IT WAS AFTER Derek Pender did his cruciate at the age of 33 that an act of kindness from Roberto Lopes left an indelible impression on the player eight years his senior.
During that era, Bohemians lacked the resources of today and were “going through a bit of a bad time,” as Pender describes it, so the level of support for injured players was far from exemplary.
“He was the one who basically made me go to the gym every day to recover,” Pender tells The 42.
“Pico was working in the bank at the time, and he basically said to me: ‘I’ll be in ‘Inspire’ gym every morning at six o’clock and I’m only going because you need to do your recovery and your rehab,’ and he made me accountable basically, to make sure I showed up, and he was there every day with me when it was needed.”
Back then, strength and conditioning work was not as commonplace as it is in the domestic game now, but Lopes was ahead of his time in this regard.
“He made sure that every part of his body was right; he was doing everything he could to maximise himself and be the best he could be. And look, you see the rewards he is getting now.”
The 34-year-old has played every minute of Cape Verde’s World Cup campaign so far and has been an integral part of a defence that has conceded just twice in three matches and kept reigning European champions, Spain, at bay.
“I remember when I was 34, I couldn’t move,” says Pender. “But Pico’s moving well against the best in the world at the minute.”
Despite being part of a strong Belvedere team with future teammate at Bohs, Keith Buckley, Lopes tended to go under the radar at youth level, with a solitary Ireland U19s cap his only underage international recognition.
Even after breaking into the Dalymount Park outfit’s first team in 2011, Lopes was not necessarily an obvious star.
Nor was he even a guaranteed starter at centre-back – Lopes’ athleticism and ability to get around the pitch meant he was sometimes deployed at full-back or in midfield.
Nonetheless, despite the various hurdles he had to overcome, the young footballer became a key player for the Gypsies.
And at the end of the 2016 season, Lopes had a big decision to make.
Shamrock Rovers wanted to sign him. A move to Bohs’ bitter rivals would not prove popular. But of greater significance was how this transfer would change his life.
Roberto Lopes pictured during his time at Bohemians. Donall Farmer / INPHO
Donall Farmer / INPHO / INPHO
Moving to the Tallaght outfit would mean becoming a professional footballer and leaving his job at the bank. The League of Ireland was not growing and thriving to the extent it is today, so it was a risky move. But had he declined the offer, it seems highly unlikely that Lopes would be playing in the World Cup now.
“I worked in a bank as well, and I’ll be honest with you, when he was asking my advice, I was telling him to jump at the chance to go and play professional football,” says Pender.
“I was a lot older than him when that move came about for him. I didn’t take that chance and go full-time; I stayed in the bank, but sometimes you wish, if you were to do it all again, you’d probably go full-time, and that was my advice to Pico
“I don’t think anybody could hold it against him at that time, where we were as a club, for him to go and not take that chance. Rovers were obviously in a different place to us.”
The transition was not seamless in this new environment.
“If you go back to his early days at Rovers as well, he was under pressure then because it took him a bit of time to adapt to full-time football and the expectations of that club, where they’re going to win the league, and Pico was playing every week and I remember we were playing against him in Bohs, one time in Tallaght, he was getting a bit of stick off the Rovers fans, and that will tell you how much he’s come on. Obviously he turned it around with his resilience and [ability to] keep believing that he was going to be a top player at that club.”
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At Rovers, Lopes has been part of five league title successes and two FAI Cup triumphs, as well as many memorable and historic European nights for the Hoops, though nothing at club level can quite compare to his achievements with Cape Verde.
“It’s everybody’s dream as a kid to go and play in the World Cup, and Pico is living out all our dreams now,” adds Pender.
“It’s actually mad; I get nervous for him watching the games. I couldn’t believe it when I was watching the first game, how nervous I got.”
Pender, who is now a first-team coach at Bohemians, believes Lopes’ international success can also provide a big boost to the League of Ireland.
