Cape Verde's Historic World Cup Journey with Pico Lopes

In Houston tonight, under the Texan heat and the glare of the world’s cameras, Pico Lopes walks out for Cape Verde with a lifetime of memories – and a nation and a half behind him.

On the islands off the coast of Senegal, it will be 11pm. Bars, living rooms and street corners will fall quiet when the anthem plays. In Ireland, where Lopes grew up, it will be 1am. People who should know better will ignore the alarm clock and flick on RTÉ2 instead. Shamrock Rovers’ captain is no longer just a League of Ireland stalwart; he is the face of one of this World Cup’s most compelling stories.

Cape Verde arrive at their final Group match with something precious: control. After a superb 0-0 draw with Spain and a 1-1 stand-off with Uruguay, the equation is brutally simple. Avoid defeat against Saudi Arabia and they will reach the knockout stages at their first ever World Cup.

For Irish fans, the scenario carries a familiar echo. In 2002, in Yokohama, Robbie Keane, Gary Breen and Damien Duff scored against Saudi Arabia to push the Republic of Ireland into the last 16. Back then, a young Lopes watched that game on a classroom TV wheeled into position in Dublin. Tonight, he is the one staring down the green shirts with progression on the line.

“Wouldn't it be amazing now if history repeated itself and that was the sort of win that took us to the next phase,” Lopes said in the build-up, allowing himself the briefest glance at the romance of it all.

Then he snapped back into the defender’s mindset. Respect first, complacency nowhere.

“It's a great opportunity for us and we can't get drawn in thinking that's going to be an easy game or a foregone conclusion. I think Saudi Arabia are a really good team. They have some real quality in the side that can hurt you. We won't be getting carried away yet. Just focus on the game at hand and hopefully we can get it done.”

That blend of wonder and steel has defined Cape Verde’s campaign so far. Against Spain, they did more than cling on. They organised, they harried, they kept their discipline so well they conceded just one free-kick in the entire game. Against Uruguay, they went a step further. Kevin Pina’s free-kick brought their first ever World Cup goal and a lead that sent a jolt through the tournament.

No one is treating them as a novelty now.

Head coach Bubista has been adamant from the start that his side belong on this stage. There is no hint of awe in his voice when he talks about the World Cup, only pride and intent.

“We are very happy to be able to participate in the World Cup,” he said. “Football belongs to everyone. It does not belong only to wealthier countries.

“Saudi Arabia are a very organised team. They have great transitions, it is a difficult opponent, but we will rely on our organisation. We have confidence in our plan.”

That plan has worked. Cape Verde have turned structure into a weapon. They have turned belief into a habit.

Lopes feels it in the dressing room.

“The mood is good,” he said. “It's a final group game, but we're going into it with everything to play for.

“It's all in our hands, so we know what a win will do for progress to the next round, so we're really looking forward to just attacking the game from the start.”

There is no sense of surprise in his voice, only satisfaction at a target reached.

“I wouldn't say expected but it's a position that we wanted to be in. We knew it would be difficult but we knew we could achieve it if we believed it.

“We knew the first two games would be very difficult. To pick up two points out of them was huge and it probably gives us that little bit of a lift going into the final game as well given the format of the competition.”

Those two points have shifted more than just a group table. With the Republic of Ireland knocked out by Czechia in the play-offs – and Czechia already gone home from this World Cup – a curious transfer of allegiance has taken place. Irish fans, deprived of their own flag on the biggest stage, have latched onto the one worn by a familiar centre-half.

Cape Verde, in some corners of Dublin and beyond, have become the adopted team of a football-mad country.

“I'm very aware,” Lopes admitted. “A lot of my friends, a lot of my family, send me stuff every day and it's incredible. I'm really overwhelmed with the support of Irish people.

“To really get behind it and back it and adopting nearly Cape Verde as a second country. I think someone mentioned the 33rd county. It's brilliant. I'm looking forward to thanking everyone when I am home.”

Home now has two shapes for him: the Atlantic islands he represents and the Irish streets that shaped him. Tonight in Houston, both will be watching, both will be waiting, as Cape Verde stand 90 minutes from history and an Irish schoolboy’s World Cup memory threatens to come full circle.