Spain got here into the sport as heavy favourites however the spirit and talent proven by Lopes, who has performed for Shamrock Rovers since 2017, and his teammates proved sufficient to drag off a serious shock.
“I believe everybody anticipated it to be a stroll within the park for the Spanish, understandably,” continued Stafford.
“I believe what Pico confirmed was his energy, his organisational abilities have at all times been glorious, and for a crew to maintain their form and self-discipline for so long as they did yesterday is a credit score to them and I reckon he was an enormous a part of that.
“He additionally confirmed his health stage, not solely bodily however mentally, to be tuned in. Sure, they rode their luck at occasions, however whenever you’re enjoying the reigning European champions, you are going to need to trip your luck at occasions.”
Born in Dublin to a Cape Verdean father and an Irish mom, the ex-Bohemians participant is the primary League of Eire participant to take part in a World Cup finals match.
He made his debut for the nation in 2019, having beforehand made one look for the Republic of Eire Underneath-19s in 2011.
After his transfer to Shamrock Rovers and with the membership competing within the Champions League and Europa League, Lopes obtained a message on his LinkedIn profile from the then-Cape Verde supervisor Rui Aguas that set the ball rolling.
“Everybody is aware of his story, it is most likely essentially the most talked about story in historical past at this stage with the entire Linkedin factor. I might say he’s most likely sick of telling individuals the story,” stated Stafford.
“He is a incredible ambassador for the league, he is the chairperson for the Footballers’ Affiliation right here, so he does nice stuff off the pitch in addition to on the pitch.”
Cape Verde’s remaining two Group H fixtures will see them tackle Uruguay on Sunday 21 June (23:00 BST) and Saudi Arabia on Saturday 27 June (01:00).
“The sensation right here is that yesterday’s consequence ought to spur them on much more and they need to solely construct on that.
“It is likely to be tough to duplicate that form of work-rate in these video games, and that self-discipline, but when they’ll do it towards a crew that good I do not see why they cannot do it of their remaining two video games.”