“If you look at people who are talking about him, you look at the BBC, Wayne Rooney, you look at UTV, Roy Keane. He’s on the James Corden show, Rio Ferdinand contacting him, looking for interviews, they’re all asking about him, what league he’s come from and where he’s playing, and obviously their popularity, and the audience that they can reach, I’m sure players now all over the world are going: ‘Right, could I go there? It’s obviously not that bad of a league, if there’s a player that’s playing in the World Cup, and he doesn’t look out of place whatsoever.’ He’s actually been one of the best centre-halves in the World Cup.”
***
Roberto Lopes celebrates a goal with Lee Grace. Peter Fitzpatrick / INPHO
Peter Fitzpatrick / INPHO / INPHO
Lopes and fellow centre-back Lee Grace both joined Shamrock Rovers in 2017, and the pair have developed a strong bond since then.
“He was at my wedding, and we were at day two, and he had a dance-off with one of my best mates in front of the whole crowd, so I thought that was pretty funny,” Grace tells The 42.
“He can dance – I’ll give him that. He has good hip movement.”
Despite being relatively new to the club, Lopes’ leadership qualities were apparent even then.
“He sets the standards every day,” the former Galway United player explains. “The way he looks after himself, always doing extra bits in the gym, whether it’s with the weights, mobility, just really taking care of his body, and it’s no wonder he plays so many games every year.
“Seeing him on the pitch as well – a very good player and he has got better since 2017 onwards. He’s improved year-on-year, and you can see how good he is now.”
Grace adds the Rovers captain is “one of the nicest men you’ll ever meet,” and a key part of the successful culture that has driven Rovers to unprecedented heights over the last decade.
“I think, to be fair to the manager, that’s the people he looks to bring into the group. There are no dickheads within our group at the moment, and if you are a dickhead, you’ll soon be found out, and you won’t be here for long.”
Grace was as surprised as anyone when he heard in 2019 that Lopes had declared for Cape Verde and has been as impressed as everyone with his subsequent performances.
“It’s just a pity he’s 34 because if he had been five or six years younger, who knows what would come off the back of this. I’m not saying that nothing will come off the back of it now with a big move or something like that, but sure, look, he might not want to move anyway. But if he was that bit younger, he could have definitely had big, big clubs looming for him, because he’s performed so well
“If you ask me, he’s been Cape Verde’s top performer, definitely one of them anyway. And that’s a credit to him.”
As special as it has been, facing the likes of Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal is not Lopes’ first encounter with football superstars.
In 2020, both he and Grace played in a Europa League encounter against an AC Milan side that included Zlatan Ibrahimović and Gianluigi Donnarumma.
In 2024, the defensive duo started against a Chelsea team that featured Marc Cucurella, João Félix, Noni Madueke and Ireland’s Harvey Vale among others.
AC Milan’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic with Roberto Lopes of Shamrock Rovers after the 2020 Europa League clash. Tommy Dickson / INPHO
Tommy Dickson / INPHO / INPHO
Messi at the World Cup, though, will be on another level to anything Lopes has experienced.
“It is one of the best teams he’s ever going to play against, the best player he’s ever going to play against. But I think you have to stick to the process you do before every other game, treat it as every other game.
“I know the hype is going to be absolutely massive, and rightly so. But from a player’s point of view, I’m just thinking of myself, you do everything you would do on a normal match day, try to settle the nerves as much as you can, because I’m sure they’d all be nervous, and nerves are a good thing before a match, it lets you know you’re alive.”
And Lopes’ story is a reminder too, that the League of Ireland tends to be underrated by some and that its players are capable of holding their own on the biggest stage of international football.
“You see players coming in from the lower leagues in England, and they think they’re going to come in to basically a pub league, thinking it’s going to be easy and not challenging, but they’re soon found out and realise it’s a very high, competitive league with very good players. And there are definitely players throughout the league, throughout our squad even, that could step up to that [World Cup] level and not look too out of place.”
Before Cape Verde play Argentina tonight, Shamrock Rovers have a trip to face Sligo Rovers in the Premier Division.
The much-anticipated World Cup game kicks off tonight at 11pm Irish time, and Grace says the Hoops are planning on watching the match on the bus home from The Showgrounds.
