"We've made history for Cape Verde"

Born in Dublin to an Irish mother and Cape Verdean father, Shamrock Rovers defender Roberto Lopes first pulled on the Cape Verde shirt in 2019. Since then he’s become a core member of the side and, after celebrating a historic first World Cup qualification, he spoke to World Soccer about the team’s rise...

- Mark Lomas

Congratulations - you are going to the World Cup with Cape Verde! How does it feel?

It's just incredible, difficult to put into words.

We've worked so hard to get to this point, so to finally secure qualification is really special.

Every time we play in Cape Verde you can see how much football means to the people.

They absolutely love it and we are happy to have created a moment of history for them.

You could have qualified in the penultimate game against Libya but drew 3-3. Then it was 0-0 at halftime in the final match against Eswatini. Were you nervous?

Honestly, the belief was always still there. I think our game plan was really good [against Eswatini] and we had to be patient. They were stubborn at times in the first half, but I thought we played well and we knew we’d get chances. Thankfully I stepped out of the way of a cross and Dailon [Livramento] finished it to put us ahead. He’s been such a talisman for us – carrying the team on his back at times. His all-round work has been amazing and of course he scored the winning goal against Cameroon [in September].

How important was that 1-0 victory over Cameroon? Did that give you belief that it could be your time?

Absolutely. It was such an important result and it made a difference that the stadium was packed. It doesn’t happen often because the matches are usually played in the afternoon and people can’t get time off work. For the Cameroon game, the government gave everyone a half-day and it was the same against Eswatini. When that happens, everyone shows up and what is usually a 15-minute drive from the stadium to the hotel takes an hour because people are out in the streets celebrating.