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LAST UPDATE | 10 hrs ago
DECKNER AVENUE IS a quiet neighbourhood 15 minutes south of downtown Atlanta.
Huge trees line both sides of the road and offer valuable protection from the blistering sun.
The dead heat is inescapable, though, as are the nibbling insects and the sporadic sound of pleasant, soft birdsong.
Those traditional wooden letterboxes are dotted on the grass verges by the sides of the road. There are steep driveways to homes, all of them a mismatch in colour and style and perched above street level.
Some kids are running between gardens and one family is barbecuing on their porch. The one that The 42 is here to see prefer the comfort of the air-conditioning in their Airbnb rental while watching Brazil take on Morocco.
The large Cape Verde flag hanging across the porch is a clear sign we’re in the right place.
PICO LOPES
DREAM COME TRUE
WORLD CUP 2026
That is the message accompanying a photo of the defender celebrating qualification to the tournament.
Waiting to greet The 42 and the Irish Independent’s Daniel McDonnell at the top of the seven concrete steps to the porch is Leah, Pico’s wife.
His story has been well told over the course of the last number of years, of course. “If I hear that LinkedIn story one more time, I swear to God,” Leah says, smiling.
She’s heard enough about it over the last seven years since Pico eventually got around to a message on the online platform about representing the country of his father’s birth.
So here are a few things you might not know.
That flag that now hangs just a few kilometres away from the Atlanta Stadium, where Cape Verde face Spain on Monday, has come from Pico’s old primary school in Crumlin, Loretto College.
That is where his mother, Judy, works as a secretary and is a colleague of Leah’s mother, Barbara, who is a special needs assistants (SNA).
“They asked me to leave the flag but I said ‘no, it’s coming with me’,” Barbara says, sitting on a chair behind one of two couches in the living area.
“She’s scarlet,” Leah teases.
Both of Leah’s parents are here, dad Martin wouldn’t miss it considering he made sure to book a trip to Africa from Dublin at a week’s notice for the 3-0 win over Eswatini that secured qualification.
Martin has worked as a set painter in the Irish film industry for 30 years and told his boss he needed to get an operation in hospital so needed a few days away.
“Me and Pico were interviewed in Cape Verde and I thought it was a local station,” Martin says. “But it was RTÉ.”
“I got back and my boss goes to me ‘how did the operation go?’ Then he said ‘here, there was a fella called Martin O’O’Shaughnessy on the radio, any relation?’”
“He was caught rapid,” Leah says, bursting out laughing.
“I just came clean and said ‘yeah, I went to the match’, but it was great. It reminded me of 1988 or 1990 with Ireland. It was bedlam, all the people together, the cars out on the streets beeping.”
It’s a full house, and sitting beside Martin is his son, Christopher, who puts his brother-in-law’s journey into perspective.
“As a young Irish sporting fan I am extremely grateful to Pico. There’s a lot of pride there but I do genuinely believe that it’s one of the most important sporting achievements of, specifically, my generation and the gratitude I have stems from the fact he has given me someone to root for in a World Cup.
I’ve never seen that. I’m too young to have seen Ireland in a World Cup. I’m 25. I was one at the time of the 2002 World Cup and there are so many lads that have never experienced Ireland at that stage.
“He has taken us to this tournament and he is representing us at this tournament. All my mates back home are up for Pico and will be tuning in. It’s not on a wide scale like if Ireland had qualified but there is that small subset of ‘I’m going to follow Cape Verde this time’ because that is who is representing us.”
For a League of Ireland lifer, and the captain of Shamrock Rovers’ most successful ever side, there will be thousands around the country feeling the same way.
Two of the most important people on this trip are sitting on the couch beside Leah. Nadine is a childhood friend and has drawn up their itinerary (colour-coded by cities, of course) for the entire group stage. After Monday’s game they will be on the road in a 30-foot campervan, driven by Nadine’s wife, Shannon.
They will head for Florida, taking in Orlando before reaching Miami where Pico will be in action against Uruguay. After that it’s back on the road again, with stop offs at Tallahassee among other places before reaching Houston for the final group game with Saudi Arabia.
And along for the ride will be baby Diego. Pico and Leah’s son is still a few months shy of his first birthday. He was a dream on the flight from Dublin to Chicago but the five-hour layover was a struggle. He’s now asleep in one of the bedrooms and they all take turns keeping an eye on the monitor or checking on him when he stirs.