“It will be great, because we’ll all be watching it together. The majority of the squad met up for the first game because it suited the timing. But we won’t have to meet up; we’ll all be on the bus, so we’ll all be able to watch it as a team and support him from there. We’ll all be draped over an iPad, the back of the bus, I’m sure, shouting and screaming.
“Those journeys home are long when you’re tired after a game, so that will definitely keep us entertained, and fingers crossed that they cause an upset.”
***
PFAI General Secretary Stephen McGuinness. Tommy Dickson / INPHO
Tommy Dickson / INPHO / INPHO
Stephen McGuinness, the former League of Ireland player and long-time General Secretary of the Professional Footballers Association of Ireland, recalls one anecdote that sums up Lopes’ selfless commitment to his friends.
“I was at his wedding [in Lisbon] two years ago,” he says. “We got to the hotel, and they were out of beer. It had gone already. The people at the hotel weren’t expecting a bunch of Irish to arrive so thirsty
“Pico walked for two miles, I think, to get a 24-crate of bottles, and he wasn’t drinking himself, because he was going to play for Cape Verde [shortly] after his wedding, and he carried it back to us and delivered 24 bottles of beer into the lobby of the hotel.”
The pair are both heavily involved in the PFAI, with Lopes becoming the organisation’s chairperson earlier this year.
The Shamrock Rovers star would have been instrumental in negotiating a League of Ireland minimum wage for full-time professional players aged 20 and over of €450 (and originally €430) per week.
“He and Keith Buckley would have been talking about being on €50 at Bohs, and now they have negotiated €450, saying: ‘Jesus, it’s a pity that wasn’t there when we started off,’” says McGuinness.
“Anytime I ever spoke to him about the union stuff, and he’s been on the committee for years, it was about leaving a legacy; he always wanted to leave it better than he found it, that was always his line to me.
“Himself, Lee Steacy, and Brendan Clarke are three people who helped with the negotiation with us. They’ve also negotiated holiday pay [for players].”
That is not where Lopes’ off-field generosity ends, however.
McGuinness’ wife is principal at Coláiste na Mí in Navan, which Lopes has visited twice in recent months.
“Just before he went to the World Cup, he went to the school and sat, answered questions, signed autographs for over an hour, and they named the Astroturf pitch in the school after him. One of the kids had a Cape Verde shirt; her mum was from Cape Verde.
“But he has such an amount of time for people, and I don’t see that normally with players. A lot of players are not interested in that side of things. That’s not their thing, but it is his thing, and I have to say to that school in Navan, he went with Sam Curtis because Sam had gone to the school. He went up with the league trophy.
“The Meath Chronicle put some of the pictures up the other day. They didn’t put anything up when he went to the school, but now he’s playing in the World Cup.
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“This fellow, I keep saying it to people, there’s a genuineness about him that’s not the norm in football. Most players play the game, enjoy playing it, finish their career, and off they go.
“He was firmly of the opinion that he wanted to make a difference. He didn’t have to be chairperson of the association; he didn’t have to go on the committee; he didn’t have to give his time to come in on the Saturday to practice negotiating, or practice the presentation to the clubs, but he did all that because he cares. It was never going to affect him; his wage is always going to be more than 400-odd quid a week, but he wants it better for the next young professional coming along.”
Cape Verde's Roberto Lopes competes with Pedri of Spain. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
McGuinness continues: “I’m not saying every player is, but a lot of people are selfish – this fella is the opposite.
“95% of players in the world are not able to retire after they finish, because they won’t have earned enough money, and Pico will be earning an average enough wage in the league, he’s probably gone to a club at a time when from a financial perspective he would have got in when Rovers weren’t paying big wages, and when you’re at club for a long time, you sometimes don’t get the incremental raises that maybe a player signing now would be on, but you never hear him begrudge it, he wants people to be successful, he wants the league to be successful.
“I’m in the job 18 years now. I haven’t seen anybody like him. I haven’t met anybody that selfless, giving his time up, taking calls, willing to turn up.
“I’ll give you another example. So the referees had a convention there, just before the season kicked off, and I said to him: ‘I’d like you to come along just to give your feedback regarding handball, incidents in the box, and all the rest.
