Judie Lopes, mother of Roberto ‘Pico’ Lopes, has described his appearance in the World Cup for Cape Verde as a “fairy tale”, but added that he was not an overnight success.
From a 1% chance of progressing in the World Cup, to becoming the tale of the tournament, the island nation captured imaginations in Ireland and internationally.
However, Cape Verde’s World Cup journey came to an end following a 3-2 defeat.
At the centre of it all has been the Lopes family, whose son was recruited by his father’s homeland via a LinkedIn message.
Pico Lopes, a captain for Shamrock Rovers and former mortgage adviser from Crumlin, played the full 120 minutes for Cape Verde last night.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Brendan O’Connor programme, Ms Lopes said that the Cape Verde team gave a “tremendous” performance and showed “great character and resilience”.
“I think you can see they played with great passion and desire, commitment to win it.”
She said that she knows her son will be disappointed with the result, but that he will come back from that “and be ready to go again”.
Ms Lopes said her son’s time in the World Cup was a “fairy tale,” but that he has been playing professionally for a decade.
“He’s been playing his professional football career here in Ireland for the last ten years with Rovers… played consistently at a very high level in all the European games.
“It’ll be back to business within a few days and he’ll have got over the disappointment of last night, I’m sure.”
She described the support from home as terrific and said that the family was “over the moon with it”.
“I think it’s given the whole country and great lift and a buzz. It’s the story of the summer … almost reminiscent of Italia ‘90.”
Call for homecoming reception for Pico Lopes
A homecoming reception for Lopes has been called for following his appearance for Cape Verde in the team’s World Cup debut.
Sinn Féin Councillor Ciarán Ó Meachair said that he has written to the Lord Mayor of Dublin seeking a homecoming for Lopes.
“The whole country has been behind Pico and his teammates,” he said.
“Over the past few weeks, we have seen Pico put in exceptional performances as Cape Verde recorded historic results against Saudi Arabia, Uruguay and current European Champions Spain to reach the knockout stage and a game against defending World Champions Argentina, where they fought until the bitter end.
“Pico has inspired another generation of kids playing grassroots football in Dublin to dream to achieve bigger things,” Mr Ó Meachair said.
‘Electric’ atmosphere in Crumlin as Pico Lopes stars against Argentina
In his native Crumlin, locals gathered last night to watch the match.
“At the end of the day, what an achievement,” said one local man who watched the game.
“You couldn’t ask for any more … As you can see the atmosphere here was electric.”
“Absolutely fantastic, gutted for Cape Verde, but what a performance,” said another fan.
“We couldn’t ask for anything more.
“If we sat here six weeks ago and thought we were going to play Argentina in the last 32, we’d have taken it, and fallen down to take it.”
The Government will be engaging with Dublin City Council to decide “how to appropriately” welcome Lopes home, according to Minister of State Charlie McConalogue.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Saturday with Cormac Ó hEadhra, Mr McConalogue said Lopes’ performance in Cape Verde’s loss to Argentina was “phenomenal”.
“We certainly will be engaging from a Government point of view with Dublin City Council to decide how to appropriately welcome Roberto home.
“Just to him and his family and his community in Crumlin, what a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful moment for their community and for our country,” he said.
Mr McConalogue added: “I think he is phenomenal in relation to how he has represented Ireland through playing for the country of his father.”
The Fianna Fáil TD said that it was “wonderful” for the League of Ireland to see one of its own on the big stage against Lionel Messi and Argentina.
“I think it represents the standard we’re seeing in the League of Ireland, and I hope it represents, as well, the first instance of many more League of Ireland players and being able to participate in World Cup in the future,” he said.
Social Democrats TD Jen Cummins, who is a TD in Lopes’ constituency, said Dublin South Central was “so proud” of the former Bohemian FC player.
“It’s so positive, but also for Lourdes Celtic, where he originally started playing, they are absolutely delighted and this will definitely boost that,” she added.
Sinn Féin’s Eoin Ó Broin said the homecoming for Lopes must go ahead and should be a celebration of “what’s really great about this country”.
“In addition to the incredible achievement for himself and his family, I think it sends a powerful signal to young people from Crumlin and from communities all over the country.
“It’s a really powerful, positive message about who we are as a country and about what young people can achieve,” he said.