HEARING a Dublin accent is just about the last thing you might expect around the Cape Verde squad at the Africa Cup of Nations, but Irish-born centre-back Roberto “Pico” Lopes has become a fixture in the Blue Sharks team in recent years.

The 31-year-old Shamrock Rovers defender helped the island nation claim a famous 2-1 win over Ghana in their opening game of this year’s Afcon on Sunday, leaving them well placed to reach the last 16.

The son of a Cape Verdean father and Irish mother, he was handed his debut in 2019 after being tracked down via LinkedIn.

Lopes was part of the side that lost to Sadio Mane’s Senegal in the last 16 in Cameroon two years ago and is in the squad again in Ivory Coast.

“Ever since I got this call up it is something I can’t get enough of,” he said just before training in Abidjan.

“Every time I meet up with the squad and we travel to Cape Verde or other parts of the world, I am just eager to learn more.

“It is a great feeling in this group, what we have. From day one since I came here everyone accepted me and made me feel welcome.”

So just how did the stopper capped by Ireland at the Under-19 level – he notably played alongside Jeff Hendrick, later of Burnley and Newcastle United – end up turning out for Cape Verde?

“It was a bit of a mad one,” he smiles.

“I managed to get a cap for the Under-19s but in reality, I probably wasn’t good enough to be near the team.

“I went to college and was keen to play football alongside that, and as part of a college module I had to set up a LinkedIn account, which I added all my friends on and just kept it going for a few years.

“I think it was about eight years after I set it up that the then-manager of Cape Verde, Rui Aguias, contacted me on LinkedIn. I thought it was spam. It was in Portuguese which I didn’t understand at the time.

“I left it there, ignored him, through my ignorance, and thankfully he messaged me back in English afterward with his proposal.

“He said they were interested in getting new players into the national team and asked if it would be of interest.

“I said absolutely and apologised profusely, and that if the opportunity was still there I would love to be a part of it.”

‘Not here by chance’

A debut followed against Togo in a friendly in France, leaving Lopes to reflect on how his father’s journey has shaped his football career.

“He left Cape Verde when he was 16 and went to Lisbon. He trained as a chef there and started working on ships around the world,” Lopes says.

“He docked up in Holland or Belgium and lived there for a few years, then got a job with Irish Ferries, went back and forth to Ireland and settled down there.”

Cape Verde is a nation of barely 600,000 people but reaching out to the diaspora in Europe has helped them become the 14th-best team in Africa according to the FIFA rankings.

“We are not here by chance, we are here on merit, we have earned our place,” says Lopes, who began his career with Bohemians and has gone on to win four straight Irish titles at Shamrock Rovers.

Mozambique is Cape Verde’s next opponent in Group B on Friday, before a meeting with Egypt.

Coming up against Mohamed Salah is unlikely to faze a player who has already taken on Mane, Victor Osimhen, Achraf Hakimi and Riyad Mahrez at the international level.

“I haven’t looked too far ahead,” he says.

“Now the focus is on Mozambique. I managed to catch a bit of their game against Egypt and they got a fantastic result, so that will be a really exciting game and then we will worry about Egypt after that.” – AFP, January 17, 2024.