to an unexpected extra time.
Argentina kept giving away ball possession easily, and in a hurry, possibly out of fear of losing to a determined Cape Verde as the South Americans sought to avoid being stretched to the penalty shootouts, which would have meant facing the outstanding Cape Verde goalkeeper Josimar José Évora Dias, commonly known as Vozinha. It was possibly the fear of facing Vozinha in the penalty shoot-outs that worried the Argentines, as they thought he was likely going to be the stumbling block.
Mexico's Guillermo Ochoa.
Photo credit: Reuters
Other outstanding goalkeepers in the 2026 tournament have been Raul Rangel and Guillermo Ochoa of Mexico, Unai Simon of Spain, Ghana’s Benjamin Asare, Cote d’Ivoire’s Yahya Fofana, Mike Maignan of France, and Morocco’s Yassin Bounou.
Mike Maignan of France, Thibaut Courtois of Belgium, Argentina’s Emiliano Martinez, Allison Becker of Brazil, Camillo Garvas of Colombia, Diogo Costa of Portugal, and Jordan Pickford of England have also had their moments of fame in the tournament.
Unai Simon of Spain has been outstanding in his team’s run to the final, conceding just one goal in seven matches. The 29-year-old, who plays his club football at Atletico Bilbao in the Spanish League, conceded his first goal of the tournament in a 2-1 quarter-final win against Belgium on July 10, 2026. He is now poised to take on Argentina in the final as a top contender for the Golden Glove award.
Back to Vozinha. Many believe that rank outsiders Cape Verde, who had a fairytale run in the tournament, are among the real heroes of the championship.
The Blue Sharks of Cape Verde had been regarded as easy opponents to Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia.
They gave a good account of themselves in the tournament, drawing 0-0 with the 2010 world champions Spain, holding Uruguay 2-2, and finishing 0-0 with Saudi Arabia to reach the round of 32 stage unbeaten, as one of the best third-placed teams.
In these matches, Vozinha, who has earned over 90 caps with Cape Verde, kept at bay some of the most lethal and finest strikers, including Spain’s Ferran Torres, Mikel Oyarzabal, Lamine Yamal, Nico Williams, and Argentina’s Lionel Messi.
Soccer Football - FIFA World Cup 2026 - Round of 32 - Argentina v Cape Verde - Miami Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida, US - July 3, 2026 Argentina's Lionel Messi celebrates after the match as Argentina qualify for the Round of 16 stage of the World Cup.
Photo credit: Reuters
His performances at the tournament have earned him a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest goalkeeper to have kept a clean sheet at the Fifa World Cup.
Vozinha’s performance throughout the tournament has helped him remain one of the best all-round goalkeepers of the tournament. In particular, Cape Verde, who came into the tournament ranked 64th and took on the defending champions in the round of 32, were expected to lose by many goals to Messi and his teammates, but the underdogs stood their ground, twice coming from behind in regular time to erase Argentina’s lead, Vozinha being the main difference in the side.
Vozinha’s performance in the 2026 Fifa World Cup is comparable to that of English goalkeeper Gordon Banks who pulled off the ‘save of the century” during the group phase of the 1970 Fifa World Cup.
In the 1970 tournament held in Mexico, it so happened that Brazilian legend Pele met his teammate Jairzinho’s cross with a firm header, bouncing it down sharply towards the bottom corner of the goal, only for Banks to adjust his direction sharply midair, pushing off his right foot acrobatically to flick the ball over the bar with his finger tip.
A celebrating Pele then turned to face the field, jumping with a raised clenched fist knowing he had scored. Pele later described Gordon Banks as ‘the goalkeeper with a magic’. It is a performance still being talked about many decades later.
Some 50 years after the match, Vozinha had his own moment against Messi, making eight outstanding close saves against the reigning world champions, including in a one-on-one close-range situation against Messi.
In the match, Vozinha at one time adjusted midair to tip over the bar a Messi trademark close-range effort, and later easily stopped Messi’s blockbuster free kick.
His performance for World Cup debutants Cape Verde brings to mind legendary Cameroonian goalkeeper Thomas Nkono’s exceptional performance against Argentina at the 1990 Fifa World Cup held in Italy.
Cape Verde's Sidny Lopes Cabral celebrates scoring their second goal with teammates during their World Cup Round of 32 match against Argentina uon July 3, 2025 at Miami Stadium in Florida, US.
Photo credit: Reuters
Debutants Cameroon beat champions Argentina 1-0, with Nkono, just like Vozinha, denying the Argentines.
Nkono represented Cameroon at the Fifa World Cup of 1982, 1990 and 1994. His towering and imposing presence, and command of the field made him a pillar for Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions.
Besides leading Cameroon to the World Cup thrice, he won many honours at the Africa Cup of Nations. He was in Club Canon Du Sport Yaounde’s squad that won the 1979 African Club Cup final against Gor Mahia.
Later, Nkono helped his Spanish club Espanyol reach Uefa Cup final in 1988 before losing to Bayer Leverkusen 3-2 on penalties.
In 2002, Senegal’s goalkeeper Tony Sylva stood his ground with crucial saves as World Cup debutants Senegal shocked defending champions France 1-0 in the opening match of the tournament.
Eight years earlier, Colombia’s flamboyant and acrobatic goalkeeper Rene Higuita was the talk of the 1990 Fifa World Cup. Higuita, who played for Colombia from 1987 to 1999, was reliable and kept many clean sheets, earning the nickname ‘el loco” or ‘the mad man’ for his ‘risky’ method of stopping shots at the goal with ‘scorpion back kicks’.
Higuita, who had made several daring attempts not to stop the ball as expected with his hand but instead attempted to out-dribble advancing opponents, met his match in Cameroon’s legend Roger Mila, who rounded him and scored in an empty net at the 1990 Fifa World Cup.
As far as keeping clean sheets is concerned, goalkeeper Lev Yashin, who represented the Soviet Union, still holds the record of having saved over 150 penalties and keeping more than 270 clean sheets in his career.
A woman walksbuy a mural depicting legendary Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin in Kaliningrad on June 18, 2018 during the Russia 2018 Fifa World Cup football tournament. PHOTO | OZAN KOSE |
Yashin is the only goalkeeper to have won the Ballon d’Or. Italy’s Gianluigi Buffon deserves a mention for his longevity, same as his predecessor Dino Zoff and England’s Peter Shilton who kept many clean sheets despite being humbled by Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ in the 1986 Fifa World Cup quarterfinals.
Other great goalkeepers of the past are Sepp Meir, Herald Tony Schummacher and Oliver Khann.
