David Sneyd reports from Miami

TWO NIGHTS BEFORE Cape Verde made their debut at the World Cup, James Corden hosted a show on Fox in the build up to the United States’ opener with Paraguay.

His main guest was Kylian Mbappé.

The pair did a version of the Carpool Karaoke segment which was a staple of Corden’s time as host of the Late Show.

Full disclosure: The 42 did not fully grasp what was happening in the show as we prepared to watch the USA begin their campaign in Atlanta.

The sight of Mbappé playing the flute in the passenger seat while Corden drove is the only lasting image of the show. He produced the same celebration after scoring against Senegal.

We were a long way from Aprés Match Country.

Two nights later and Zlatan Ibrahimović was the studio guest alongside Corden.

He has been a mainstay of Fox’s coverage alongside Thierry Henry and, quite frankly, the pair’s clear disdain for fellow pundit Alexis Lalas is hilarious.

Zlatan plays second fiddle to no one. Except for Pico Lops.

Forty-eight hours after Corden had Mbappé in the passenger seat, the Shamrock Rovers defender dialled in on a video call to take centre stage.

It was only a few hours after Cape Verde’s 0-0 draw with Spain. The team were already back at their base in Tampa building towards this evening’s game with Uruguay.

Pico had the background on his camera blurred, something Corden almost immediately zeroed in on to quiz him about.

The Dubliner told him there wasn’t a chance of seeing the state of his hotel room, and he definitely wasn’t seeing the bottom half of the camera.

Zlatan, Corden and Pico continued their late night banter. It was pointed out by the host that the two internationals had faced each other in club action previously, and a still image of Pico and Zlatan embracing after Rovers’s Europa League qualifier with AC Milan during the Covid-19 pandemic flashed up on the screen.

“Who scored the first goal?” Zlatan teased?

“Some big fella up front,” Pico responded.

Of course, the LinkedIn story got another airing. His family may be sick of hearing about it but such a quirky tale is one of the stories that has captured the imagination of a wider audience during this World Cup.

And that is why Pico was alongside Zlatan on Fox’s marquee late-night show during the tournament.

Pico, Rovers and the League of Ireland was front and centre of the World Cup’s first fairytale.

The Crumlin native spoke glowingly of his experiences in the league, and also laid out how the last decade under Stephen Bradley helped him get to this point.

One where featuring at a World Cup was not a freakish event, but the natural next step for a professional who starred in two African Cup of Nations and has also played in the Uefa Conference League in three out of the last four seasons.

Pico admitted he was rusty against Spain, so this was not a player producing a performance of a lifetime at the peak of his powers.

This was a veteran defender diving into his deep reservoir of experience to get through yet another testing occasion against superior opposition.

Pico’s story is one that also resonated with Corden, Zlatan and the studio audience on the FOX show.

They laid out how he had been working in a bank and was playing part-time a decade ago. They gushed at his steady rise ever since and hailed his dedication to reaching the pinnacle of the game at a World Cup.

Pico made it clear that his relentless focus and determination to improve is what brought him to this point.

Facing Uruguay this evening is the next test of those instincts.

Saudi Arabia showed up the South Americans’ vulnerabilities in a 1-1 draw and there is talk that all is not well in their camp with friction between the squad and head coach Marcelo Bielsa.

Cape Verde were understandably thrilled with their goalless draw with Spain – currently their most famous result – but they also came away believing they could offer more of a threat in the final third.

They had opportunities to hurt Spain on the counter-attack in the final stages but chose the wrong pass.

There was one corner kick that resulted in a half-decent header on goal.

Pico admitted that there were times during the 90 minutes they felt they could have used the ball better when they did manage to have position, while in C left back they do also possess a sharp operator who could yet become a breakout start for them in this tournament.

Pico is one of them so far, but there is no doubt that the most captivating story after the Spain game was that of 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha.

He pulled off enough saves in Atlanta to get his own three-part special on Netflix, while his emotional reaction to the result also provided insight into some of the travel restrictions facing countries entering the United States.

“I cried because I grew up with my grandparents and unfortunately they were not here; they died a few years ago,” he said after the Spain result. “They were everything for me, for my life. I also cried because my mum didn’t manage to be here because of the visa. Because of the money we had to pay for the visa, we didn’t manage to [get it done] on time. I would like her to be here, but I’m also very happy.”

The power of the World Cup could be seen in how quickly his social media following exploded. Before the tournament he had around 45,000 followers on Instagram, as of Saturday that was now 14.8 million.

More telling was the fact that US State Department worked to make sure his mother, Ana Candida Evora, could enter the country (bonds ranging from $5,000 (€4,000) to $15,000 (€13,000) are required with visa applications from Cape Verde) in time for their second game with Uruguay.

These are just some of the emotional storylines that are part of this Cape Verde story, one that could deliver another page turner this evening.