“He spent an hour, with all the referees in the room, talking about how he felt about decision-making, and how we can improve, and he was taking feedback regarding how [players can improve]. But he felt that’s the right thing to do, because he wants to get that edge that referees will show respect to him – he’s given them respect by going to their seminar and giving his feedback.
“The one thing he’s lobbying and fighting with us for now is career-ending insurance, so we don’t have career-ending insurance. We have insurance covering injuries, but [not] career-ending, and he’s passionate about getting that in. It may not be next season, but we will get it in the following season.”
McGuinness believes a stint in football administration, rather than coaching, is likely to await Lopes after he retires from playing, and tips him to have “a huge impact” in that area.
Despite Lopes’ World Cup commitments, the pair have been in touch nearly every day over the past couple of weeks discussing PFAI-related matters, including the controversial issue of the upcoming Ireland-Israel Nations League matches, which the Hoops defender has suggested should not go ahead.
Naturally though, there has been plenty of talk about the tournament too.
“I said to him the other day: ‘You must be pinching yourself,’ recalls McGuinness. “And he said, ‘I thought getting Spain would have been the greatest thing ever,’ but we’re going into this game to get a result. Can we get a result in this game? Can we knock them out? People say you’ve no chance; of course you have a chance.
“His philosophy from the start was: ‘Can we get through the group?’ Because he always felt they could beat Saudi Arabia, and they could pick up a couple of points in the other games, and ultimately three draws, which got them through.
“And I mean, he’s talking to me the other day about ‘we’re going into this and saying, how can we stop them, and if you can stop them, can you get a result in the game? Can you get it to extra time? Can you get it to penalties? Can you nick a goal?’ That’s the way they’re thinking. It’s a brilliant mindset to have. A lot of people think, you’ve no chance against the world champions
“But people used always to say: ‘No Irish team will ever get to the group stages [in Europe]. And no Irish team will ever get to group stages that aren’t in the champions’ path.’ And Rovers proved otherwise last year, beating the Portuguese team. Things are possible. They said Cape Verde will never get to the African Nations; they did. They’ll never get to the World Cup; they did. They’ll not get out of the World Cup group stages; they did. So with that mindset that he’s got, and that group of players have got, anything’s achievable.
“I think it’s the biggest impact I’ve ever seen from any individual player in my time in the league.”
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10 years ago, he was working in a Dublin bank. Now he's facing Messi in the World Cup finals
IT WAS AFTER Derek Pender did his cruciate at the age of 33 that an act of kindness from Roberto Lopes left an indelible impression on the player eight years his senior.
During that era, Bohemians lacked the resources of today and were “going through a bit of a bad time,” as Pender describes it, so the level of support for injured players was far from exemplary.
“He was the one who basically made me go to the gym every day to recover,” Pender tells The 42.
“Pico was working in the bank at the time, and he basically said to me: ‘I’ll be in ‘Inspire’ gym every morning at six o’clock and I’m only going because you need to do your recovery and your rehab,’ and he made me accountable basically, to make sure I showed up, and he was there every day with me when it was needed.”
Back then, strength and conditioning work was not as commonplace as it is in the domestic game now, but Lopes was ahead of his time in this regard.
“He made sure that every part of his body was right; he was doing everything he could to maximise himself and be the best he could be. And look, you see the rewards he is getting now.”
The 34-year-old has played every minute of Cape Verde’s World Cup campaign so far and has been an integral part of a defence that has conceded just twice in three matches and kept reigning European champions, Spain, at bay.
“I remember when I was 34, I couldn’t move,” says Pender. “But Pico’s moving well against the best in the world at the minute.”
Despite being part of a strong Belvedere team with future teammate at Bohs, Keith Buckley, Lopes tended to go under the radar at youth level, with a solitary Ireland U19s cap his only underage international recognition.
Even after breaking into the Dalymount Park outfit’s first team in 2011, Lopes was not necessarily an obvious star.
Nor was he even a guaranteed starter at centre-back – Lopes’ athleticism and ability to get around the pitch meant he was sometimes deployed at full-back or in midfield.
Nonetheless, despite the various hurdles he had to overcome, the young footballer became a key player for the Gypsies.
