Cape Verde's World Cup Journey: Lopes Leads the Charge

Roberto Lopes walked off the pitch in no doubt. Cape Verde are not in this World Cup to make up the numbers.

On a night when Uruguay were supposed to reassert their heavyweight status, it was the islanders – and their Dublin-born centre-half – who again looked like they belonged on this stage. Cape Verde led, fell behind, then dug in to claw back a point, leaving Group H finely poised and their dream very much alive.

A defender who looks born for this stage

Lopes, the Shamrock Rovers defender who once wondered if international football had passed him by, looked utterly at ease in the chaos. He marshalled a back line that restricted Uruguay to just two shots on target – the two goals that briefly turned the game on its head.

Those five minutes before half-time still gnawed at him.

“For the majority of the first half, we played quite well and had good organisation,” he said. “And then the last five minutes, we lost that. We switched off and they punished us.

“We knew what they were looking for. They get lots of people into the box, good quality crosses and we got punished. But it was just about regrouping.”

Cape Verde did exactly that. They tightened up, pushed higher, and showed the same stubborn streak that brought them through qualifying. The equaliser arrived, and with it, another result that forces the football world to pay attention.

“I thought we showed great character in the second half to come together, get an equaliser and see the game out,” Lopes added. “It was a good draw. But the next game is very important.”

Knockouts within reach

Important is an understatement. Cape Verde now stand on the brink of the last 32.

A draw with Saudi Arabia could be enough to progress as one of the best third-placed sides. The equation sharpens if Spain do them a favour against Uruguay: avoid defeat against Saudi Arabia and second place in Group H is theirs, with a guaranteed ticket to the knockouts.

The numbers are complicated. The mindset is not.

“That was our goal,” Lopes said, eyes already fixed on what comes next. “We got here on merit. You don't win a prize to get to the World Cup. You have to compete, you have to qualify and it's difficult to get here.

“And now you're mixing it with some of the best teams in the world. Our goal first and foremost was just to attack the first game and show that we belong here. Nothing changed for the second one tonight.

“We wanted to try and get three points. We got a point. It's another point to where we want to be.

“We've got a good opportunity of reaching the next phase, which would be amazing for our group. It's something that we wanted. It was part of our goals, just to show that we deserve to be at this level.”

No time for Messi fantasies

The permutations throw up a tantalising prospect. If Cape Verde advance – particularly as a third-placed side – a meeting with Argentina is on the table. Lionel Messi, world champions, the full glare of the global spotlight.

Lopes refuses to indulge the fantasy.

“We won't get too far ahead of who we'll be playing,” he insisted. “We have to respect Saudi Arabia. They're a really strong team.

“And we have to try and win the game. And that has to be the goal.

“We know what happens if we win.

“If we win, we're in the next round. It doesn't matter what position you finish in the group. Once you're there, that's the main thing. It's one game at a time.”

From LinkedIn message to World Cup dream

If the football world is still getting used to Cape Verde, it has long since fallen in love with Lopes’ story.

An NBC reporter asked whether he was aware of the growing fascination with his unlikely route into the national team – a journey that began not with a scout in the stands, but with a LinkedIn message.

“It's a crazy story,” he admitted. “I'm sure everyone's heard it by now. Look, I never thought that was the way, that it was the route to international football.

“But it just goes to show that it can happen. This is the stuff of dreams. When I received the message and I answered it and I got called up, did I think we could make a World Cup? Probably not.

“Did I think we'd be at a World Cup? Probably not. But as I grew into the team and I got to know everybody, I saw the quality of the squad, I knew we were capable of doing great things.”

Those “great things” began with AFCON, where Cape Verde showed they could stand toe-to-toe with the best in Africa. That campaign lit the fuse.

“It started with an AFCON where we showed that we could compete with the best teams in Africa,” Lopes said. “And then the next stage had to be the World Cup. We believed, we dreamt and we achieved. We're looking to do some more now.”

The belief is no longer just internal. With one game to go in Group H, Cape Verde are no longer a curiosity or a romantic subplot. They are ninety minutes away from the knockout rounds of a World Cup, and their defender who answered a LinkedIn message is talking like a man who expects this story to run a little longer yet.