Sending…a (football) message

While you, Dear Reader, may suppose that your Eyewitness has nothing on his mind but politics, he will have to disabuse you of that notion by telling you that if you were doing ANYTHING else last Friday night but looking at the Argentina-Cape Verde game in the World Cup final 32 playoff – then you should flagellate yourselves in contrition while doing a hundred Hail Marys!! It was not just a football game but an awe-inspiring display of national pride as the lowly-ranked Cape Verde Blue Sharks (#64) faced the Argentinian #1-ranked juggernaut with their GOAT – greatest of all time!! – Captain Messi!!
Now at first glance you’d think that was a mismatch!! After all, Cape Verde was a bunch of nondescript volcanic islands off West Africa – with just half a million people!! They’d been settled by Portuguese from the 1500s – when they dragged African slaves to do all their heavy lifting in agriculture from a barren soil!! They’d done the same with Madeira – from where the Brits brought our “Portuguese” after slavery ended here!! And yes! – We had some immigrants from Cape Verde – Cabo Verde in Portuguese! – Who we dubbed “Sanantone” Portuguese since they’d come from one of the islands – Saint Anthony or Santo Antão in Portuguese!!
And it wasn’t just to Guyana they’d gone to escape their poverty, but to the US and several European countries. And it was because of this diaspora that they were able to field the formidable team that gave them their historic World Cup qualification last year – the 50th anniversary of independence from Portugal!! They had something to prove for their independence – and they did it in such style that their name is now on the lips of the 1.3 BILLION viewers worldwide that officially made the game the most-watched fixture of the 2026 World Cup!!
Mainstream football fans first took notice when Cape Verde held European champions Spain to a goalless draw on their group’s World Cup opener on June 15. They then drew 2-2 with inaugural World Cup champions Uruguay, and in their final group game against Saudi Arabia, played out another goalless draw, qualifying them for the knockout rounds!!
But it was their do-or-die approach against incumbent world champion Argentina that proved their mettle – even though they lost 3-2. They might’ve lost, but they didn’t get beat!! They walked off that ground as peers to the FIFA #1 team in the world. Goalkeeper Vozinha had been incredible all tournament long. 40 years old, playing in the second division of Portugal and went out and playing like a GOAT every game!!
Argentina might have won this game, but Cape Verde won everyone’s hearts and respect!! How about a Guyana cricket team??

…send Sanction Man a message
While there’s been all sorts of loose talk about Pressie refusing to entertain the presence of Sanction Man in his immediate surroundings – much less meetings! – US Ambassador Theriot didn’t mince any words about her Government’s stand on the matter!! On the occasion of celebrating their historic 250th anniversary of their declaration of independence from the Brits, she firmly announced that the LOO Sanction Man hadn’t been invited!! He was persona non grata!!
And it’s this stance that Guyanese should appreciate – even more than the Yanks!! After all, it’s OUR country that was ROBBED OF SOME FORTY BILLION DOLLARS in taxes – when Sanction Man and his Daady smuggled TONNES of gold through the US!! They broke US laws – and the Yanks are rightfully outraged!! So why shouldn’t Pressie be just as outraged?? It’s OUR money that was STOLEN!!
That Sanction Man might’ve been friends with Pressie before sanctions were imposed by the US OFAC – that is even more grounds for appreciating Pressie’s principled stand!!

…a message to Luddites
It appears there are some among us who fear development – like the Luddites of yore who broke factory machinery that was “taking away people’s jobs”! History shows that after an initial industrialisation imbalance, jobs will match people!!