Roberto Lopes and Cape Verde will meet Argentina in Miami on Friday, a knockout tie that gives the small island nation a shot at the last 16 in its first World Cup. The game starts at 23:00 BST and puts Lopes, a Shamrock Rovers defender with 44 caps, on the same pitch as Lionel Messi.
That is why interest in Lopes, Cape Verde has surged now: Cape Verde did not just get through Group H, they did it unbeaten, drawing with Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia to finish runners-up behind Spain and reach the last 32. They opened with a goalless draw against Spain and conceded only two goals across the group stage, a record that has carried them farther than almost anyone expected.
Judy Lopes, watching from the outside, said she could hardly take in what is happening. She described it as “that amazing” and said Roberto Lopes will relish the challenge of facing Messi, calling him composed, confident and strong under pressure. She also said he has spent 10 years with Shamrock Rovers and played through two Afcons, experience she believes will help him block out the noise in a fixture of this size.
The problem for Cape Verde is that this is not just another underdog story. Argentina have conceded just one goal so far, and Messi has already scored six in what is expected to be his last World Cup. It is his sixth World Cup, and Friday’s match will be his 30th appearance, a measure of how much history sits on one side of the draw.
Cape Verde have already made their mark by becoming the smallest nation to reach the knockout stages, but the next step is the hardest one. If Lopes and his teammates can hold Argentina again, they will go where no Cape Verde side has been before; if they cannot, this will still stand as the moment the country arrived on the World Cup stage for real.
