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ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — Cape Verde's Roberto "Pico" Lopes nearly threw away the chance to represent his country because he thought the invitation was spam. The Dublin-born Shamrock Rovers defender is preparing for his second Africa Cup of Nations tournament with the rest of the Cape Verde team. But Lopes ignored the first inquiry he received from then-Cape Verge coach Rui Águas in 2018 because he assumed it was spam. Águas wrote back a year later in English and Lopes went on to make his Cape Verde debut. Cape Verde plays Ghana, Mozambique and Egypt in Group B. Lopes says "it's nice representing two countries."
