There was no dramatic scouting mission, no teenage academy breakthrough and no long pursuit from a national federation. Instead, one of the most charming stories of this tournament began with a message on LinkedIn.

Lopes, born in Dublin to an Irish mother and a Cape Verdean father, now represents Cape Verde on the biggest stage in football. For Ireland, whose own national team did not qualify, he has become a World Cup figure to follow.

A message he thought was spam

According to The Athletic, Lopes was working as a trainee mortgage adviser at EBS in Blanchardstown when Rui Águas, then the Cape Verde coach, contacted him through LinkedIn.

Águas had learned that Lopes was eligible to play for Cape Verde because his father, Carlos, was from the country.

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The problem was that the message was written in Portuguese.

Lopes did not understand it, barely used LinkedIn, and assumed the offer was not real. What looked like an ordinary spam message was, in fact, an international call-up waiting in his inbox.

Nine months before the answer

Quoted by beIN Sports, Lopes later explained how close he came to missing the opportunity.

“The coach at the time, Rui Águas, contacted me. He sent me a message in Portuguese, which I didn’t understand at the time. So, out of ignorance, I ignored it. I thought it was spam,” he said.

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Nine months later, Águas tried again, this time in English. Lopes then used Google Translate, realised what he had missed and quickly changed his response.

“I apologized profusely and said, ‘If the opportunity to play for Cape Verde still exists, I would love to be part of it.’ Fortunately, it did,” Lopes said.

A few weeks later, the paperwork was complete. Lopes was playing for Cape Verde.

From Dublin office to Cape Verde defence

Reported by AS, Lopes made his Cape Verde debut in 2019 after the unusual LinkedIn approach.

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Before that, his football life had been rooted in Ireland.

He came through the Irish game, played for Bohemians and later became an important figure at Shamrock Rovers. Before going fully professional, he balanced football with work as a mortgage adviser.

That background is part of why the story has travelled so widely. Lopes is not only a World Cup player with Irish roots. He is a reminder that international football can still produce careers shaped by chance, persistence and one message that almost disappeared.

Ireland finds its World Cup story

Back in Dublin, the connection has been embraced.

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The Athletic describes how supporters at Tallaght Stadium, the home of Shamrock Rovers, have followed Cape Verde’s run because of Lopes. One fan, Keith Reid, summed up the mood.

“We might not have seen Ireland qualify for the World Cup, but at least we can say we have given the World Cup one of its great stories so far,” he said.

That pride is easy to understand.

Lopes has given Irish football a place in a tournament it is not officially part of. He has also given Cape Verde a defender shaped by Irish football but connected deeply to his father’s homeland.

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A small nation with a global story

Cape Verde’s World Cup run has already become one of the tournament’s great underdog stories.

According to The Next Web, Lopes started in Cape Verde’s first ever World Cup match, the 0-0 draw against Spain in Atlanta.

That result helped bring wider attention to a team few neutral supporters knew much about before the tournament.

Lopes’ route into the squad has only added to the fascination. Football recruitment is usually associated with scouts, agents, databases and video analysis. In this case, it came through a professional networking platform better known for office jobs and corporate messages.

A career changed by one inbox

Lopes is now a World Cup player, a Cape Verde international and a symbol of one of the tournament’s most unlikely journeys.

It began with a message he did not trust.

It continued because someone followed up.

And it reached the World Cup because Lopes eventually said yes to a country he could represent through family, history and identity.

For Cape Verde, he is part of a historic team.

For Ireland, he is the man who gave them a reason to watch.