Africa-Press – Cape verde. The Qatar 2022 World Cup, unfortunately, did not have the participation of the Blue Sharks, but Creole blood was represented through athletes of Cape Verdean descent who play for other nations.
Cape Verdeans have always had a particular relationship with emigration. She has helped and continues to help Cape Verde in different segments and her children are sometimes outstanding in the most diverse areas of knowledge and life, and of course, sport could not be an exception. In this Football World Cup, in Qatar, A NAÇÃO highlights three cases that stand out: Pedro Miguel Correia, who plays for the host team, Edimilson Fernandes, Switzerland, and Nuno Mendes, Portugal.
Nuno Mendes
Nuno Alexandre Tavares Mendes, perhaps the most famous on our list, was born on June 19, 2002 in Sintra, Portugal. He plays as a left-back and plays for Paris Saint-Germain in France.
In one (live), the athlete was adamant, dispelling all doubts regarding his origin.
His family, as he said, comes from Santa Catarina de Santiago, from the locality of Pingo de Chuva, which he revealed he visited as a child.
Nuno started at Despertar, a club located in Casal de Cambra, in Sintra. He quickly made a name for himself at the small club, and was already noticed by the big three in Portugal: Porto, Benfica and Sporting. But it was at Sporting that he trained, at Centro de Estágios, from the age of 10, making his professional debut for the Lisbon club on June 12, 2020.
He was called up for the first time to the Portugal Under-21 selection on August 24, 2020, for the friendlies against Cyprus and Belarus, debuting on September 4, 2020, in the 4–0 victory over Cyprus, valid for the 2021 U-21 European Championship, having a good participation, giving two assists.
Nuno is called up by Portugal’s senior squad on March 6, 2021, for the first three rounds of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, and made his debut on March 24, in the first round of qualifying. And now, at the age of 20, he made his debut in world football championships, defending the national team.
Edimilson Fernandes
Edimilson Fernandes Ribeiro was born on April 15, 1996 in Sion, canton of Valais, Switzerland. He is of Portuguese and Cape Verdean descent and is the cousin of former Swiss national team player Gelson Fernandes, Portuguese national team player Manuel Fernandes and Swiss player Cabral.
Due to his ancestry, Fernandes could play for the Portuguese or Cape Verde national teams, but he preferred to defend Switzerland, his home country.
Edimilson Fernandes is ten years younger than Gelson and Manuel. His part of the family also settled in Sion, where he was born. He took advantage of the paths paved by Gelson and it was at Sion that the Cape Verdean descendant started and projected himself towards the youth teams, until he was called up by the Swiss main team for the first time in November 2016. There was no time to play in the Cup of the 2018 World Cup, but, in a way, the midfielder filled the gap left by Gelson. He would be at Euro 2020, until he gets his first World Cup opportunity in 2022.
For clubs, after leaving Sion, Edimilson Fernandes played in several major European leagues. He played for West Ham and Fiorentina before being bought by Mainz 05.
Pedro Miguel, “Ró-Ró”
Pedro Miguel Carvalho Deus Correia, center back and one of the captains of the Qatar national team, is the son of Cape Verdeans, was born on August 6, 1990 in Portugal and grew up in the Casal de São José neighborhood in Mem Martins, Sintra area. Trained at Benfica, the footballer has already played for Aljustrelense, Farense and Estoril Praia before moving to Qatar in 2010.
Six years later Pedro Miguel became naturalized and was called up to the Qatar national team. At that time, it was already known that the country was going to organize the 2022 World Cup and he saw the dream of playing in a World Cup getting closer and closer.
Ró-Ró (nickname gained from his admiration for the Brazilians Ronaldo and Romário) is 32 years old, plays for Al Sadd in Qatar.
In the national team, Pedro Correia already has 78 appearances, being one of the references and one of the captains of the team led by Félix Sánchez.
He was part of the Cape Verde national team that won the Gold Medal at the 2009 Lusofonia Games held in Lisbon, Portugal.
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