ROBERTO ‘PICO’ LOPES’ impressive career has included four league titles with Shamrock Rovers and three PFAI Team of the Year appearances.

However, some of his best memories have occurred since the turn of the year, as Lopes starred for Cape Verde in the Africa Cup of Nations, which took place in Ivory Coast from 13 January to 11 February.

Lopes was born in Dublin to a Cape Verdean father and Irish mother, growing up in Crumlin.

Since making a debut for Bohemians in 2010, he has established himself as one of the top defenders in the League of Ireland.

And starting in 2019, the respect afforded to Lopes domestically has extended to international level after the player belatedly responded to a LinkedIn message inquiring about his interest in representing Cape Verde.

Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO

In addition to getting as far as the quarter-finals in this year’s AFCON, he also featured regularly in the 2022 edition of the tournament when Cape Verde — one of the smaller African footballing nations both figuratively and literally with an estimated population of 587,925 — again impressed and made it to the round of 16.

Of the two events, Lopes found the experience of playing in Ivory Coast more enjoyable, and not just because the team made it one stage further.

Preparations in Cameroon were impacted by a major Covid outbreak in their camp at a tournament where stadiums mostly had a 50% limit on attendance as one of the many precautionary measures implemented during the pandemic.

To make matters worse, 16 of their squad ended up suffering from food poisoning, prompting an eventual change of hotel.

Not everyone recovered in time for their crucial knockout encounter, with Lopes needing to come off at half-time of their agonising 2-0 defeat against eventual champions Senegal.

Learning from this unfortunate experience, Cape Verde brought their chef to the Ivory Coast and generally enjoyed a more successful and less chaotic few weeks.

“It’s hard to explain the atmosphere down in Africa,” he says. “Everyone is just so excited to see the football matches. And there’s no real sense of — ‘this is my team, so we don’t like your team.’

“They’re just so happy to see footballers coming into the stadium, it doesn’t matter where you’re from, they just love football.”

Before the tournament, Lopes had been bracing himself for coming up against one of the best footballers in the world, Mo Salah.

As it panned out, the Liverpool star picked up an injury and missed the match in question, while Cape Verde had already qualified for the knockout stages by the time they faced Egypt in their final group game, so Lopes was rested during the 2-2 draw.

Was he more relieved or disappointed at not being able to pit his wits against a footballing superstar ultimately?

“I didn’t really care,” he replies. “My goal and our goal was always to get out of the group. The fact that we had that done after two games, we were all delighted and it’d be nice on a personal level to say that you played against Mo Salah but it was never really the be-all and end-all. 

“I did shake his hand after the game and wished him all the best, so that for me is the same thing.”

Lopes cites Ghana’s Antoine Semenyo and Inaki Williams as two of the toughest opponents he did come up against, while the 1-0 knockout stages win over Mauritania rivalled the Egypt game in terms of the excitement it produced.

“Cape Verde put out a flight for the fans back home to come over for the day and it was special having a lot of Cape Verdians in the stadium to see us on and to get a victory in front of them,” he recalls.

Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO

In the end, Lopes and co suffered the heartbreak of a 2-1 penalty shootout defeat following a 0-0 draw in their last-eight encounter with South Africa — a country that dwarfs them in size and population.

“I didn’t think that would affect me as much as it did, because of the come down off that, to be so close. South Africa are a good side and they started the game well. I think we came into it and had chances to score. If we had taken one, we might have seen out the game.

“And then, look, going to penalties, it’s just a lottery. If you had told me that we’d only score one out of four, I wouldn’t believe you, the way the lads were taking them in training.”

Lopes was well down the pecking order for spot kicks having “ballooned mine over” in a practice session the previous day.

However, he can feel satisfied with his contribution overall and his Cape Verde career in general, with 28 caps to date and a realistic chance at 2026 World Cup qualification — they have four points from two matches so far and sit joint top of their six-team group with Cameroon and Libya.

Moreover, after some initial apprehension, the most inspiring aspect of Lopes’ journey is how swiftly he has adapted and built relationships with teammates in a country that has become “like a second home”.

A seminal moment was during a 0-0 draw in a World Cup qualifier against Angola in Praia last November.

“I heard the fans chanting my name at one stage and I didn’t think it was real,” he says. “The lads said after the game that they’d never heard that. That’s when I felt: ‘These really accept me, I really feel Cape Verdian now.’”

Lopes has earned the fans’ love, not just with his performances, but through his conduct and the decision to embed himself in Cape Verde’s culture and heritage.

“It’s probably something I neglected for a long time,” he admits. “And I’m almost embarrassed that I did, but once I got the call-up, I was fully involved, fully invested and trying to learn the language as quickly as possible and the national anthem before my first trip over there.

“If people see that effort in you, that willingness to learn more and to try to immerse yourself in the culture, it makes it easier [for them] to accept you.

“You can’t just be half-arsing it, if you’re in, you’re all in — I think people respect that and they see that.”

Of course, not that the support back in Ireland was lacking by comparison.

“It was amazing, from across the league and particularly, from Shamrock Rovers,” he says.

“Since I’ve come home, I have had fans saying we were watching it every night in bars and on their holidays in Spain, and they had other people watching the game as well.

“A boy from Crumlin, who plays football in Ireland is being supported in Africa — I felt like I was representing two countries, it was a great feeling.”