We are all Cape Verde as Rovers legend Pico joins the World Cup rota
The Walkinstown roundabout can become magical again
This is a green letter day for the League of Ireland and for Irish football, a green and white letter day if you like for the domestic game we all love so well.
Pico Lopes woke up this Tuesday morning as a World Cup footballer, that status confirmed when he was named in the Cape Verde squad on Monday.
Next week he will be ensconced in the middle of the World Cup countdown with the Cape Verde squad as they prepare for games against Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia.
Next month his wife Leah, son Diego and their families will journey across America to follow this proud son of Crumlin on World Cup duty with games in Atlanta, Miami and Houston.
On Saturday last, he met with fans as a Nike World Cup brand ambassador at an event in the INTERSPORT Elverys outlet in Dundrum.
On Monday, family and neighbours wished him a World Cup bon voyage in his native Crumlin, not far from the Walkinstown roundabout that symbolised Italia ‘90 for a generation of Irish fans.
And the link is so appropriate. The video footage of fans dancing on that roundabout as Ireland undertook that first World Cup odyssey 36 years ago will never grow old.
Traffic ground to a halt, office desks were abandoned, even pints were displaced as the people of Walkinstown and beyond took to the streets to celebrate Jack’s Army.
That first World Cup will always be the best World Cup for my generation, for those of us who spent years waiting for the arrival of a Messiah who could transform our national team.
The great Johnny Giles got close and deserved to make it on the biggest stage with his country just as he did with Leeds United. Eoin Hand was denied the breakthrough by a referee with a leaning towards the opposition and match officials who would be the subject of VAR reviews themselves.
It was Jack Charlton who lit the flame that burned so brightly in 1990 and again in 1994. It was Jack Charlton who convinced us that Irish football was worthy of a place on the World Cup stage.
Mick McCarthy got us there again in 2002 and Walkinstown walked 500 miles around that roundabout again in honour of his Boys in Green as they soldiered on in Japan and South Korea.
That’s why the pain of Prague still hurts. That play-off against the Czech Republic and any final against Denmark was the chance for the current YBIG generation to get the magic roundabout working again.
It didn’t happen of course and we will all be innocent bystanders when Donald of the Trumps and Gianni of the Infantinos play with their football toys in America this summer.
But we can turn our World Cup attentions elsewhere, we can adopt a nation and a dream to follow.
Hands up. As someone who has worked closely with him and helped with his media engagements for the past nine months, I will be rooting for Pico Lopes and for Cape Verde next month and with good reason.
A finer man you will struggle to find. A better representative of Irish football - born and bred and raised on songs and stories in Dublin - you won’t find.
Pico has come through the Irish football ecosystem. He is the son of an immigrant, a man who discovered international football late in life when his dad’s homeland came knocking via a social media platform.
Like so many others now playing in the League of Ireland, his dual nationality is the key to an international career that will reach its pinnacle in the United States.
We have players born here now who also qualify for some of the biggest and smallest nations across the world. If they are good enough to play international football and their family homelands come calling, let’s wish them well.
We’ve taken advantage of the granny rule so often ourselves. It was Scouser John Aldridge whose two goals in Malta booked us that place in Italy, Mancunian Alan McLoughlin who got us to America, Merseysider Jason McAteer who sent Holland packing and sent us on our way to the Far East.
Pico Lopes is a Dubliner. His father’s country needs him now and we wish him well. When he flies that Cape Verde flag in Atlanta, Miami and Houston he will also fly the green, white and gold with pride.
Bon voyage my friend. And the very best of luck. As the scarves now on sale in the Shamrock Rovers shop ahead of their farewell for Pico at Friday night’s game with Sligo say, we are all Cape Verde - for this summer at least.