There's landing at an airport, and then there's landing at THIS airport. Cape Verde's national team touched down after their World Cup run and the reception looked less like a routine flight arrival and more like a national holiday got declared on the spot.
The team descends the stairs onto the tarmac to airport staff waving them in like conquering heroes.
That's the thing about small nations doing big things on the World Cup stage — the whole country shows up. Cape Verde isn't a football country that gets used to this kind of run, which is exactly why the reception at the airport looked like it did, staff and onlookers alike losing it before the players even hit the tarmac.
And then there's Vozinha. In the span of a month the goalkeeper went from a name casual fans didn't know to a guy who apparently can't walk through his own country without causing a scene. The crowds gathering in the streets to celebrate him aren't small, either.
A livestream captures a massive flag-waving street crowd near the airport, viewer count climbing in real time as the scene unfolds.
That's a legit living-legend moment forming in real time, and it's easy to see why. A goalkeeper becoming the face of a nation's biggest sporting run ever tends to do that. Cape Verde may be done playing for now, but based on the reception back home, nobody there is treating this run like it's over.