Cape Verde qualify for World Cup: Exclusive Pico Lopes interview as African nation reach tournament for first time

Pico Lopes is on the verge of captaining Shamrock Rovers to both a fifth League of Ireland title in six seasons and a first FAI Cup since 2019.

He has Conference League league-phase ties against AEK Athens and Shakhtar Donetsk to plan for, too.

But, before long, his focus will switch - Cape Verde have qualified for the World Cup for the first time.

This marks the latest surreal turn in the 33-year-old's career.

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Until joining Rovers in 2017, the one-time Republic of Ireland U19 international had paired his playing duties for Bohemians with a job in a bank as a mortgage advisor.

Since then, he has turned full-time, won four league titles, played in Europe for the first time and, most importantly, made his international debut.

Lopes was born and raised in Dublin to an Irish mother and Cape Verdean father.

He made his debut in a 2-1 friendly win over Togo in October 2019 - but it might never have happened had he not replied to then-Cape Verde manager Rui Aguas on LinkedIn.

"I was very paranoid," he tells Sky Sports. "Growing up in an area where there were loads of prank calls, I was maybe over-cautious! I swallowed my pride and, thankfully, I did get in touch just in time."

When Lopes travelled to meet the squad, around a month after the initial contact, his biggest fear was about communication. Portuguese and Cape Verdean Creole are the two primary languages. He spoke neither.

"I was nervous about that, but when I got down there, everyone was brilliant. They came and spoke to me and anyone who did speak English spoke to me in English and tried to help me out as much as they could.

"But it still encouraged me to learn the language. When the team's together, you speak Creole, which is a lovely thing. After that, it's just football and that's a universal language.

"There's a big French contingent in our team now, there's the Dutch contingent and then a lot of lads play in Portugal as well. There's definitely some bilingual, trilingual players - I'm trying to join them!"

There was a gap of 533 days between Lopes' first two senior caps. His Republic of Ireland U19 cap complicated paperwork and prolonged the wait to play competitively. Covid did not help matters, either.

There was a new head coach by March 2021 - former Cape Verde international Bubista - and Lopes has been one of the first names on the teamsheet ever since. He has 41 caps now and played at the last two editions of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

It will come as no surprise the two have a solid relationship.

"He's a great manager, he's a great man and he's really highly thought of in Cape Verde because of his management skills," says Lopes.

"He's really integrated a group of players that want to be there, first and foremost, for Cape Verde. He doesn't discriminate about where you're playing, or who you're playing with; it's mostly your attitude while you're there and how you gel with the team.

"I give my all down there and I like to think he sees that in me, that he can put a bit of trust in me, that I'm not there to mess around."

He feels closer to his roots with each camp.

"It was only really when I got the call to the international team that I started to get in touch with that side, find out what the heritage is, about the culture, learn a bit more about myself. It's been an amazing experience.

"We were playing Angola at home in World Cup qualifying a couple of years ago. We drew 0-0, but during the game, the Cape Verdean fans were chanting my name, which was probably the nicest moment ever.

"That was the moment for me where I felt like 'I am Cape Verdean'."

Lopes and Cape Verde reached the quarter-finals of AFCON 2023, where they were beaten on penalties by South Africa, but they have carried the momentum from that tournament.

"We put ourselves on the map with that," he says.

"People who were eligible to play for Cape Verde started to pursue that avenue. We got some really strong players, from France and Holland, who wanted to be part of this.

"Once you're in Cape Verde, once you're in that group, I think you can see the potential there, you can see the opportunities, you can see how much it means to the people, and people want to be part of the story.

"I don't think we are underrated - people just aren't aware of us.

"We're a national team, but players play all over Europe, all over the world and the manager doesn't neglect where you play. It might be the Premier League, it might be a team in Bulgaria, it might be Romania, it might be a League of Ireland team. If you're good, you're good to play.

"I think people might be a bit surprised when they play us that we have such good quality players."

Bubista's side are 70th in the FIFA rankings now. Northern Ireland are below them (72), as are the likes of Iceland (74), Ghana (75) and New Zealand (83).

A 1-0 win over Cameroon - ranked 52nd - on September 9 put the Blue Sharks on the verge of qualification.

"We played them away in this qualifying campaign and they bashed us 4-1, with a really strong team," Lopes adds.

"Carlos Baleba was incredible, and Bryan Mbeumo was very good as well, but we just felt, down in Cape Verde, we could deal with them. We made a lot of mistakes in that game over in Cameroon. We just felt that, if we tidied that up, we could really hurt them.

"It was an amazing game; an amazing thing. It was the biggest attendance we've had in Cape Verde. They gave everyone on the island a half-day. The scenes afterwards... crazy stuff!"

Bigger things are on the horizon now. Cape Verde have qualified for the World Cup for the first time and, on Friday December 5, they will find out who they will face in the group stages of the tournament.

"It's the stuff of dreams, it really is," Lopes adds.

"I know that's thrown about a lot, but anyone who has that aspiration of being a footballer, there's probably one tournament that everyone would love to play in - it's the World Cup.

"It's the most prestigious tournament we have in our sport and any person starting out kicking a football would love to see themselves representing their country at a World Cup.

"It's a dream come true and I'll talk about it to anyone who listens for the rest of my life!"

(c) Sky Sports 2025: Cape Verde qualify for World Cup: Exclusive Pico Lopes interview as African nation reach tournament for first time