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Cape Verde’s heroic World Cup goalkeeper Vozinha says he craves the “peace and tranquillity” of the life he led before he shot to fame. <\/b><\/p>\n
The 40-year-old shot to global prominence in June when he almost single-handedly kept Spain at bay as Cape Verde drew 0-0<\/a> with the European champions on their World Cup debut. <\/p>\n Vozinha’s follower count on social media sky-rocketed over the course of the game, from about 50,000 to more than one million.<\/p>\n But his fame shot up even further when Argentina needed extra time to beat Cape Verde<\/a> in the round of 32.<\/p>\n Vozinha says his life was easier before his World Cup heroics.<\/p>\n “I’ve lost my peace and tranquillity,” he told the Observer., external<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n “I no longer have any privacy, or at least much less than I used to.<\/p>\n “Now I go out, I go to a restaurant, and there’s always someone who wants to take a photo with me or asks me for an autograph. Or, worse, someone is filming me. <\/p>\n “That’s what has changed most in my life, and I don’t think there’s anything I can do about it.”<\/p>\n Vozinha’s mother became part of the fairytale too. After he revealed that she had could not afford a visa to watch his World Cup debut, US House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced that the visa fee had been waived.<\/p>\n Now Vozinha has revealed that his mother is visited on a daily basis by fans wanting to talk or to take photographs with him.<\/p>\n “A lot of people want to be famous and have a public profile, but they only see the positive side of that reality,” said Vozinha.<\/p>\n “To be honest, if I were offered the life I have today or the life I had before, I’d choose the one I had before.”<\/p>\n His World Cup performances for Cape Verde, a West African island nation with a population of 525,000, earned Vozinha a nomination<\/a> for men’s goalkeeper of the year at the Ballon d’Or awards.<\/p>\n “It’s nice to feel like a kind of ambassador, but I want to make it clear that what we achieved was a collective effort,” Vozinha said.<\/p>\n “We made history and the best news would be if we could harness that momentum to develop our country and improve the living conditions of our people.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n