Roberto Lopes is hoping to turn his perfect start at the Africa Cup of Nations into a dream one.
‘Pico’ played the full 90-minutes of Cape Verde’s 1-0 opening group game win over Ethiopia in Cameroon last night.
Burkina Faso, who took an early lead against hosts Cameroon earlier in the day only to lose 2-1, are up next on Thursday..
Hoops centre-back Lopes knows a second win on the trot will leave the island nation - his dad is from Cape Verde - well placed to advance to the knockouts.
The Dubliner told Shamrock Rovers TV: “I’m absolutely chuffed to play my first game in the Africa Cup of Nations and it was special to win it.
“It was a great moment and to kick-off the tournament with a win, I couldn’t have asked for a better start.
“The nerves and the excitement were kicking in for the last two nights. Then I had a moment to myself where I said I didn’t just want to be part of it, I wanted to get stuck in.
“I felt we could have played better, but we’re delighted to get three points and have a win on the board.”
Crumlin lad Lopes continued: “The win has settled our nerves but the opposition on Thursday will be tougher.
“I didn’t know much about (Burkina Faso) coming into the tournament but they have been dark horses in previous ones.
“They took the lead against Cameroon and looked really good, so we don’t want to get too carried away with this win.
“We’ll get the clips of them from the Cameroon game and start preparing for them on Thursday.”
Lopes revealed how he had to put his mobile phone on aeroplane mode ahead of kick-off at the Olembe Stadium in Yaounde.
“I’ve been getting loads of messages and the phone was hopping,” he said. “But I’m trying to get back to everyone now.”
Cape Verde were handed an early boost when Ethiopia had defender Yared Bayeh sent off with just 12 minutes gone.
He was initially shown a yellow card but that was upgraded to red after a lengthy VAR review by the referee.
And Cape Verde then scored the decisive goal on the stroke of half-time when Julio Tavares headed home.
Lopes said: “It was one of the few times that we worked the ball well into a good position and got a good cross which Julio buried.
“That dented Ethiopia’s confidence and we kept our solidity in the second-half to hold onto the three points.”
There was a sparse crowd at the 60,000-capacity venue that had earlier played host to the Cameroon-Burkina Faso tournament opener.
Because of Covid, the hosts can have a maximum 80% of capacity at their games but the other competing nations are restricted to 60%.
But it was a fraction of that for Lopes’ game, while the stifling conditions were also a factor on the night.
Lopes added: “The fans have to be double vaccinated as well and show a PCR test on the day, but vaccination rates in the country are very low.
“That means low numbers at the games, unfortunately, but the fans still made a great noise. The heat gets trapped in the stadium - it was like a sauna.”
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