Vozinha arrives in Chile to sign for Colo-Colo

Aug 3 : Cape Verde’s veteran goalkeeper Vozinha, who became a social media sensation at the World Cup, has arrived in Chile to join Colo-Colo.

Vozinha, 40, will sign a six-month contract, with the possibility of a one-year extension, on Monday after undergoing a medical and he will start training on Tuesday.

Chilean media said he was likely to make his debut on August 16, against O’Higgins as Colo-Colo look to maintain their healthy lead at the head of the Chilean Premier Division.

Vozinha’s performances for the small African island nation at the World Cup in North America helped Cape Verde get past the group stage before a narrow loss to Argentina in the last 32. They held eventual winners Spain and twice  world champions Uruguay to draws in the group phase and Vozinha played a major role in his country’s debut appearance at the global tournament.

His Instagram account went from around 50,000 followers to around 17.4 million after his heroics against Spain in the first week of the tournament in June.

Colo-Colo were on Friday granted permission for Vozinha, whose real name is Josimar Jose Evore Dias, to use his footballing nickname on his shirt despite regulations in the South American country prohibiting it.

The possibility he might be banned from using the name he had on his World Cup kit proved less contentious than originally thought, however, with other Chilean clubs agreeing to Colo-Colo’s request.

The nickname Vozinha, which means “little grandmother” in Portuguese, was given by the older kids when he was a boy and would cry after losing games of street football and storm home to his grandparents, with whom he lived.

The goalkeeper was last at Portuguese second division side Chaves and has played for clubs in Angola, Cyprus, Moldova and Slovakia.    

(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Ed Osmond)