ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Cape Verde’s Roberto “Pico” Lopes nearly threw away the chance to represent his country because he thought the invitation was spam.
The Dublin-born Shamrock Rovers defender is gearing up for his second Africa Cup of Nations tournament. Cape Verde starts with a game against Ghana on Sunday.
Only for the persistence of former Cape Verde coach Rui Águas, the 31-year-old Lopes would probably not have been taking selfies with supporters in the lobby of the Cape Verde’s team hotel on Saturday.
Instead, he’d be enjoying a well-earned offseason break after helping Rovers to a record-equaling four straight League of Ireland titles.
Lopes, whose father is Cape Verdean and mother Irish, ignored the first inquiry he received from Águas on LinkedIn in October 2018 about playing for the Atlantic island nation because the message was in Portuguese, a language he didn’t speak, and he assumed it was spam.
“Thankfully the man wrote back in English (a year later) and asked if I’d considered his proposal. Then I done what I should have done in the first place and Google translated it,” Lopes told The Associated Press. “He asked me if I was interested in declaring for Cape Verde. Of course, straightaway I replied, and I apologized profusely. I said, if the opportunity is still there, I’d love to be a part of it.”
Lopes subsequently made his Cape Verde debut in a 2-1 win over Togo in Marseille in October 2019 for the first of 23 international appearances for the “Blue Sharks.”
Four of those were at the 2021 Africa Cup. His last game in the round of 16 against Senegal was cut short after an outbreak of gastroenteritis among the team. Lopes had to go off at halftime, feeling unwell. With Lopes off the field, Sadio Mané scored Senegal’s opener in a 2-0 win. Senegal went on to win the tournament.
After facing the “Black Stars” of Ghana on Sunday, Cape Verde plays Mozambique on Jan. 19. Then Lopes faces Mohammed Salah, whom he described as “one of the greatest players in the world,” when Cape Verde plays Egypt in their final group game in Abidjan on Jan. 22.
Only the top two teams in the group are assured of progressing to the knockout stage.
“When I saw the draw, I was kind of like, ‘oh my God,’ but then you get the excitement of testing yourself against these great players,” Lopes said. “Ghana was a team that I grew up watching with a great fondness. I loved watching Michael Essien, Asamoah Gyan competing on the World Cup stage and in the Africa Cup of Nations, and they still have a really strong squad, and a manager, Chris Hughton, who I know from being an Irishman as well, so looking forward that meeting.”
Lopes previously faced Zlatan Ibrahimović when Rovers played AC Milan in a qualifier for the Europa League in 2020, when the Swedish star entertained the Irish team with his trash talking. Lopes said Ibrahimović told Rovers teammate Joey O’Brien that he could go over to Miami to cut his grass for him after the game.
On facing the likes of Mané, Ibrahimović and Salah, Lopes said, “If you put them on a pedestal, you’ve sort of lost the game mentally before you’ve entered the pitch.”
Cape Verde reached the quarterfinals at the 2013 Africa Cup and current coach Bubista has assembled a talented crew to try and go further this time. Lopes highlighted the impact of veterans Vozinha and Ryan Mendes, the goalkeeper and winger who will be playing in their fourth tournament, as well as defender Stopira, and former Manchester United attacker Bebé, now with Rayo Vallecano in Spain.
“What we can deliver together is up there with the best of them,” said Lopes, who added, “We’ve got a few young players coming through, so looking forward to seeing what they can do.”
Lopes’ success with Cape Verde has not gone unnoticed back in Dublin, where he says “they’re all Cape Verde fans after being Ireland fans. They’re all happy for me and pushing me every day to reach high levels. It really is a team effort. If I wasn’t playing for Shamrock Rovers with the team, I might never have got this call up.”
Ivory Coast’s orange, white and green flag will look familiar to Lopes because of its similarity to Ireland’s tricolor.
The Cape Verdean Dubliner is proud to carry Irish hopes into the tournament.
“I don’t know if anyone from Ireland has played at AFCON before — one or two, definitely,” Lopes said. “But it’s nice representing two countries.”
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