By Trevor Stynes
ATLANTA, June 16 (Reuters) - Now that he is at the World Cup, Cape Verde defender Roberto Lopes had initially decided to break his habit of not swapping jerseys after a match, but is happy to have missed the chance to do so after his side's shock draw with Spain.
Lopes was a rock at the heart of Cape Verde's defence on their World Cup debut as they held the European champions and tournament favourites Spain to a 0-0 draw in their Group H clash on Monday.
The Ireland-born 33-year-old
is not the type to go looking for an opposition player after the final whistle to exchange shirts, but now that he has made it to football's biggest stage, things have changed.
"I think I've had a word with myself in this tournament and I said, 'Do you know what, I'm going to break that sort of rule'," Lopes told reporters on Tuesday.
"I looked to swap the striker (Mikel) Oyarzabal's jersey, and my defensive counterpart got there before me. After that I thought, it's not meant to be, it's not what I do.
"To be fair, that Cape Verde jersey, my first-ever World Cup jersey, that will be going back to Kilnamanagh. I'm glad I didn't swap it."
Spain dominated possession, but their slow build-up play allowed Cape Verde to keep their shape at the back, and when they did break through, goalkeeper Vozinha pulled off a string of impressive saves.
"We knew going into the game we'd be up against it," Lopes said.
"They'd have most of the ball and we'd have to be resolute in our defending and maybe hope that they had a bit of an off day in terms of firing at the goal.
"Thankfully our goalkeeper Vozinha, he was amazing and he deserves all the plaudits at 40 years of age and putting in performances like that."
Lopes had family from Ireland in the Atlanta Stadium, but the hectic World Cup schedule meant he had no chance to meet them after the game, and the impact of what his team had achieved only hit him later on.
"I was just looking for my family and just wanted to celebrate that moment with them," he said.
"But then afterwards you're in the air, thinking 'what just happened here?'. I managed to look up and wave in their direction and I could see them waving back.
"Then after the game, we were straight from the stadium to the airport and back in Tampa last night."
Next for Cape Verde is a meeting with Uruguay, who drew 1-1 with Saudi Arabia, on Sunday.
(Reporting by Trevor StynesEditing by Christian Radnedge)
