Khaberni - Stephen Moreira, the Cape Verde player, did not begin his talk in his interview about his country's historic qualification to the World Cup for the first time by focusing on the tactical plans and qualification calculations as much as he wanted to talk about the smiles his national team brought to the faces of people living in tough conditions, some of whom don’t even know if they will find food to eat by the end of the day as he described.
The Cape Verde national team surprised everyone with a draw against Spain in its first-ever appearance at the World Cup, before sneaking another precious point with a 2-2 draw against Uruguay in the second round.
Moreira said about participating in the World Cup: "It's amazing. Right after qualifying, we couldn't really comprehend what had happened. Now, we realize that it is real, and that we are actually participating in the World Cup. It was wonderful to see the smile and joy on the faces of people in the country, and in my family too. I felt that we had achieved something very big, and everyone is talking about it."
The player from Columbus Crew SC added: "This is my country, and my parents were born there. I know how hard life was for them before moving to France. They didn’t speak French and had to learn everything from scratch. But today, we elevate our country’s name to this global level, which is a matter of pride. I think this is the first time I've seen my parents this proud. Of course, they were proud of me for being a football player, but this time it's completely different because it’s on the biggest stage in the world."
He continued: "Now everyone talks about Cape Verde. Previously, many didn't even know where our country was, just small islands. And even for the people there, some don’t know if they will find something to eat at the end of the day, but because of what we've achieved, you can see that they forget all those worries and live moments of joy, and how the world's perception of our country has changed.. This makes me extremely proud, and I consider it the greatest achievement of my life."
Moreira did not hide that Cape Verde's ambition was not just to make a respectable appearance, but to go beyond the group stages despite the competition’s difficulty, saying: "Qualifying for the World Cup is a great achievement, but that’s over now. We want to compete against the big teams, and if we succeed in moving beyond the group stages it will be something wonderful, and that's our goal, we know how difficult the task is with groups including Spain, Uruguay, and Saudi Arabia, all very strong teams, but we will try to compete and give our best."
Moreira also talked about the crucial match against Saudi Arabia, praising the capabilities of the "Green" team and acknowledged knowing the star Salem Al-Dawsari, saying: "It will be a very tough match. The Saudi team has distinguished players, and everyone followed their match against Argentina in the previous World Cup. I feel that our group is one of the toughest, and Saudi Arabia has players with high technical skills."
Moreira concluded: "There are people in our country who do not know if they will find something to eat at the end of the day, but they forget all those worries when they watch their national team, so if we succeed in winning against Saudi Arabia and move on from the group stages, it will be a great achievement and will make our people forget all their troubles."
