Raimundo Orsi arrived at Santiago National at 42 years old, carrying two World Cup finals in his pockets: the runner-up medal with Argentina in 1930 and the champion medal with Italy in 1934, the only player in history to play World Cup finals with two different national teams. He came to Chile and no one too important went to pick him up at the airport. He played and stayed forever. A few days ago, Vozinha arrived in Santiago, a goalkeeper with a humble background but a splendid presence. He was chosen as the best goalkeeper of the 2026 World Cup, the Spanish champions could not score against him, and he pushed Messi’s Argentina to the limit, who only managed to beat him in the dying moments. He arrives to defend Colo Colo, at 40 years old and in the final stretch of his now loud career.
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The list is long and somewhat like a museum catalog. Ángel Labruna, a great figure of River Plate and Argentina in ’58, ended his career at Rangers de Talca at 42, in the same city where wine has more history than football. Zizinho, the winger that Pelé pointed out as the best player he had ever seen in his life, came out of retirement to play for Audax Italiano at 40, as if Chile were the only place on the planet where one can say goodbye without giving many explanations. René Housemann, world champion in Argentina ’78, arrived at Colo Colo at 32 with a reputation for being crazy and with dazzling dribbling. Mario Alberto Kempes, the star of that same World Cup, the man who scored two goals in the final against the Netherlands, retired definitively at Fernández Vial at 42, on a pitch in Concepción that welcomed him with the same respect as River’s Monumental. Luis Cubilla, a three-time Uruguayan World Cup player, played for Santiago Morning at 35. Ermindo Onega, an Argentine international in ’66, finished at La Serena. Ladizlao Mazurkiewitz, legendary Uruguayan goalkeeper, came at 34 to defend Cobreloa’s goal. Chilean football did not seek them out with big contracts or massive press conferences. It simply welcomed them, which is sometimes more than enough.
Now arrives, with fanfare, Vozinha. Forty years old, nickname “grandma,” about 30 million followers on Instagram, and a contract with Colo Colo that includes the promise of the 2027 Copa Libertadores. He is the most famous World Cup player to have set foot on Chilean soil this century, and probably the first to arrive with that level of global exposure. The difference is that the previous ones came when the world had already somewhat forgotten them. Vozinha is enjoying his unforgettable World Cup, with the trophy for best goalkeeper still in his suitcase. Chile, which for decades received great players in their twilight, this time kept one at a late peak, as once happened with Claudio Borghi, Marcelo Trobbiani, and Carlos Daniel Tapia, luxury substitutes for Maradona in Mexico ’86 who soon tried out the national pitches.
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The difference between those who came before and the media explosion sparked by the Cape Verdean is that he arrives in a meager winter market for Chilean football, and that should postpone a goalkeeper under twenty who promised growth, a debate that did not exist before. Nor now in the more advanced leagues that see these signings as an opportunity to project and grow, as seen in Middle Eastern football and previously in Japan, where great stars in their twilight came to peacefully live out their last days.
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