Overview
- Aer Lingus publicly offered flights and confirmed it will carry Roberto ‘Pico’ Lopes’s parents and brothers to Miami, a move his mother said the family accepted.
- The family say they will fly out on Friday ahead of Cape Verde’s round-of-32 match with Argentina on 3 July.
- Pico, a Dubliner and Shamrock Rovers centre back who joined Cape Verde in 2018, is preparing with the squad to face Lionel Messi and Argentina in Miami.
- Lopes’s mother has stressed that securing match tickets is still a separate challenge and may prove difficult given the demand for the high-profile fixture.
- Cape Verde reached the knockout stage as one of the tournament’s underdogs after finishing runners-up to Spain in Group H, and the airline’s gesture has drawn broad public praise in Ireland.