Roberto “Pico” Lopes has said playing for Cape Verde at the World Cup was a dream come true as he was welcomed back to Ireland by his family, neighbours and supporters.
Lopes, 34, was greeted at Dublin Airport by his wife Leah and his eight-month-old son Diego, his mother Judie and Cape Verdean father Carlos.
Supporters chanted “Pico” and waved Cape Verde flags as he arrived back in Ireland on Monday afternoon.
“It’s incredible, to see my wife and baby Diego was lovely and then to see all the Rovers fans and everyone else, it’s really overwhelming,” he said.
After greeting his family and hugging his son, he was swamped by questions from the media and asked for autographs and selfies by some people who had themselves just landed in Ireland.
Lopes, a bank manager and footballer with League of Ireland team Shamrock Rovers, was first contacted by Cape Verde’s football association through a LinkedIn message in Portuguese, which he initially ignored.
Months later he was sent another message, in English, asking if he was interested in declaring for Cape Verde, which he accepted.
The cluster of islands in the Atlantic Ocean made its name on the world stage by becoming the smallest nation to ever reach the knockout stages of the World Cup.
Lopes’ family was flown to Miami to see the Cape Verde-Argentina match, a David-v-Goliath affair which saw Lopes go shoulder-to-shoulder with footballing legend Lionel Messi.
“I never thought I’d be on the same pitch as Messi,” he said, calling it the greatest match of his career.
“To be out there competing with the best player in the world, in my opinion, it was a dream.”
His mother Judie, who had just arrived back from watching the match in the US, said it was “amazing” and “almost surreal” to watch her son play in the World Cup.
“I still feel I’m looking in on this story unfolding, unfortunately it’s come to an end now, but what a journey it’s been. Absolutely amazing, and I think they did themselves proud.
“They performed so well on the largest stage in football, and to go out to the current champions in the way that they did, almost taking it to penalties, it was a David and Goliath story.”
His father Carlos said that it was a “dream come true” for their family.
He said: “You have to be proud. Before this World Cup most of the people didn’t know where Cape Verde was, now everybody in the world knows Cape Verde.”
Pico Lopes said it was “amazing” to be part of a team that put Cape Verde on the map and to show that a small nation can compete at that level.
“There’s a story outside of football here which is really important and it’s about Cape Verde as a nation and who the people are,” he told the Press Association.
“People don’t have to ask that question now, where are you from, or how do you get there or where is it on the map, people know and that’s a really lovely story that has come off the back of this.”
He said there were loads of similarities between the two nations.
“The island nation and the underdog story that you want to get out there – and we’re good craic as well,” he added.
He said it was important to have his family out in Miami for the match, after they were flown there by Aer Lingus, as they had sacrificed “so much” for him to get to this level.
He said he was looking forward to returning to the League of Ireland.
“How I got there (to the World Cup) is through the league, so for me, that will always be important and I’ll take pride in that.”
Asked if there was a future partnership between himself and LinkedIn, where the opportunity to play at the World Cup arose, he said: “I think we’ll be doing something in the future.”
He added: “It does hit you at times, who would have thought your route to international football would come through LinkedIn, and it just goes to show you, you can’t leave any stone unturned.”
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