“I’m the crazy person that’s bringing an eight-month-old baby around America in a campervan so that he can see his dad in the World Cup.”
It’s been a life-changing week for Pico Lopes, and by extension, his whole family.
The Shamrock Rovers captain and his Cape Verde teammates captured the imagination of worldwide football fans with their battling performance in Monday’s 0-0 draw against European champions Spain, one of the World Cup’s greatest-ever shocks.
Lopes’s wife Leah O’Shaughnessy – along with her eight-month old son Diego, her brother Christopher and her father Martin and two friends – are following Cape Verde’s World Cup journey across America, incredibly, in a camper van.
I spoke to Leah, Christopher and Martin on Friday from a parking lot in Orlando, Florida.
They were en route to Miami, where Pico and co. will take on Uruguay in their second World Cup group game tonight.
It’s hard to put into words how mind-boggling this whole situation is. Even as one of the finest centre-backs in the League of Ireland, the World Cup must have been a distant dream for Crumlin native Lopes.
When that dream was achieved, his wife Leah and her family made the decision quickly to take in the three group games by trekking across the USA in a campervan. Their journey began in Atlanta, takes in most of Florida, and will end up in Houston next week. By the conclusion of the group stages, they will have notched up over 2,000 miles on the road.
The O’Shaughnessys are not alone in following the Cape Verdean efforts, with Pico’s mother and father also in attendance in Atlanta for Monday’s draw against Spain.
For Leah, an even bigger challenge than the road trip has been wrapping her head around the image of her husband lining out at the biggest event in world sport.
It’s mad! It’s really strange to see…it’s alien to me, and it’s a different world to me.
But at the same time, I’m just absolutely buzzing for him. I really am because I’ve just seen him, like his whole life is dedicated to football. He just lives, sleeps, eats, and breathes football.
I’ve said this before, like I’m definitely biased, but like, for me, he really deserves it, he does. So yeah, it’s very strange to see him like…I see his face everywhere now. I see him more now than when I actually live with him! But I’m delighted for him. I am, it’s lovely.
‘Dream Come True: World Cup 2026’
The family landed in Atlanta for the opener against Spain, and are currently in Orlando on their way to Miami, where Lopes and his teammates take on Uruguay on Sunday night.
“We thought we were in a really big camper van until we pulled in here to see all the American ones,” Leah jokes.
“They’re bigger than some houses at home! They’re enormous.”
The Pico Lopes-themed Cape Verde flag adorning the side of the O’Shaughnessy camper van
The O’Shaughnessy family are not the only ones who have had the idea of a World Cup road trip. Cape Verde’s supporters are out in force in support of Pico Lopes and his teammates, something Leah and her family were stunned to discover on Thursday morning.
We’re in an RV Park now in Orlando, Florida, and Pico’s neighbours got this huge flag made with his face on it and the Cape Verdean flag in the background.
We stuck it up on the side of the camper just this morning, actually. Within ten minutes, I’d say about ten minutes, two Cape Verdean women came over, and they were like, ‘What’s going on here?!’
They’re actually right beside us in the camper park. We have three camper vans, a big group of Cape Verdean people in three camper vans right beside us. They’re doing the exact same thing!
An extraordinary coincidence, and Christopher pays tribute to the Cape Verdean fans who were in Atlanta on Monday, saying they swayed even the neutrals who might have leaned towards the star power of the Spanish team.
“There was really just an infectious vibe that they had, really jovial, getting into the spirit, dancing, singing. It would remind you of the Irish fans a little bit in that way, I suppose,” Christopher says.
“The difference between the Cape Verde fans and the Irish fans is that they can actually dance!” quips Martin in reply.
After the Spain draw, Pico became a World Cup star. The most surreal moment yet came just after Pico’s World Cup debut last Monday, when he appeared on a US talk show with James Corden and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
“I tell you now, his head won’t fit in the hall door when we get home!” jokes Leah.
“I’m gonna have to find some way to humble him, it’s mad!”
The fame has even found its way to Leah, with Martin joking that his daughter was referred to as a “WAG” in a recent newspaper article.
Christopher, though, thinks it is no surprise that Pico’s personality has captured the public imagination.
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“It’s not an accident that he’s captured the imagination, like he’s a really charismatic bloke as well as being a fantastic footballer,” he says.
“You watch him in that clip of the James Corden show, he held his own as well. He was throwing the jabs back.”
15 June 2026; Roberto Lopes of Cabo Verde following his side’s 0-0 draw in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Group H match between Spain and Cabo Verde at Atlanta Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Photo by Andrew J. Clark/Sportsfile
There have been plenty of upsetting stories stemming from this tournament, from the treatment of the Iranian team, to the denial of visas to players and family members of players. Indeed, the Cape Verdean goalkeeper Vozinha, one of the cult heroes of round one of the group stage, said his own mother was denied entry to the US for the game.
Against that backdrop, Christopher O’Shaughnessy believes there is something powerful about a Dubliner of dual nationality being the only Irishman at this of all World Cups.
He is representing us at this World Cup, and I say us in the broad term of being Irish, but also a very specific type of Irish person. You know, there’s so much political stuff hanging over this specific World Cup. I think for him to be the Irishman that is representing us over there is hugely significant. And I don’t think that’s gonna go unnoticed either or unappreciated.
It’s a powerful sentiment, and one that Lopes himself has spoken about over the past few weeks.
“For him to be able to represent Cape Verde, he’s so proud,” Leah says.
“But he has really experienced so much support from the people at home, from all of his Irish friends, family, neighbours, but also every Irish person, the people that he doesn’t know.
“I think he’s been really overwhelmed with the amount of support that the Irish have given him. I’d say that’s why he really feels a sense of representing both countries.
