Cape Verde etched another memorable chapter into their historic FIFA World Cup debut after Sidny Lopes Cabral’s stunning strike was voted Goal of the Tournament by fans.
The Cape Verde forward’s superb curling effort into the top corner against Argentina captured global attention during the competition, highlighting the impressive showing of the tournament debutants.
The spectacular goal came in extra time of Cape Verde’s thrilling round-of-32 clash against the defending champions in Miami Gardens, levelling the score at 2-2 before Argentina eventually snatched a dramatic 3-2 victory.
Lopes Cabral’s effort emerged as the fans’ favourite among the 308 goals scored at the World Cup. It finished ahead of Eldor Shomurodov’s deft lob for Uzbekistan against Congo and Wilson Isidor’s thunderous strike for Haiti against Morocco.
FIFA had shortlisted 12 goals for the public vote, with voting closing on Monday.
The 25-year-old also produced one of the tournament’s most memorable celebrations.
After scoring, he broke away from teammates who tried to embrace him and sprinted into the stands to celebrate with his girlfriend while searching for his mother.
“Before the game, I’d told my mom and my girlfriend that if I scored, I’d run over to them,” he said. “When I got there, I saw my mom crying. She hadn’t even realized I was right there. Everyone was busy tending to her because she had fainted when I scored.”
Cape Verde exceeded expectations throughout the tournament, pushing both eventual finalists to the limit during their four-match campaign.
Their impressive run began with a shock 0-0 draw against eventual champions Spain, inspired by an outstanding goalkeeping display from Vozinha.
