Recruited on LinkedIn, set to face Spain - the Dublin-born Cape Verde star

Dublin-born Cape Verde star recruited on LinkedIn gets World Cup chanceTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.This video can not be playedFigure caption, What it means to qualify for the World Cup for the first timeByNeil JohnstonBBC Sport journalist in New YorkPublished3 minutes agoCommentsHe was recruited on social media to play for a tiny island nation 3,000 miles from where he was born, and now a former Dublin bank worker looks set to face Spain at the World Cup.Roberto Lopes' story sounds so far fetched even Hollywood scriptwriters might consider it implausible."I was not enjoying the work," says the 33-year-old about his desk job as he reflects on a wild, inspirational journey, from being a white-collar worker in the Republic of Ireland to playing for Cape Verde at their first World Cup.The defender, nicknamed 'Pico', was a newly qualified mortgage adviser 10 years ago, playing part-time for Bohemians in the League of Ireland.Then, in 2017, Dublin rivals Shamrock Rovers offered Lopes a chance to give up his day job and throw himself into a full-time football career.He has not looked back.Lopes is expected to start for minnows Cape Verde when they face 2010 world champions Spain on Monday in Group H in Atlanta (17:00 BST kick-off).The former Republic of Ireland Under-19 player's first appearances for the Blue Sharks came in 2019.Rui Aguas, the team's coach at the time, made contact via business network LinkedIn when he discovered Lopes' father, Carlos, was from Cape Verde - a country made up of 10 islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Africa.Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Lopes with his wife, Leah, and their baby, Diego, after Shamrock Rovers beat Cork City to win the 2025 FAI Cup at the Aviva Stadium, DublinFormer Benfica striker Aguas' original message was written in Portuguese and Lopes, who still plays for Shamrock Rovers, unintentionally blanked him."I thoug...