Pico Lopes picks up first international cap

Shamrock Rovers defender Roberto ‘Pico’ Lopes earned his first international cap on Thursday lining out for Cape Verde in his country's 2-1 win over Togo in Marseille.

Lopes became the sixth member of the current Rovers squad to be capped at international level joining Republic of Ireland internationals Joey O’Brien, Graham Burke and Jack Byrne, along with Alan Mannus and Daniel Lafferty who have both been capped for Northern Ireland. 

“So proud and happy to make my debut for Cape Verde,” said Lopes on twitter after the match. “Great group to be a part of and a great result today.”

Trailing at half time, Cape Verde scored twice in the second half to win the friendly. Lopes was one of five players to make their debut in the match for the Blue Sharks.

Cape Verde are set to take on Ligue 1 side Marseille on Sunday so Lopes will miss Rovers home game against Finn Harps on Friday (see preview here).

Jack Byrne, who is part of the Republic of Ireland squad in Tbilisi, will also miss the League of Ireland game in Tallaght – although Byrne is also serving out a one match domestic suspension having picked up five yellow cards so far this season.

    About Macdara Ferris

    Macdara Ferris is a contributor since 2007 to Hoops Scene (Shamrock Rovers' match day programme) and is the co-author of two books on Shamrock Rovers - 'Tallaght Time: Shamrock Rovers 2009 to 2012' (with Karl … View Full Profile