When David faced Goliath, the young shepherd only had a slingshot and stones to battle the giant. But, as the biblical tale goes, he also had God on his side.While Roberto ‘Pico’ Lopes may only have his football boots as armour when World Cup debutants Cape Verde stare down the tournament’s reigning champions Argentina on Friday, he also has the support of two small island nations in the Atlantic Ocean.It may not be divine intervention, but the view from Lopes’s hometown of Crumlin, Dublin 12, is that homegrown, international talent doesn’t need it.Pat Holmes from Lourdes Celtic Football Club coached Lopes from the age of eight until 14. Although this was now more than 20 years ago, Holmes remembers it like it was yesterday.“He was just a top player,” he says without hesitation. “There was nothing he couldn’t do in training sessions. He played really well. He was clever and he was strong, but, more than anything, he was very much a team player.”Lopes would show up early for training and stay late after the session finished, his childhood coach of six years says. “He gets his discipline from his mother and father: Judy is a top woman and Carlos is a top man.“Carlos is the calm one, he’s really calm. Judy fusses a little bit, but only to make sure everything goes well with showing up on time and stuff. But you can see a bit of Carlos coming out on the pitch, absolutely nothing fazes him,” Holmes says.“He’s just that type of fella, he takes it all in his stride. Nothing has ever been too much for him.”Despite the decades, the two men haven’t lost contact. Lopes came to Holmes’s home five weeks ago to give him a Cape Verde jersey he wore during an international match. Holmes has worn it for every World Cup match played by the island nation off the west coast of Africa. “I couldn’t believe it, but that’s just the kind of guy he is,” Holmes says of receiving the shirt. He remembers when Lopes’s team packed grocery bags in order to raise funds for the club and finance trips. “He was a top bag-packer too,” he says. “He always did it with a smile on his face.”Lopes was one player in “a very good squad”, he’s quick to point out. “We won the Dublin City Cup. We beat St Kevin’s in the final. They were the best side in Dublin for their age. Every single player gave it their all.”The high-achieving team spirit is evident the second you walk into the clubhouse on Old County Glen. On the walls hang photographs of local former players who represented the Republic of Ireland: Damien Duff, Andy Reid, Niall Quinn and Katie Taylor.A generation on, could the now-retired coach ever have imagined the young boy who joined his local club one day reaching the knockout phase of the World Cup? “Everyone imagines things, but that’s a far-out imagination,” he says. “But look, he’s playing in it, he’s living the dream. I suppose he’s proved to us all that it can be done, no matter who you are or where you’re from.”Holmes predicts a win for Cape Verde in its mammoth task against Argentina, captained by Lionel Messi. “And speaking of imagination, I think an Argentinian will be sent off,” he says. “They just can’t handle the speed of the Cape Verde team.“If Roberto can keep the game tight for the first half, they’ll win 1-0,” Holmes says. But, as a defender, Lopes “won’t be the one scoring, unless maybe it’s a corner”.Lopes has quickly captured the nation’s attention, but it’s clear he’s been the pride of Crumlin for some time. James Claffey, a sports psychologist and ambassador for Lourdes Celtic, has seen just how much it matters for the local community.“He’s still got a really good relationship with the club,” he says. “We had our summer camps this week and last, and the kids made an aerial video saying ‘good luck’ to him. He replied straight away and said it means a lot."There’s “a massive sense of community” in the club, he says. “We’ve had more kids who’ve been around [since the World Cup kicked off]. We’ve had more people wanting to talk about the effect of football and what Lourdes Celtic does in the community.”He says Dublin 8, 10 and 12 are “all socio-economically deprived areas, disadvantaged areas”. The club has situations “where kids would arrive and they wouldn’t have had a meal”.“They wouldn’t have access to food,” he says. “They’re coming from drug misuse at home and they find a place where they can express themselves. We like to believe that we’ve built a community.”Walking around this part of Crumlin, Cape Verde flags are more common than Irish tricolours. While many in the Lopes family will be present in the Miami stadium on Friday night, a group of Cape Verde supporters will watch from Dublin 12.