🇨🇻🇮🇪 Roberto 'Pico' Lopes: the Irish Cape Verde international whose bizarre call-up led to World Cup glory
🔁 The 33-year-old defender, with a broad Irish accent, has been turning out for Cape Verde throughout their qualification cycle
☘ The Shamrock Rovers' skipper was born in the Dublin suburb of Crumlin to an Irish mother and Cape Verdean father, representing the Republic of Ireland as a youth international some 15 years ago
📝 Despite never having visited Cape Verde and spending the entirety of his club career in the League of Ireland, 'Pico' was named in the Cape Verdean squad for the first time in 2019
💻 The approach was not made via traditional means or a club-to-country communication channel, though. Instead, Lopes received a message on his personal LinkedIn profile
🇵🇹 Due to the approach being made initially in Portuguese, which Pico did not speak fluently, he disregarded the message as spam, leaving it in his inbox for nine months
🤝 When the Cape Verdean authorities followed up in English, Pico quickly committed his international future to the land of his father
🌎 The fairytale continued when he played a central role at the heart of Cape Verde's defence, which held tournament favourites Spain to a 0-0 draw. One of the biggest upsets in World Cup history
𝗙𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆👉
