Half of Me Had always Been Waiting

TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 20 Jul 2026

Nuno Ramalho – TRANSCEND Media Service

How watching Cabo Verde in the World Cup awakened a part of my identity I’d long ignored.

17 Jul 2026 – Market Square, downtown Victoria, BC. FIFA World Cup 2026, round-of-32.

Argentina vs. Cabo Verde, minute 103: Sidny Lopes Cabral bends a shot into the top left corner of Argentina’s goal; clearly the goal of the tournament so far.

It was the last touch of a beautiful sequence of passes that some commentators compared to Brazil’s famous “jogo bonito,” played by the impressive 1982 team led by Zico and Sócrates, known as the best team to never win the World Cup.

A moment for the ages.

I was jumping up and down along with football fans from nationalities other than Cabo Verdean.

Once again, tears of pure joy were rolling down my face. I couldn’t believe how a team from a country as small as Cabo Verde could look Argentina right in the face and play toe to toe with them.

Absolutely insane! I could feel how everyone around me was speechless, delighted and surprised by what they had just witnessed.

Everyone except the Argentina fans, who were in total shock at the resilience and fight Cabo Verde players were putting into the game, as if they were fighting for their own lives.

Two days later, Portugal was playing Croatia in another round-of-32 match. I was on my way to an event I was photographing near Victoria, BC.

I felt quite indifferent about it. There was still an urge to find out what was happening in the match, but that was motivated by pure World Cup fever, not specifically because Portugal was playing.

Conforming to “Normality”

Growing up half-Black among white Portuguese in Lisbon was a challenge.

I was basically forced to conform to the “norm” so I could fit in properly. My peers never refrained from pointing out that my skin was darker, mostly in the form of “jokes.”

I learned to accept that those jokes were “normal,” but in reality they were a reflection of the perception Portuguese people have of those they colonized for over 500 years; a perception rooted in feeling superior to those who come from the former African colonies.

I laughed it off and smiled along, though I always felt uncomfortable about it. It made me repress the African part of me.

Looking back, I feel that my soul was colonized.

How Everything Changed During the World Cup

When the tournament started, I was expecting to be cheerful about Portugal and follow their games closely, despite my increasing dislike of Cristiano Ronaldo.

This couldn’t be farther from what actually happened on a purely emotional level.

When I sat down to watch Spain vs. Cabo Verde, I immediately felt a strong emotional connection with the team from my father’s homeland.

But when I watched Portugal’s first game two days later, it became clear what was truly meaningful to me.

I was in complete awe of the bravery shown by Cabo Verde against Spain, one of the favourites – if not the main favourite – to win the tournament.

Vozinha, the keeper, was the main star of that game, earning millions of followers on his Instagram account.

His numbers skyrocketed within a few hours: he went from 4,500 to around 7 million shortly after the game (29.4 million and counting at the time of writing).

The match against Uruguay was next. Would they be able to keep it up?

The game fell on Father’s Day, so I couldn’t hold back my tears, both when Cabo Verde scored and when the game ended.

The final score was Cabo Verde 2–2 Uruguay. Another former world champion team had been stopped for the second time running.

Another performance for the ages.

Then came Saudi Arabia. Another emotional rollercoaster. Cabo Verde should have won the match had they finished at least one of the many chances they created.

But the best was yet to come: Argentina in the round-of-32. The reigning world champions and one of the obvious favourites to win the tournament.

It’s hard to find words to describe the beauty of that performance and the countless emotional moments it delivered.

The second Cabo Verde goal might have been the highest point of their historic World Cup run. The smallest country by landmass (third smallest by population) ever to compete in the tournament had become everyone’s favourite underdog.

Wrapped in the Flag

My phone was blowing up with messages throughout the game against Argentina. Everyone was cheering for Cabo Verde by then. How could you not, really?

Final score (after extra time!!): Argentina 3-2 Cabo Verde.

As I walked back to my hotel in Victoria, wrapped in my Cabo Verde flag, I was approached by numerous strangers who saluted and congratulated me.

Cars driving by were honking too, making the day feel even more special.

Tears of joy rolled down my face once again. I wasn’t the slightest bit upset about the score, or the fact that Cabo Verde were going home.

Not at all. At this point, I was just thinking about the happiness of my Cabo Verdean brothers and sisters back “home” in Praia, and how ecstatic the Independence Day celebrations a couple of days later would be.

The blue and white of the Cape Verdean flag I’m carrying ripples as the wind blows.

The same blue as the ocean that once carried my father away from the shores of his homeland, now carries something special back to me.

The curtain dropped on Cabo Verde’s participation in the World Cup.

Two and a half weeks that helped me reconnect with, and fully embrace, the better half of my ancestry.

For once, I didn’t have to conform, laugh along, or shrink the parts of myself that didn’t fit. I just thoroughly enjoyed watching my father’s fellow countrymen stand where they had never stood before.

I felt complete for the first time in my existence.

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Nuno Ramalho is a Portuguese non-practicing lawyer who currently works in Social Services and is a member of the Kingston, Ontario, Canada chapter of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights. He is also interested in advocacy, human rights and nonviolent conflict transformation. He is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment.

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