A tiny nation qualified for its first World Cup. Cape Verde has fans here
You’ll be forgiven if you’ve never heard of the Blue Sharks, a soccer team that will face Spain’s fearsome La Roja squad next June in Atlanta during the FIFA World Cup. But for the local Cape Verdean diaspora, Saturday’s scheduling announcement was kind of a big deal.
“Welcome to Atlanta where CV will play!!” wrote Joe Ramos, administrator of Cape Verdeans of Atlanta, a Facebook group with about 6,000 members. “Who doubts me now?”
Cape Verde is a chain of 10 volcanic islands in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of West Africa. Colonized by Portuguese explorers in the 15th century, it became an independent nation in 1975. And it qualified for its first World Cup in October — becoming one of the smallest nations ever to reach the tournament.
Al Vicente, president of the Cape Verdeans of Atlanta, was feeling good on Saturday afternoon as he watched his 2-year-old grandson and imagined the showdown with Spain at high noon on June 15.
“That just blows my mind,” he said, “that not only am I gonna see my Blue Sharks, but I’m gonna see them in Atlanta.”
Vicente is 70 and lives in Fayetteville. He says that almost every year since 1993, the local Cape Verdean organization has hosted a picnic. (Most recently they’ve held it in Piedmont Park.) It usually draws 300 to 500 people. One popular dish at this gathering is cachupa.
Vicente and his wife get up early on picnic day to make their cachupa, Cape Verde’s national dish. There are many ways to make cachupa. Vicente says each of the country’s nine inhabited islands has its own style. Vicente is from Brava, the smallest of the nine, a land of thick fog and beautiful flowers. He uses corn and salted pork and lima beans and pinto beans and kidney beans, which cook for a while before he throws in the kale.
“Al Vicente’s cachupa is excellent,” said Glynis Ramos-Mitchell, the organization’s immediate past president. “It’s real good. It’s not as good as mine, but it’s real good.”
Ramos-Mitchell lives in Marietta. She was also thrilled Saturday to see Cape Verde — or Cabo Verde, as she prefers to call it — get some attention. As a relatively new nation with barely half a million residents, it remains unfamiliar to many Americans.
“Lot of times,” she said, “we’re mistaken for being Puerto Ricans.”
But a fascinating history connects Cape Verde and the United States. Its residents tend to be good at sea, and many came to Massachusetts and Rhode Island during the heyday of the whaling industry. The connection between New England and Cape Verde is so strong that Vicente said it’s a common occurrence to see Celtics, Patriots and Red Sox gear on the streets of his native island.
Those Cape Verdean New Englanders included the ancestors of Joe Ramos, a first cousin of Glynis Ramos-Mitchell. Ramos is originally from New Bedford, Massachusetts. After retiring from the U.S. Navy he worked for the city of Atlanta; now he lives in Woodstock and works for the U.S. Department of Labor. He is, of course, a huge fan of the Blue Sharks. And like Vicente, he hopes to attend the match next June.
“I’m ecstatic, frankly, that they’re coming here first,” he said.
Spain is currently the top-ranked national team in the world. The Blue Sharks might get smashed by The Red One. Nevertheless, Vicente is feeling optimistic.
“You know,” he said, “David and Goliath.”
About the Author
Thomas Lake is a senior reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His work has been published in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated and The Guardian. He's a co-founder of The Lake Family Band. Please email thomas.lake@ajc.com if you'd like to share a story idea.