And at the end of the 2016 season, Lopes had a big decision to make.
Shamrock Rovers wanted to sign him. A move to Bohs’ bitter rivals would not prove popular. But of greater significance was how this transfer would change his life.
Moving to the Tallaght outfit would mean becoming a professional footballer and leaving his job at the bank. The League of Ireland was not growing and thriving to the extent it is today, so it was a risky move. But had he declined the offer, it seems highly unlikely that Lopes would be playing in the World Cup now.
“I worked in a bank as well, and I’ll be honest with you, when he was asking my advice, I was telling him to jump at the chance to go and play professional football,” says Pender.
“I was a lot older than him when that move came about for him. I didn’t take that chance and go full-time; I stayed in the bank, but sometimes you wish, if you were to do it all again, you’d probably go full-time, and that was my advice to Pico
“I don’t think anybody could hold it against him at that time, where we were as a club, for him to go and not take that chance. Rovers were obviously in a different place to us.”
The transition was not seamless in this new environment.
“If you go back to his early days at Rovers as well, he was under pressure then because it took him a bit of time to adapt to full-time football and the expectations of that club, where they’re going to win the league, and Pico was playing every week and I remember we were playing against him in Bohs, one time in Tallaght, he was getting a bit of stick off the Rovers fans, and that will tell you how much he’s come on. Obviously he turned it around with his resilience and [ability to] keep believing that he was going to be a top player at that club.”
At Rovers, Lopes has been part of five league title successes and two FAI Cup triumphs, as well as many memorable and historic European nights for the Hoops, though nothing at club level can quite compare to his achievements with Cape Verde.
“It’s everybody’s dream as a kid to go and play in the World Cup, and Pico is living out all our dreams now,” adds Pender.
“It’s actually mad; I get nervous for him watching the games. I couldn’t believe it when I was watching the first game, how nervous I got.”
Pender, who is now a first-team coach at Bohemians, believes Lopes’ international success can also provide a big boost to the League of Ireland.
“If you look at people who are talking about him, you look at the BBC, Wayne Rooney, you look at UTV, Roy Keane. He’s on the James Corden show, Rio Ferdinand contacting him, looking for interviews, they’re all asking about him, what league he’s come from and where he’s playing, and obviously their popularity, and the audience that they can reach, I’m sure players now all over the world are going: ‘Right, could I go there? It’s obviously not that bad of a league, if there’s a player that’s playing in the World Cup, and he doesn’t look out of place whatsoever.’ He’s actually been one of the best centre-halves in the World Cup.”
***
Lopes and fellow centre-back Lee Grace both joined Shamrock Rovers in 2017, and the pair have developed a strong bond since then.
“He was at my wedding, and we were at day two, and he had a dance-off with one of my best mates in front of the whole crowd, so I thought that was pretty funny,” Grace tells The 42.
“He can dance – I’ll give him that. He has good hip movement.”
Despite being relatively new to the club, Lopes’ leadership qualities were apparent even then.
“He sets the standards every day,” the former Galway United player explains. “The way he looks after himself, always doing extra bits in the gym, whether it’s with the weights, mobility, just really taking care of his body, and it’s no wonder he plays so many games every year.
“Seeing him on the pitch as well – a very good player and he has got better since 2017 onwards. He’s improved year-on-year, and you can see how good he is now.”
Grace adds the Rovers captain is “one of the nicest men you’ll ever meet,” and a key part of the successful culture that has driven Rovers to unprecedented heights over the last decade.
“I think, to be fair to the manager, that’s the people he looks to bring into the group. There are no dickheads within our group at the moment, and if you are a dickhead, you’ll soon be found out, and you won’t be here for long.”
Grace was as surprised as anyone when he heard in 2019 that Lopes had declared for Cape Verde and has been as impressed as everyone with his subsequent performances.
“It’s just a pity he’s 34 because if he had been five or six years younger, who knows what would come off the back of this. I’m not saying that nothing will come off the back of it now with a big move or something like that, but sure, look, he might not want to move anyway. But if he was that bit younger, he could have definitely had big, big clubs looming for him, because he’s performed so well
“If you ask me, he’s been Cape Verde’s top performer, definitely one of them anyway. And that’s a credit to him.”
