Football Daily | ‘Pico’ Lopes and Cape Verde give Spain’s boys one hell of a neutralising

IF THE CAPE FITS About a month ago, Roberto “Pico” Lopes thought he was meeting his parents for a Sunday dinner in Crumlin on the outskirts of Dublin, but was met by a surprise party of friends, family and neighbours, all adorned in Cape Verde colours, to give him a special send-off for the Geopolitics World Cup. Dublin born and raised, Lopes looked positively delirious as he waved at the small crowd of loved ones. “We’re going to get a camper van and travel through the States,” beamed Lopes’s wife, Leah O’Shaughnessy, holding their seven-month-old son, Diego. “He probably won’t remember it, but we’ll be able to look back on the photos and videos and say that he was able to watch his daddy in the [GWC].” And what photos, what videos they will be, footage and memories that will now for ever be part of Cape Verde’s history. Lopes, who initially ignored the African archipelago’s invitation on LinkedIn to play for them because he thought the Portuguese message was spam, is now a legend of his country after making history on his nation’s World Cup debut with a 0-0 draw against pre-tournament favourites Spain . Lamine Yamal, Rodri, Aitana Bonmatí, Pablo Picasso, Rafael Nadal, Penélope Cruz, Seve Ballesteros, Puss in Boots, Salvador Dalí, Anthony Gordon , Trent Alexander-Arnold – your boys took one hell of a beating neutralising. …