Cape Verde defender, Roberto Lopes, has revealed that he almost missed the opportunity of a lifetime after initially dismissing a message from the country’s football federation on LinkedIn.
The Irish-born centre-back, who was unfamiliar with the Portuguese-language message, assumed it was unwanted spam and chose not to respond.
That decision nearly prevented him from representing Cape Verde on the international stage and featuring at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
A second message, sent months later in English, changed everything. It informed Lopes of Cape Verde’s interest in having him represent the nation of his father’s birth.
The 33-year-old now finds himself preparing for Cape Verde’s World Cup opener against Spain on Monday.
“Nine months later they messaged me back in English asking if I had thought about the proposal, and it was only then that I did what I should have done originally and Google-translated the original message asking if I would be interested in declaring for Cape Verde,” a laughing Lopes told Reuters in a telephone interview prior to the tournament.
“It was a weird angle to come at (via LinkedIn); it was explained to me afterwards that they had difficulty contacting my club, but when I saw the opportunity was there in front of me, I was 100% behind it from the minute one, and we got working on getting all the necessary documentation across.”
Nicknamed “Pico”, Lopes spent his entire club career in Ireland, representing Bohemian FC and Shamrock Rovers. Having earned only a single under-19 appearance for Ireland, he believed his chances of playing major international football had passed.
Instead, the unexpected approach from Cape Verde opened a new chapter. He made his senior international debut in a 2-0 victory over Togo in 2019 and soon became a key figure in the national team’s defence.
As the squad continued to improve, Cape Verde secured a historic place at the World Cup by defeating Eswatini 3-0 in a crucial qualifier last October.
“When I came into the squad in 2019, I felt there was a great group of players there, the goal at the time was to get to the AFCON (African Cup of Nations), which we did, and we were mixing with some of the best teams in Africa,” Lopes explained.
“Through that, we gained a lot of confidence within our group and some more lads with dual nationality declared, and it just kind of bolstered our squad as well.”
Cape Verde’s rise has been steady in recent years. After narrowly missing qualification for the 2022 World Cup, the team impressed at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, finishing above Egypt in their group before exiting in the quarter-finals against South Africa.
Those performances strengthened belief within the squad that a first-ever World Cup appearance was achievable, particularly with FIFA’s expanded tournament format increasing Africa’s qualification slots.
“We just felt like we were up there with some of the best teams in Africa, we could definitely mix with them on their day. With the new format that FIFA introduced and more teams in Africa that can qualify for the World Cup, the extra little bit of motivation was there for us to say, ‘let’s do everything we can to qualify and create history’,” Lopes said.
Cape Verde have been drawn into Group H alongside Spain, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay. While aware of the challenge ahead, Lopes insists the team is determined to compete and push for a place in the knockout rounds.
“I think we have to try and get out of the group, that has to be the goal. You can’t really say you want to get to the final, I think the first hurdle is trying to get out of your group, trying to stay there a bit longer,” he said.
“We know it will be difficult, we’re in a tough group, but we have to believe we can do it – we got here on merit, and we have to be competitive now.”
