Denied! What the data says about the Cape Verde goalie’s many blocks
What the data says about the goalkeeper in the historic tie between Cape Verde and Spain.
Spain should have defeated Cape Verde by an overwhelming margin, according to the data produced by Northeastern University’s NetSI Sport research group.
But Cape Verde goalkeeper Josimar Dias, known by his nickname Vozinha, made seven saves, six from within the box, denying one of the top-ranked teams in the tournament an early victory, according to Brennan Klein, director of Northeastern University’s NetSI Sport research group.
Klein said if you look at Spain’s passing map for the game, you would expect that Spain would have won by a wide margin. That’s because Spain dominated high in the pitch and executed more than a dozen key passes, which are passes that led to a shot on goal. The passing maps show clusters that illustrate Spain’s dominance in front of the net.
The maps also show that Spain made more than seven cross passes, Klein said.
“For Spain, this actually read a little desperate,” Klein said in his analysis, “because they couldn’t find a way to make a through ball or make some sort of dribble successful in getting into the box and getting a good shooting opportunity,” he said.
But Dias also foiled that strategy, catching three of Spain’s crossing attempts.
“The goalie quite bravely caught a lot of these passes,” Klein said.
Read more World Cup analysis on NGN Offside →
By contrast, Cape Verde’s passing map showed much less uniformity, with the team completing a total of only four key passes, he said. Additionally they only completed 218 passes to Spain’s 765.
“They really struggled to get out of the back of the field,” he said. “They didn’t create all that much, so [the tie] they got from this game just showed how effective their goalie was.”
In an interview published by FIFA this month, Dias said the older boys with whom he played football while growing up gave him the nickname Vozinha. They would tease him when he would stomp off in rage to his grandparents after being knocked around on the pitch, he said. Vozinha means granny in Portuguese and Cape Verdean Creole.
Dias’ social media account has also seen a big boost, surging by millions overnight and currently standing at 9.9 million.
Below are a few event graphics showcasing some of Vozinha’s saves during the game.
