{"id":533776,"date":"2026-07-05T05:55:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T05:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/533776\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T05:55:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T05:55:19","slug":"pico-lopes-fights-back-tears-in-emotional-interview-after-cape-verde-exit-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/533776\/","title":{"rendered":"Pico Lopes fights back tears in emotional interview after Cape Verde exit World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dubliner was at the heart of a Cape Verde team that suffered a heartbreaking extra-time defeat to reigning champions Argentina in Miami on Friday\"Roberto<\/p>\n

Roberto Lopes after Cape Verde’s loss to Argentina(Image: \u00a9INPHO\/Luciano Bisbal)<\/p>\n

Pico Lopes was nearly brought to tears as he reflected on being part of one of the great World Cup stories of recent decades.<\/p>\n

The Dubliner <\/a>was at the heart of a Cape Verde team that suffered a heartbreaking extra-time defeat to reigning champions Argentina in Miami on Friday.<\/p>\n

But for the Shamrock Rovers defender, the disappointment of coming so close to one of the great World Cup upsets was mixed with immense personal pride.<\/p>\n

When it was put to the Crumlin native<\/a> that, ten years ago, he was a part-time footballer and a trainee mortgage adviser, Lopes was nearly overcome with emotion.<\/p>\n

He said: “I try to stay in the moment as much as I can. There will be a time for me to reflect but it’s been amazing.<\/p>\n

“My ambition, my dream, was just to work hard every day and try to get better. Try to get that little bit better.<\/p>\n

“And the fact of where I was 10 years ago to where I am now, there’s a little bit of pride there as well.”<\/p>\n

Content cannot be displayed without consent<\/p>\n

Lopes’ incredible back story<\/a>, from being approached to play for Cape Verde through LinkedIn to helping his father’s country qualify for the World Cup for the first time, has made global headlines this summer.<\/p>\n

But the Dubliner had done all his talking on the pitch, helping the African nation go unbeaten in their group before pushing Lionel Messi and Argentina all the way in a last 32 tie.<\/p>\n

And Lopes hopes the team’s story will inspire other small nations to follow their dreams in the years to come.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Pico Lopes celebrates the draw against Spain(Image: Marvin Ibo Guengoer – GES Sportfoto\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

“We said coming into this tournament that we wanted to make history. That we deserved to be here. And I think overall we showed that we are more than capable of competing with some of the best teams in the world.<\/p>\n

“We showed it is possible for small nations with big hearts. If you put the hard work in and believe, you can be here.<\/p>\n

“We’ve created history by competing at our first World Cup, and to get out of the group is an amazing achievement.<\/p>\n

“Hopefully we have shown the way for future generations. This is important now. You get a taste for it and you want to be at every World Cup. Hopefully in four years’ time we will have a Cape Verde team here.”<\/p>\n

Click here to sign up to our sport newsletter, bringing you the top stories and biggest headlines from Ireland and beyond<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dubliner was at the heart of a Cape Verde team that suffered a heartbreaking extra-time defeat to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[226962,226963,47668,615,2957,42,2539,103976,28776,43,91985,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-533776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-argentina-football-team","tag-argentina-national-football-team","tag-crumlin","tag-dublin","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-headlines","tag-league-of-ireland","tag-league-of-ireland-premier-division","tag-lionel-messi","tag-news","tag-shamrock-rovers-fc","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}