As special as it has been, facing the likes of Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal is not Lopes’ first encounter with football superstars.
In 2020, both he and Grace played in a Europa League encounter against an AC Milan side that included Zlatan Ibrahimović and Gianluigi Donnarumma.
In 2024, the defensive duo started against a Chelsea team that featured Marc Cucurella, João Félix, Noni Madueke and Ireland’s Harvey Vale among others.
Messi at the World Cup, though, will be on another level to anything Lopes has experienced.
“It is one of the best teams he’s ever going to play against, the best player he’s ever going to play against. But I think you have to stick to the process you do before every other game, treat it as every other game.
“I know the hype is going to be absolutely massive, and rightly so. But from a player’s point of view, I’m just thinking of myself, you do everything you would do on a normal match day, try to settle the nerves as much as you can, because I’m sure they’d all be nervous, and nerves are a good thing before a match, it lets you know you’re alive.”
And Lopes’ story is a reminder too, that the League of Ireland tends to be underrated by some and that its players are capable of holding their own on the biggest stage of international football.
“You see players coming in from the lower leagues in England, and they think they’re going to come in to basically a pub league, thinking it’s going to be easy and not challenging, but they’re soon found out and realise it’s a very high, competitive league with very good players. And there are definitely players throughout the league, throughout our squad even, that could step up to that [World Cup] level and not look too out of place.”
Before Cape Verde play Argentina tonight, Shamrock Rovers have a trip to face Sligo Rovers in the Premier Division.
The much-anticipated World Cup game kicks off tonight at 11pm Irish time, and Grace says the Hoops are planning on watching the match on the bus home from The Showgrounds.
“It will be great, because we’ll all be watching it together. The majority of the squad met up for the first game because it suited the timing. But we won’t have to meet up; we’ll all be on the bus, so we’ll all be able to watch it as a team and support him from there. We’ll all be draped over an iPad, the back of the bus, I’m sure, shouting and screaming.
“Those journeys home are long when you’re tired after a game, so that will definitely keep us entertained, and fingers crossed that they cause an upset.”
***
Stephen McGuinness, the former League of Ireland player and long-time General Secretary of the Professional Footballers Association of Ireland, recalls one anecdote that sums up Lopes’ selfless commitment to his friends.
“I was at his wedding [in Lisbon] two years ago,” he says. “We got to the hotel, and they were out of beer. It had gone already. The people at the hotel weren’t expecting a bunch of Irish to arrive so thirsty
“Pico walked for two miles, I think, to get a 24-crate of bottles, and he wasn’t drinking himself, because he was going to play for Cape Verde [shortly] after his wedding, and he carried it back to us and delivered 24 bottles of beer into the lobby of the hotel.”
The pair are both heavily involved in the PFAI, with Lopes becoming the organisation’s chairperson earlier this year.
The Shamrock Rovers star would have been instrumental in negotiating a League of Ireland minimum wage for full-time professional players aged 20 and over of €450 (and originally €430) per week.
“He and Keith Buckley would have been talking about being on €50 at Bohs, and now they have negotiated €450, saying: ‘Jesus, it’s a pity that wasn’t there when we started off,’” says McGuinness.
“Anytime I ever spoke to him about the union stuff, and he’s been on the committee for years, it was about leaving a legacy; he always wanted to leave it better than he found it, that was always his line to me.
“Himself, Lee Steacy, and Brendan Clarke are three people who helped with the negotiation with us. They’ve also negotiated holiday pay [for players].”
That is not where Lopes’ off-field generosity ends, however.
McGuinness’ wife is principal at Coláiste na Mí in Navan, which Lopes has visited twice in recent months.
“Just before he went to the World Cup, he went to the school and sat, answered questions, signed autographs for over an hour, and they named the Astroturf pitch in the school after him. One of the kids had a Cape Verde shirt; her mum was from Cape Verde.
