Dubliner Pico Lopes helps Cape Verde stun Spain with 0-0 draw in World Cup opener

David Sneyd reports from Atlanta Stadium

Spain 0

Cape Verde 0

FIRST CAME THE boos and then came the cheers.

It was the 66th minute and Spain had already completed 550 passes as Cape Verde – Pico Lopes’ Cape Verde – remained so brilliantly resolute.

In one slow, dreary passage, it felt like 500 of those Spanish passes were in a single spell of mind-numbing monotony.

Only the prospect of one of the great World Cup upsets, and the greatest result in Cape Verde’s history, kept up the stomach-churning levels of hope.

This was absorbing, enthralling and most of all excruciating.

And then came the joy.

Then came the magic. Spain had no way through. No way past Pico Lopes or 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha.

And to think that Uefa supremo Aleksander Ceferin said this expanded World Cup would have too many uninteresting games with the likes of Cape Verde involved.

Get the boat, pal.

Get the boat over to Cape Verde and see what this moment looks like.

Spain asked questions as you would expect, but Cape Verde answered every one of them.

As the final seconds ticked away, chants of Olé, Olé, Olé were the only sound in the stadium.

A sound that belongs to Cape Verde and to Ireland, Pico’s presence only further strengthening that bond.

A lap of honour followed for these heroic Cape Verde players. Spain’s were already down the tunnel.

The Spain fans had long had enough. Those who travelled from home, those already living in the United States, and those Americans who wore swarmed on the Atlanta Stadium in their Lamine Yamal jerseys wanted to see their hero.

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He was needed for salvation as the minutes ebbed away.

The jeers and boos swirled. Spain seemed stuck. A mild form of embarrassment will be their only repercussion, but for Cape Verde, this is historic.

There were 66 minutes on the clock. Spain boss Luis de la Fuente called for Yamal. His face was beamed onto the ginormous screen that wrapped around the stadium like a LED bearhug.

The fans rose to their feet and once the final hydration break concluded, Lamal sprinted from the bench.

Now the goal would come.

Now Cape Verde would crumble.

Think again, and as well as the goalkeeper’s moment to shine, there was also a stunning 88th-minute block from Lopes to deny Mikel Oyarzabal’s goal-bound shot from 12 yards.

His teammates swarmed around him and the Dubliner pushed them back into position.

There were small pockets of blue dotted around a vast sea of red. There were Irish tricolours visible in one, possibly where Lopes’ parents, wife and other friends and family were stationed.

The tension was unbearable until the ultimate release at the final whistle. It could have even been the ultimate smash and grab as Cape Verde finished strongly and Lopes’ centre-back partner Diney Borges forced a save from Unai Simon in injury time.

This glorious draw is enough for anyone.

And to put the story of Lopes into more perspective, on this exact date in 2018, he was an unused substitute for Shamrock Rovers in a 2-0 win away to Limerick in front of 700 fans.

In 2026, he was at the beating heart of one of the World Cup’s greatest moments. On their debut, his side shut out the reigning European champions.

Midway through the first half, Yamal got up from the Spain bench and began to wander. Rather than go through his paces with a warm-up, he simply headed for a nearby watercooler box and sat on that instead.

The Spanish journalists noted this show of mild dissent, of putting on a show of apparent discontent. They wondered if the plan for easing him back from the hamstring tear he suffered in April would be discarded.

Spain were being to get frustrated by Cape Verde. At the heart of their resistance was Lopes, who made a goal-saving clearance at the back post on 12 minutes to deny Oyarzabal rising for a header.

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Cape Verde were organised and resilient, and while they offered little penetration or anything in the way of probing in the final third, they were also comfortable using the ball when they could.

Goalkeeper Vozinha pulled off one superb low save from a Pedri shot on 36 minutes and followed that up three minutes later by tipping Oyarzabal’s header over the bar after Pedri had struck the woodwork with a side-foot effort from eight yards.

It was only in the last 10 minutes of the first half that Spain looked dangerous. Diagonal balls for the rampaging Marc Cucurella – now of Real Madrid – down the left were proving their most productive attacks.

Spain forced two more opportunities in the closing stages of the half but, again, Vozinha was equal to both, denying Feran Torres and just increasing the frustration levels of the Spain fans in attendance.

They arrived in expectation, even with Yamal and Nico Williams absent from the starting XI through injury. No surprise, really, given they are the reigning European champions, the pre-tournament favourites with many and playing a side ranked 69th in the world.

Fears of ending up on the end of the kind of hidings that have been dished out to Curaçao and Tunisia, even Paraguay, who were blitzed by America, were easing with every minute.

The dreary hum of anticipation from the Spain fans was also becoming a little bit more frazzled. Seeing their players attempt wild shots from distance only added to their worries.

Fabián Ruiz was guilty of two within the first six minutes of the second half. The PSG midfielder, a back-to-back Champions League winner, skied two efforts.

Bit by bit, with every piece of this sloppiness the sense of belief was growing. Cape Verde needed to remain as structured as possible. There were some mistakes creeping in; passes going astray and players being dispossessed. A failure to hold up the ball in the final third was a concern.

There was very little in the way of relief as the second half wore on.

The concentration levels under such strain were surely immense. The ball kept coming back and Spain came in waves.

But their attacks didn’t have any real potency, even with Yamal.

Cape Verde could have snatched it at the end with that corner that landed on the head of Borges but there will be no regret. This was a day of joy for Cape Verde, and one that will fuel belief that there is more to come for them in this group and World Cup.

Spain: Unai Simon; Marcos Llorente, Pau Cubarasi, Aymeric Laporte, Marc Cucurella; Pedri, Rodri, Gavi, Fabian Ruiz; Ferran Torres, Mikel Oyarzabal.

Cape Verde: Vozinha; Steven Moreira, Disney Borges, Pico Lopes, Sidny Cabral; Kevin Pina, Laros Duarte; Ryan Mendes, Jamiro Monteiro, Jovane Cabral; Dailon Livramento.

Referee: Adham Makhadmeh (JOR).