The Current - Cape Verde brings magic to the World Cup

Episode Date: June 23, 2026

In their FIFA World Cup debut, Cape Verde tied 0-0 against Spain, favourites to win. Against Uruguay, they pulled off another 2-2 draw. The third-smallest nation by population to qualify for the beautiful game's largest stage is off to a magical start. We speak with Amelia Goncalves, owner of Luanda Restaurant and Event Space, about Cape Verde watch parties, her team's first ever World Cup goal, and how the tournament fosters community.

With Google AI, Destination Canada is giving local businesses the insights they need to grow. Together, we're helping boost tourism from coast to coast to coast. Innovation is Canada's story. Let's tell it together. Find out more at g.co slash Canadian innovation. This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. Sometimes magic happens at the World Cup. And it happened last week when Tiny Capvered and their 40-year-old gold held off Spain, one of the tournament's favorites, tying Spain nil-nil. And then, would you believe it, magic happened once again. On Sunday, when Cap Verde took on another soccer powerhouse in Uruguay,

a BBC reporter was interviewing a Cap-Verd fan, mid-game when the team scored the first ever World Cup goal. What's your appraisal of the way the Chevalian team has been playing so far? I personal think so far, Cabo Verde has been playing great. It's been matching Uruguay's, pressure. Go ahead! That's a goal!

Let's your goal! Kavubert has broken. He has made history tonight, scoring a live goal here. And you can see what are going to the next face? What do you make a matter? We're going to be. Kavubert is going to alone, man.

You just saw it. I'm on the live on the BBC. Kevair has just made history, scoring the first ever world cup goal. Cup ball in the tournament. You can probably see from behind me the ecstasy, the exhilaration and the euphoria in this place.

Amanda, a big deal for the Cavalions. It's one that will go into the history books, I must tell you. Unbelievable. A big deal indeed. Capverid tied Uruguay 2-2. It's a tiny island nation off the coast of Africa, population of about 600,000.

Their first World Cup, the third smallest country ever to play in the tournament. And for Cap-Faird fans, moment has already felt victorious. Amelia Gonzalez is from Capverd. Her parents are from Cap Verde. She's the owner of Luanda Restaurant and Events Base in Brockton, Massachusetts, home to one of the biggest Capveritean communities outside of that country.

Amelia, good morning. Hey, good morning. What were you thinking? We just heard the reaction from that BBC report. When the ball went in the net and your team scored its first ever goal at the World Cup, went through your mind? Oh, my God. I can describe in words the way we felt.

It's so, it's amazing. It's amazing what happened, what has been happening to those World Cup. So for us, it was something really, really big. It's a dream coming through. Just describe the scene. I've seen some of the photos from inside your restaurant. There's everybody in jerseys and flags. There's food everywhere.

There's some guy banging a pan in celebration. What was going on inside the restaurant during these games? The excitement starts when we were called a fight for the World Cup. That's when the excitement starts. We start celebrating that day. So it just continued. When the World Cups really started, it was just, we have been celebrating. Like for us, like at a tie, for us is a victory.

So, yes, the excitement is high. People are screaming all over the place. We are happy. We're using jerseys every day at the restaurant. so the city is so it's like it's kind of like it's excitement

all over the place to schools some of the teachers are using the jerseys kids are using KVare jerseys it's like the community is happy really happy

this is like a large community what 20,000 people from Capferred live in Brockton, Massachusetts somebody referred to it as the 11th Island in some ways Yes, yes.

So what is it like when those 20,000 people see their team lift off? It's a joy. It's a, it's a proud moment for us to see our tiny nation. Here we can see the 11th Island of Cape Verde, because this is the most people living here in the United States. And it's something that we cannot describe since yesterday. I've been so emotional. The goalie is one of the stars of this team, right?

He's 40 years old, Virginia. What made all of these saves against Spain, everybody thought Spain were just, they're one of the best teams in the world. People thought they were going to win the World Cup. They might win the World Cup. He stops them. He has 15 million followers on Instagram. There's been songs.

written about him that I've heard online as well. What was it like watching him? How do you understand what he was able to do for your team and for your country? It was an emotional moment watching for Zinja performing on the world stage. In his history, it's bigger than football. I'm 40 years old. He showed young generations, young people. Anything is possible regardless of that way he came from.

And when someone from our communities to see that on a global stage, it inspired the entire generation to dream big. You said that his story in some ways reflects the community, right? That if you work hard, anything's possible. Yes, definitely, definitely. What is it about this team that has caught the attention of the world? Because this goes well beyond simply your own community. You now have, I don't know whether you're building a bandwagon,

whether there's a bandwagon parked outside the restaurant, but there are a lot of people who suddenly are on your side. Oh, definitely, definitely, because they are playing a really good soccer. So even the other countries, they come to us and say, wow, what was the game it was? It was really, really hard, and then we work, and we play soccer, we were perseverance, and we work hard.

It was nice to see that. It was really nice. It was a great, great, great. So what are people singing in the restaurant? I want to talk about what people are eating, too. But what are people? Are there songs specific to the team? Yes, yes.

Yes, there was, we do have like music that was made just for the World Cup. So when we have the games here at the restaurant, we play those songs. And we play other songs too that reflects our culture, where we came from, the resilience and everything. And here at the restaurant, usually, you're just. What we do for when we have Gavrit playing, we do our traditional food, that's Cachupa. So that's our traditional food from Gavar. And what is that?

Cachupa is basically made out of harmony, some beans, a lot of meats like pork, chicken, beef, some vegetables. It's a stew. It's really good. How lucky do you feel with this team? If they win on Friday, they play Saudi Arabia on Friday, And if they win, they move on to the knockout round. If they tie, they might still go on to the knockout round. Yes.

So how do I feel? Oh, God. It's a lot of stress. It's just like it's a moment of pride. Now we are dreaming big because, you know, we just, we went to play and said, okay let's let's go and play and see how it's going to go but right now we are like have more hope that we can go to the next the next phase right and um i feel so i feel so amazed even when the games are starting i cannot like i cannot keep myself like i i'm working at the same

time celebrating sometimes i have to go home and watch the game because i didn't have the chance to watch the game. So we don't know what's going to happen. But whatever happens on Friday, even if we're not going to the next level, next stage, we are so happy that what Cab Verdi did to this World Cup. Every report put us on a map. You have big dreams.

Yes, we don't have to show anybody else where we came from. When they asked our where it's scared, I think right now everybody knows where it's Gave-Vord. The world knows who you are. Yes, definitely. How far do you think you can go? So I don't know if you heard that, but they said we had just 1% chance,

and we said we have 99% of fate. So then we can go to the next round. Amelia, good luck. It's really good to talk to you. Thank you so much. Thank you for having. Amelia Gonzalez is a Capverd fan and owner of Luanda Restaurant and Event Space

in Brockton, Massachusetts. This has been the current podcast. You can hear our show Monday to Friday on CBC Radio 1 at 8.30 a.m. at all time zones. You can also listen online at cbc.ca.ca slash the current or on the CBC Listen app or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening.

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