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Cape Verde may be small, but it has big World Cup dreams. With just over half a million people, it is one of the smallest countries ever to qualify. And the island nation off West Africa is not just showing up at this summer's tournament. It is reaching for history. Ricci Shryock explains.
RICCI SHRYOCK: From these islands, the Blue Sharks are chasing something far bigger than its geography suggests. For the first time, Cape Verde's national team - the second smallest nation by population ever to qualify - has reached the World Cup.
(CHEERING)
SHRYOCK: The moment the team qualified, the streets here were filled with ecstatic fans. Strangers embraced. And in Cape Verde, football sounds different now.
(SOUNDBITE OF KICKING SOCCER BALL)
SHRYOCK: What was once street play and schoolyard games now carries the weight of a World Cup dream.
PEDRO BETTENCOURT: The expectation of our young players is very high.
SHRYOCK: Pedro Bettencourt, president of the country's prestigious youth football training school - known by its Portuguese acronym, EPIF - says he's seen a change in young players since the national team's success.
BETTENCOURT: In the moment, with our qualification, the dreams of the youngs is very high.
UNIDENTIFIED SOCCER COACH: (Non-English language spoken).
SHRYOCK: And on the pitch here at this training session, that dream has a name, a face and a voice full of confidence.
YURI MARLEY FERNANDES: Yuri Marley (inaudible) Fernandes, the best player of Cape Verde.
SHRYOCK: Fernandes is 14, a forward at EPIF and already speaking like someone who belongs on a bigger stage.
YURI: It's my dream because the football is beautiful, and I can play. I can win a World Cup. I play very well. I'm a forward, very fast, and my goals are too beautiful.
(SOUNDBITE OF CRASHING WAVES)
SHRYOCK: For him, the dream is personal, but for Cape Verde, it stretches across borders. An archipelago of 10 islands with more citizens abroad than at home, the national team is built across continents, players from Europe, Saudi Arabia, the United States coming together under one flag.
IANIQUE DOS SANTOS TAVARES: This is mean everything for us. I'm glad because I am part of this.
SHRYOCK: One of them is Ianique dos Santos Tavares, better known by his nickname, Stopira. We reached him on a scratchy phone line in Portugal in the middle of training, where he reflected on what this moment means.
TAVARES: I spend all my career with this dream. I have no words to describe this, this how can be? But it's just amazing. You know, it's a realize of not only my dream, but all the country dreams, you know? So it's great. It's very - it's great.
(CROSSTALK)
SHRYOCK: Much of Cape Verde's soccer success is credited to investment from the national federation. Mario Semedo, its president, says FIFA, soccer's world governing body, has funded improvements to pitches like this one in Santa Cruz.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MARIO SEMEDO: (Speaking French).
SHRYOCK: "Soccer is very important," he says, "and having access to the game has an impact that goes beyond sport." The federation is also set to earn $10.5 million from reaching the World Cup group stage - funding it plans to use to strengthen its finances and build a structured scouting system across the diaspora.
(CROSSTALK)
SHRYOCK: And back on these island pitches, the next generation keeps playing, fueled by a World Cup dream that no longer feels out of reach. For NPR News, I'm Ricci Shryock in Cape Verde.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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