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Spain came into the game as heavy favorites but the spirit and skill shown by Lopes, who has played for Shamrock Rovers since 2017, and his teammates proved enough to overcome a major setback.
“I think everyone expected it to be a walk in the park for the Spanish, understandably,” continued Stafford.
“I think what Pico showed was his strength, his organizational skills have always been great, and for a team to keep their shape and discipline as long as they did yesterday is a credit and I think he was a huge part of that.
“He showed his fitness level, not only physically but also mentally, to tune in. Yes, they sometimes ride their luck, but when you are playing the European champions, you have to ride your luck sometimes.”
Born in Dublin to a Cape Verdean father and an Irish mother, the former Bohemians player is the first League of Ireland player to feature in a World Cup finals game.
He made his debut for the country in 2019, having previously made one appearance for the Republic of Ireland Under-19s in 2011.
After moving to Shamrock Rovers and competing in the Champions League and Europa League with the club, Lopes received a message from then Cape Verde manager Rui Aguas on his LinkedIn profile that set the ball rolling.
“Everybody knows his story, it’s probably the most talked about story in history at this point with the whole LinkedIn thing. I’d say he’s probably sick of telling people stories,” Stafford said.
“He’s a great ambassador for the league, he’s the chairperson of the Footballers’ Association here, so he does great things on the field as well as off the pitch.”
Cape Verde’s remaining two matches in Group H are against Uruguay on Sunday 21 June (23:00 BST) and Saudi Arabia on Saturday 27 June (01:00).
“The feeling here is that yesterday’s result will boost them even more and they just have to build on it.
“It might be difficult to replicate that kind of work rate and that discipline in those games, but if they can do it against a team like that, I don’t see why they can’t do it in their other two games.”