“But he has such an amount of time for people, and I don’t see that normally with players. A lot of players are not interested in that side of things. That’s not their thing, but it is his thing, and I have to say to that school in Navan, he went with Sam Curtis because Sam had gone to the school. He went up with the league trophy.
“The Meath Chronicle put some of the pictures up the other day. They didn’t put anything up when he went to the school, but now he’s playing in the World Cup.
“This fellow, I keep saying it to people, there’s a genuineness about him that’s not the norm in football. Most players play the game, enjoy playing it, finish their career, and off they go.
“He was firmly of the opinion that he wanted to make a difference. He didn’t have to be chairperson of the association; he didn’t have to go on the committee; he didn’t have to give his time to come in on the Saturday to practice negotiating, or practice the presentation to the clubs, but he did all that because he cares. It was never going to affect him; his wage is always going to be more than 400-odd quid a week, but he wants it better for the next young professional coming along.”
McGuinness continues: “I’m not saying every player is, but a lot of people are selfish – this fella is the opposite.
“95% of players in the world are not able to retire after they finish, because they won’t have earned enough money, and Pico will be earning an average enough wage in the league, he’s probably gone to a club at a time when from a financial perspective he would have got in when Rovers weren’t paying big wages, and when you’re at club for a long time, you sometimes don’t get the incremental raises that maybe a player signing now would be on, but you never hear him begrudge it, he wants people to be successful, he wants the league to be successful.
“I’m in the job 18 years now. I haven’t seen anybody like him. I haven’t met anybody that selfless, giving his time up, taking calls, willing to turn up.
“I’ll give you another example. So the referees had a convention there, just before the season kicked off, and I said to him: ‘I’d like you to come along just to give your feedback regarding handball, incidents in the box, and all the rest.
“He spent an hour, with all the referees in the room, talking about how he felt about decision-making, and how we can improve, and he was taking feedback regarding how [players can improve]. But he felt that’s the right thing to do, because he wants to get that edge that referees will show respect to him – he’s given them respect by going to their seminar and giving his feedback.
“The one thing he’s lobbying and fighting with us for now is career-ending insurance, so we don’t have career-ending insurance. We have insurance covering injuries, but [not] career-ending, and he’s passionate about getting that in. It may not be next season, but we will get it in the following season.”
McGuinness believes a stint in football administration, rather than coaching, is likely to await Lopes after he retires from playing, and tips him to have “a huge impact” in that area.
Despite Lopes’ World Cup commitments, the pair have been in touch nearly every day over the past couple of weeks discussing PFAI-related matters, including the controversial issue of the upcoming Ireland-Israel Nations League matches, which the Hoops defender has suggested should not go ahead.
Naturally though, there has been plenty of talk about the tournament too.
“I said to him the other day: ‘You must be pinching yourself,’ recalls McGuinness. “And he said, ‘I thought getting Spain would have been the greatest thing ever,’ but we’re going into this game to get a result. Can we get a result in this game? Can we knock them out? People say you’ve no chance; of course you have a chance.
“His philosophy from the start was: ‘Can we get through the group?’ Because he always felt they could beat Saudi Arabia, and they could pick up a couple of points in the other games, and ultimately three draws, which got them through.
“And I mean, he’s talking to me the other day about ‘we’re going into this and saying, how can we stop them, and if you can stop them, can you get a result in the game? Can you get it to extra time? Can you get it to penalties? Can you nick a goal?’ That’s the way they’re thinking. It’s a brilliant mindset to have. A lot of people think, you’ve no chance against the world champions
“But people used always to say: ‘No Irish team will ever get to the group stages [in Europe]. And no Irish team will ever get to group stages that aren’t in the champions’ path.’ And Rovers proved otherwise last year, beating the Portuguese team. Things are possible. They said Cape Verde will never get to the African Nations; they did. They’ll never get to the World Cup; they did. They’ll not get out of the World Cup group stages; they did. So with that mindset that he’s got, and that group of players have got, anything’s achievable.
“I think it’s the biggest impact I’ve ever seen from any individual player in my time in the league.”
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2026 world cup dream League of Ireland LOI Roberto Lopes Soccer Cape Verde Islands Shamrock Rovers