Pico Lopes or Neymar? Who would you pick as your World Cup hero as Brazil follow Cape Verde home
One of Ireland’s own is on his way to a big Dublin Airport hug
Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear Cape Verde shirts. And one of them is one of our own, a hero with dual nationality who wears them both well as the Sunday party and the second homecoming on Monday served to prove. Welcome to two incredible days in the Pico Lopes story.
Let’s start with Sunday when the bus journey through the city of Praia took four hours, thousands walking alongside their Cape Verde heroes as the islands in the sun celebrated Independence Day and their incredible arrival on the World Cup stage.
On the same day America celebrated 250 years of freedom so the people of this archipelago took to the streets to bear witness to the footballers who put their country on the map.
Up to now Pico’s proud father Carlos used to describe Cape Verde to people who would ask him where he is from as: “The islands below the Canaries where you go on your holidays.” No more.
Thanks to manager Bubista and his squad of heroes, including the 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha, this country and this team have arrived on the world stage. They have set down a pathway for other small nations to follow. They have shown the World Cup to be what it was always meant to be - the greatest sporting event on planet earth.
They have also shown us what it means to dream, what it means to live a dream. Nobody expected Cape Verde to make it to the second phase of this tournament - except for Bubista and his players.
Nobody expected Cape Verde to play four games in the World Cup against Spain, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia and Argentina, nobody thought that Pico Lopes of Shamrock Rovers would face Lionel Messi of Inter Miami in the final 32 - and in Miami at that.
That’s the beauty of the World Cup, a tournament we failed to qualify for but one that was reborn as far as Ireland are concerned by a 34-year-old from Crumlin, wearing the shirt of his father’s land with pride and with his Irish heritage carved into his heart.
Pico Lopes is a good news story. That’s why he will get the Irish welcome he deserves when he lands into Dublin Airport on an Aer Lingus flight from Lisbon on Monday afternoon. Good news sells - as the huge media presence at Terminal Two will testify.
It’s not all good news from the World Cup. Not by a long shot. The political interference in the Balogun story, a suspension suspended on the back of the precedent set when Ronaldo was red carded in Dublin but freed to play in this tournament, is abhorrent but no more than we should expect from either president.
And then there was Neymar’s behaviour on Sunday night as Norway pulled off one of the shocks of the tournament and celebrated with the greatest version of Rock The Boat ever.
Neymar has been a bit part performer in Brazilian football for the past number of years and he has been a bit part player at this tournament as well. Sure he got the late penalty that almost gave them undeserved hope in New Jersey but they were living on a prayer at that stage.
His histrionics towards the Norwegian ‘keeper and defenders after he scored were laughable - at a time when he should have been looking to get the game restarted as quickly as possible.
Neymar’s story was all about him. And that’s not the way this World Cup has worked. It is bigger than Prima Donnas as Ronaldo and now Neymar know. It is about heroes, not egos.
Give me Pico and Cape Verde over Neymar and Brazil any day this summer.
Celebrate good times, come on!
