32 days to the World Cup: The defender who came out of retirement to help Cape Verde make history

The countdown to the 2026 World Cup is on! Each day ahead of the tournament’s return to North America, Yahoo Sports will highlight an insight or moment that showcases just how grand the world’s biggest sporting spectacle has become — even beyond the expanded field of this year’s global event.

Cape Verde is about to make history. The tiny African archipelago, with 10 islands and fewer than 500,000 people, will be the second-smallest country at this summer’s expanded World Cup — behind only fellow debutante Curaçao.

One of the great moments in the country’s run to the global tournament came late in their tournament-clinching win last fall: a garbage time goal, scored by a player who came out of retirement to help make Cape Verde’s World Cup dreams come true.

Ianique “Stopira” Tavares, a pioneering professional player born in Praia, Cape Verde’s capital, hung up his boots in 2023 after a decade with Hungarian club Fehérvár. (Stopira earned his nickname, a reference to former French striker Yannick Stopyra, during his time in Europe.)

But after a year away, Stopira returned to football. The 37-year-old center defender joined second-tier Portuguese club Torreense and continued training with Cape Verde with one goal in mind: to make the World Cup.

Cape Verde’s World Cup hopes came down to a qualifying game against Eswatini in October, taking place in Praia. It was Cape Verde’s to win from the start: Goals from Dailon Livramento and Willy Semedo gave Cape Verde and early 2-0 lead.

Stopira entered in the 86th minute; five minutes later, he followed through on a bobble in the box, getting the ball past the Eswatini keeper and immediately celebrating by sprinting and tearing off his shirt.