Job application almost cost defender a place in the World Cup; understand
Defender Roberto Lopes almost missed the opportunity to compete in the 2026 World Cup for an unusual reason: he ignored a message sent by the Cape Verde football federation on LinkedIn, believing it to be spam.
Born in Ireland and known in football by the nickname "Pico", the 33-year-old defender received a message in Portuguese from the Cape Verdean entity, but did not respond as he considered the contact suspicious.
Only months later, when he received a new message in English, he realized that it was an invitation to defend the African team, which debuts in the World Cup next Monday (15) against Spain.
"Nine months later, they sent me another message in English asking if I had thought about the proposal. Only then did I do what I should have done from the beginning and used Google Translate to understand the original message, which asked if I was interested in representing Cape Verde," Lopes told Reuters, in a telephone interview before the tournament.
"It was an unusual approach [via LinkedIn]. They then explained to me that they had difficulty getting in touch with my club. But, when I realized that the opportunity was in front of me, I supported the idea from the first moment and we started to provide all the necessary documentation", he added.
Ascension to the national team
With a reputation as a tough and resilient defender, Lopes built his entire career in the League of Ireland, playing for Bohemian FC and Shamrock Rovers. As few players in this competition manage to reach the international stage - let alone compete in the final stages of a major tournament - he believed that his journey with the Irish team would be limited to a single match for the under-19 team.
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However, the message completely changed his fate. Linked to his father's home country, he debuted for Cape Verde in 2019, in the 2-0 victory over Togo, and became a fundamental part of the defense of a team that went on to exceed expectations.
The historic classification for the World Cup was confirmed in October, with a 3-0 victory over Eswatini.
"When I arrived at the national team in 2019, I felt that there was an excellent group of players. At the time, the objective was to reach the African Cup of Nations (CAN), and we achieved it. We went on to face some of the best teams in Africa. With that, we gained a lot of confidence. Furthermore, other players with dual nationality decided to represent Cape Verde, which strengthened the squad even further", he explained.
"Making history"
After coming close to qualifying for the 2022 World Cup, Cape Verde finished ahead of Egypt in their group at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations and were eliminated by South Africa in the quarter-finals.
"We had the feeling that we were already at the same level as some of the best African teams and that we could compete on equal terms on a good day. With the new format created by FIFA and the increase in the number of places for Africa in the World Cup, there was extra motivation to do everything possible to qualify and make history", said Lopes.
The reward for the successful qualifying campaign was a place in Group H of the World Cup, alongside Spain, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay. Lopes guarantees that the team is excited about the chance to face some of the best teams on the planet.
"I think we need to try to advance to the next stage. That has to be the objective. We can't talk about reaching the final; the first challenge is to get out of the group and stay in the competition longer," he said.
"We know it will be difficult, because we are in a complicated group, but we need to believe that we can do it. We got here on our own merit and now we have to be competitive", he added.
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Source: CNN