Roberto Lopes has been called up to the Cape Verde Islands squad for the first time.
The Shamrock Rovers defender qualifies for the West African island nation through his father Carlos.
Lopes has been included in the squad for next month's friendlies with Togo and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
🇨🇻 | Congratulations to Roberto Lopes who has been included in the Cape Verde squad for the upcoming friendlies against Togo (10th Oct) & DR Congo (13th Oct) in Marseille
An ever present at the heart of our defence & a deserved reward for his performances throughout the season👏 pic.twitter.com/jOqLwoFjU4— Shamrock Rovers FC ☘️ (@ShamrockRovers) October 1, 2019
The 27-year old played for the Republic of Ireland U19 side in 2011, when he was part of Paul Doolin's side that beat Italy 3-0.
Lopes spoke with Neil O'Riordan about his international ambitions - or lack thereof - in 2016 in the wake of then Bohemians team-mate Ayman Ben Mohamed's call-up to the Tunisia squad, "Once I saw it about ‘Aymo’, I was straight on to my Dad and saying, ‘Any chance you can put a word in?’
"He asked me about it years ago and I pawned it off. It shows it can be done so I’ll be knocking at the door.
"It would be brilliant. It’s not something I took seriously growing up but it would be nice to look into it."
Lopes has been an ever-present for Rovers this season, and an integral cog in their run to 2nd in the SSE Airtricity Premier Division and a date with Dundalk in the FAI Cup final.
The games with Togo (October 10) and DR Congo (October 13) will both be played in Marseille and offer Lopes the chance to force his way into the reckoning for their Africa Cup of Nations qualifying games.
The side managed by former Portugal striker Rui Águas have been drawn in Group F of the qualifying round along with Cameroon, Rwanda and Mozambique.
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