Pico Lopes not looking too far ahead as next up could be Messi matchup: ‘We know what happens if we win, we are in the next round’
World Cup hero Pico Lopes will continue to take it one game at a time as Cape Verde edge ever closer to the second phase of the World Cup - and a possible date with the likes of Lionel Messi and Argentina.
Speaking to Macdara Ferris from Extratime.ie in the mixed zone after Sunday’s superb 2-2 draw with two timer world champions Uruguay, Shamrock Rovers captain Lopes reflected on another big result for his national team.
A win against Saudi Arabia in Houston on Friday night - 1am Irish time Saturday morning - will guarantee Cape Verde emerge from their group after the draws against Spain and Uruguay while a draw might be enough to send them through.
“We won’t get too far ahead of who we will be playing,” said Lopes. “We have to respect Saudi Arabia. They are a really strong team. We have to try and win the game. That has to be the goal. We won’t get ahead of ourselves. It is all about recovering now. Working hard towards that game.
“We know what happens if we win, we are in the next round. It doesn’t matter what position you finish in the group, once you are there (in the knockout phase), that is the main thing.”
“Since we arrived, that was our goal,” said the Shamrock Rovers skipper about looking to make it out of the group. We got here on merit.
“You don’t win a prize to get to the World Cup. You have to compete, you have to qualify and it is difficult to get here. Now you are mixing it with some of the best teams in the world.
“Our goal was to attack the first game and show that we belong here. Nothing changed for the second game. We wanted to try and get three points. We got a point and it is another point nearer where we want to be. We have a good opportunity to reach the next phase which would be amazing for our group.
“It is something that we want, it is part of our goals, just to show we deserve to be at this level.”
Eoin Kenny’s brilliant performance and match winning goal in Friday night’s 2-1 win over Bohemians at Dalymount Park has reinforced his manager Ciaran Kilduff’s view that the striker will play senior international football.
Kenny, son of former Irish boss Stephen and born in Derry when his dad was manager at City, has already won eight Under 21 caps for Northern Ireland and Kilduff told the Irish Independent there is more to come from the 20-year-old.
Asked if Kenny and other young players in his squad will play international football, Kilduff said: “Without a doubt, I can see a lot of them [get capped], I’m telling you now. Sometimes it’s who shouts the loudest.
“I think for a newly promoted team, for what we’re doing here, it can’t go unnoticed. I don’t want to be the one coming out going ‘my players have to be picked’. But we’re at the top end of the table, we’re on a great run, we’re competing and playing to that level there.”
Nottingham Forest have joined the chase for Shamrock Rovers striker Michael Noonan but the youngster is expected to move to Dutch football with Ajax when he turns 18 at the end of July.
John Fallon reports in the Irish Examiner that Forest have made a late bid to entice Noonan to the Premier League.
Former Irish midfielder Andy Reid is on the coaching staff at Forest and could be a factor in the final decision by Noonan who has already played at every age level for Ireland up to Under 21.
Finn Harps are in talks with a foreign based investor who is proposing to take financial control of the club and fund their share of the new stadium development in Stranorlar.
Donegal Daily’s Chris McNulty filed an exclusive report at the weekend which confirmed that a formal expression of interest from the investor has been received by the First Division club.
McNulty reports that shareholders of the Finn Harps Co-Operative Society Ltd will be asked to vote on the proposal next month.
Ireland international Lily Agg made the perfect start to her managerial career as Athlone Town defeated Shamrock Rovers 3-1 in the Women’s Premier Division game.
Agg is currently recovering from a ruptured achilles and is some way off a playing debut for Town in her first management role but will be happy with the win which moves her side within one point of league leaders Galway United.