“The baby hasn’t a clue. When Pico FaceTimes, he’s got no interest in looking at a phone. He doesn’t understand. When the second week came, Pico started missing him. The first week, it was the novelty of being away and catching up with the lads.
“He was getting sentimental on the phone and I was like ‘Are you OK?’ He hasn’t got a tooth yet. Pico was like ‘I bet he’s going to get a tooth while I am away?’
He started saying ‘Dada’ when Pico was gone. He was sad he wasn’t there but delighted he was saying it. All he says now is Da Da Da.”
Diego was still asleep when Pico FaceTimed the house before flying to Atlanta with his teammates from their training base in Tampa. He was in good spirits, helped further when a package of football boots brought from home by Leah was dropped off at the team hotel before taking on Spain.
This is only part of Pico’s support network. His own parents arrived in Atlanta with their other two sons after spending time with part of the Cape Verdean diaspora near Boston.
Keith Buckley, Pico’s former Bohemians teammate and best man for his wedding, has also travelled over.
Carlos, Pico’s father, named the family home off the Long Mile Road in Dublin ‘Providence’ after taking a sign home on a visit to one of his brothers in Rhode Island.
Along with Boston, this is the most concentrated number of Cape Verdeans in America. The population of the 10 islands that make up the archipelago off West Africa is roughly 530,000 with more than that again who can trace their lineage living throughout the world.
Pico is one of them, and around every corner in Atlanta there are Blue Sharks supporters making their presence felt.
Carlos settled in Dublin in the late 1980s, becoming a chef after working on the ships and continuing to trade letters throughout the world with Judy.
Pico’s grandfather, Telley, is 98 and still farming the land he has lived on all his life on Sao Nicolau. He spoke to local TV recently detailing his pride at his grandson’s achievements.
It’s the same closer to home in Dublin for Pico.
When Leah paid for some banners and buntings to hang outside their home in Kilnamanagh in Tallaght before he headed off, some of the neighbours on the quiet road dropped in out of curiosity to ask where they got them made.
“Then about a week later every house from ours down to the end of the road had a Cape Verde flag out the window. It was lovely to see that.”
Everything feels so exciting now, on the cusp of facing Spain in a World Cup, but it’s taken perseverance on and off the pitch for Pico to come this far.
You might have seen the videos doing the rounds recently of him speaking Creole in interviews. Leah remembers when he came home from his first international trip, and the sense of angst he felt at not being able to get his personality across fully.
“He’s really serious but he’s a buzzer as well. He loves having the craic. I felt really bad for him when he came home at first. It was like your first day at school and you’ve no friends,” she says.
So, Pico started to lock himself in his room and study. He started lessons on Zoom and when he would return to his parents’ home off he would insist on Carlos only speaking in Creole.
It’s the same focus and dedication that brought him to this point in his career, improbable as it would have felt when he decided to quit his full-time job as a mortgage advisor and sign a professional contract with Rovers in 2016 after meeting boss Stephen Bradley.
A decade on that leap of faith is about to be rewarded by stepping out on the biggest stage in world football.
Pico turns 34 in two days’ time and an early birthday present will be getting named in the starting XI to face Spain.
He reckons this is the strongest group of Cape Verde players since he made his debut almost seven years ago.
Manager Pedro Leitão Brito – Bubista – only informs the players of the team before they leave the hotel on the day of the game.
That routine isn’t changing.
If their entrance onto the pitch together for a walk around the 68,239-capacity stadium on Sunday night was anything to go by then there should be some positive news. Bubista embraced
Pico and looked around the vast, indoor arena. The roof will be closed for the midday kick-off (5pm Irish time) and heavy rain is expected again after storm clouds gathered and released a deluge on Sunday evening.
The pair have come a long way together, and when asked by The 42 in the pre-match press conference about how he would describe their relationship, Bubista smiled as he praised his centre back.
“A very good relationship. Because on the top of being a great player he is also a great person, a great sportsperson.
“It’s been a rewarding experience to work with him. He is a player who has been very helpful to qualify and contributed to the transformation of the team.
“We can only say wonderful things about him, wishing him to play a great World Cup.”
Those sentiments will be echoed throughout Ireland, not to mention a 30-foot campervan making its way around the United States for the rest of June.
Written by David Sneyd and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.
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