That’s just the Irish for you, isn’t it? We just want to support him no matter what. Like, yeah, okay, he’s playing for Cape Verde, but he’s one of ours as well. It’s been really gorgeous to see.
A road trip to remember
There are six adults in the O’Shaughnessy camper – Leah, Christopher, Martin, Lopes’s mother-in-law Barbara, and Leah’s friends Shannon and Nadine. No shortage of hands to take turns caring for eight-month-old Diego.
The travelling party supporting Pico Lopes. From left to right: Shannon and Nadine (Leah’s friends), Martin (Pico’s father-in-law), Barbara (Pico’s mother-in-law), Christopher (Pico’s brother-in-law), and Leah (Pico’s wife)
An American road trip is something that the O’Shaughnessy family have dreamt of for years, and the small matter of Leah’s husband representing his country at a World Cup is a remarkable excuse to have to pull it off.
Martin, details the crazy route they will be taking to follow Cape Verde through the World Cup group stage.
We drove from Atlanta to Orlando. Then we go from Orlando to Miami. Then we leave Miami, and we stop in Tallahassee overnight. We’re gonna book a hotel there just to get a break from the RV and each other, so we’ll have our own rooms in the hotel!
Then it’s back into the RV, then we head for New Orleans. We’ll be stopping in places along the way, you know, iconic places that you hear of. We stop in New Orleans at an RV park as well, overnight. And then we head for Houston, which is the last game [against Saudi Arabia]. That’s the route, basically.
Along the way, they hope to stop off at various “iconic” locations. Both Martin and Christopher are self-professed film buffs, and have some locations from famous movies they want to tick off along the way, as well as several theme parks in Orlando, and the likes of Nashville, Tennessee.
There’s one aspect of the trip that Christopher is especially looking forward to.
I feel like as soon as we get into East Texas, I’m just gonna go into the nearest shop, get a ten-gallon hat, a big buckled belt and some bootcut jeans and start walking around and pretending to be a cowboy. That’s my lifelong dream, man.
Diego Lopes’s World Cup journey
On that beautiful October day when Cape Verde secured their qualification for the World Cup, Pico Lopes could not hang around Praia for the celebrations, as the birth of his and Leah’s first child was just days away.
Young Diego is now eight months old, has already been in the Aviva for his dad winning an FAI Cup, and is now part of the O’Shaughnessy’s travelling party around the States. Most parents would shudder at the thought of bringing an eight-month-old in such a cramped vehicle in the heat of a US summer – and Leah did indeed – but young Diego has been a trooper.
“You know what? I was really nervous bringing Diego, I won’t lie,” Leah says.
I couldn’t sleep for like a week before we came because I was thinking about the flight and the camper and just the general disturbance to an eight-month-old baby’s sleep.
I have to say, he’s been a dream, hasn’t he? He’s just been so good. He’s just been rolling with it. I was worse than him on the flight. He was great, he was charming everybody, the air hosts. People just couldn’t get over him. He was so good.
Look, we’re all crammed into a camper van at the minute, but he loves it because he has so many faces to look at, you know? There’s always somebody different to play with, to hold him, to take him, to feed him.
I think he was just getting sick of looking at my face at home when Pico was gone! So it’s nice for him to have just a constant change of scenery as well. I think it’s keeping him really entertained. He’s been great.
9 November 2025; Roberto Lopes of Shamrock Rovers celebrates with his wife Leah and son Diego and the FAI Cup after the 2025 Sports Direct Men’s FAI Cup Final match between Shamrock Rovers and Cork City at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
The O’Shaughnessys are on the trip of a lifetime. With baby Diego in tow, it’s hard to imagine their dream American road trip could possibly have been more beautifully timed.
It’s best to leave the closing word to Pico’s wife, Leah, who admits the reality of this World Cup will take a long, long time to sink in.
I think I’m still in shock, really. I’ve always been really proud of him, you know, because I see every day how hard he works and how committed he is. But to see him now out there on the biggest world stage, it’s really hard to describe. I can’t get over it.
For the baby…he’s not going to remember this, but we’re going to have all the photos and all the videos and all the stories of, ‘That’s your daddy who is on that pitch, you know, playing against the top players in the world.’
I think in a few months’ time, it’ll probably hit me. Right now, we’re in it, and we’re in the buzz of it all, and it’s all very exciting. But when I reflect on it down the line…yeah, it’s just pretty incredible and unbelievable.
You know, his dad is so proud as a Cape Verdean man, and his granddad turns 99 years old this month. He lives on the island of São Nicolau in Cape Verde. For his granddad to be able to say that his grandson is playing in the World Cup, you know, at 99 years of age, it’s just the stuff of dreams, really, isn’t it? I’m just so proud
The stuff of dreams indeed, and that dream may not end with the final group game on June 27th.
Next up for Pico Lopes and Cape Verde are Uruguay in Miami today, with kick-off at 11pm Irish time. Another result there would make the possibility of progressing to the knockouts a real possibility, a scarcely believable proposition for one of the smallest countries ever to play at a World Cup.
It adds an unknown nature to the road trip for the O’Shaughnessys and their Cape Verdean friends following the team around the US. Should Cape Verde finish in the top two in the group, their last-32 tie would either be back in Miami, or far out on the west coast in Los Angeles. Finish 3rd and their game could be in any of New York, Seattle, Mexico City, or Atlanta.
This is a journey into the unknown for the O’Shaughnessy and Lopes families, as it was all those years ago when Pico signed up to play for the country of his father’s birth. You’d have to say that, so far, the World Cup road has treated him and the two families well.
The dream now is that the road stretches out even further in front. Here’s hoping.