A long way from the World Cup, a bunch of football fans queue for a round of drinks and toast the man they know as “Pico”.“We might not have seen Ireland qualify for the World Cup,” says one, Keith Reid, pulling up a seat at the Tallaght Stadium bar. “But at least we can say we have given the World Cup one of its great stories so far.”This is the home of Shamrock Rovers and, in ordinary circumstances, Roberto ‘Pico’ Lopes would have been shoring up the team’s defence in their 3-1 win over Galway United on Friday.These, however, are not ordinary circumstances if you have been following the charming, eccentric story about how a white-collar worker from Crumlin, south Dublin, was offered the chance — via the business network Linkedin — to represent Cape Verde and ended up playing at the World Cup. On Friday, they will face reigning champions Argentina in the last 32 in Miami.“It’s a fantastic story,” says Fidelma Kelly, introducing herself as Lopes’ former line manager at EBS, the building society and mortgage specialist where he used to work. “I can still remember the excitement in the office when we heard he was being offered the chance to play for Cape Verde. We were so excited for him. And then it was a case of, ‘OK, where’s Cape Verde?’.”What has happened since is neatly summed up by Rovers fan Karl Reilly in the matchday programme. “Pico has gone global because of his World Cup heroics,” he notes. “The documentary would win Cannes.”That story still has some way to go after Cape Verde – an archipelagic country made up of 10 volcanic islands, just off the coast of West Africa – became the most unlikely qualifiers for the World Cup’s knockout stages.Their draws with European champions Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia sent them through as runners-up from Group H, becoming the smallest nation to reach the knockout stage of a World Cup.Lopes handled Yamine Lamal with such expertise in their first game that another Rovers follower, Harry Moore, likened it to “Paul McGrath keeping (Italy’s) Roberto Baggio in his back pocket from the USA 1994 tournament”. High praise, indeed, if you know the history of Irish football.As for that documentary, surely it would have to start in the relevant branch of EBS, tucked inside the entrance of the edge-of-town Blanchardstown shopping centre. Do the people queuing for takeaway chicken at Popeyes, directly opposite, know what went down behind that unremarkable shop front?The Dublin branch of EBS, the building society and mortgage specialist, where Roberto Lopes used to work (Daniel Taylor/The Athletic)This, after all, is where Lopes was working as a trainee mortgage adviser when Rui Aguas, then the Cape Verde coach, made contact via LinkedIn to ask if he wanted to play for the Blue Sharks.Aguas, a former Benfica striker, had found out that the player’s father, Carlos, grew up in Cape Verde, meaning the former Republic of Ireland under-19 international was eligible to declare for them.Not that the message was immediately understood. Aguas had written it in Portuguese and Lopes, born in Ireland, has explained in multiple interviews how he “assumed it was spam and took no notice”. It was only when Aguas sent a follow-up message in English several months later — “Hi Roberto, have you had a chance to consider what I said to you?’ — that everything started to fall into place.“The news quickly got around the office,” Kelly recalls. “To make it happen, Roberto had to go off and find his father’s birth certificate. The excitement in the office was huge. Even though we didn’t know where Cape Verde was, it was huge.”Kelly describes her former colleague as “the most pleasant young fella, he always had a smile on his face… you’ve never seen Roberto on bad form”.She can also fill in the gaps about why Lopes was employed by EBS before switching clubs to join Rovers in 2017.“My boss, Gerry Cuffe, was heavily involved at Bohemians over the years and had been there previously as club president,” she explains. “So, in 2015, the club’s management came to Gerry and said, ‘We want to hold on to Roberto, we don’t want him to sign for anyone else, but we’re only a part-time club – is there any chance you could give him a job?’“Gerry said, ‘Yes, absolutely’. Roberto started doing his banking qualifications with us and, if Bohs were travelling to an away game, he used to get off from work early. The team bus would be going at 11am and everyone would turn a blind eye because ‘Roberto’s playing for Bohs tonight’.“There were seven of us in the office. We’ve been following Cape Verde all the way through the qualification. We say to people, ‘Do you realise there’s one person in Ireland who is going to the World Cup?’ The usual response would be, ‘Who would that be?’. Nobody knew him.”At 34, Lopes is now the most-capped League of Ireland player in history. Irish broadcasters refer to “Pico’s Cape Verde” on news bulletins. “I don’t think he will realise what it’s been like until he’s back,” says Kelly. “I’m sure he will be on every chat show and every radio station.”As it turned out, he did not need to wait. During a live show on Irish broadcaster RTE on Friday, Lopes took a video call from his Rovers manager, Stephen Bradley, who was working as a pundit and had just been discussing the Cape Verde game. Lopes was still in the changing room following his team’s draw in Houston. “I’m buzzing,” he said. “Would you believe I got called for doping?! The first two games were amazing but it would have meant nothing if we’d gone home today. But we held our nerve and have a great game to look forward to now!”