Roberto Lopes has had major responsibilities thrust upon him at 20 in the centre of Bohemians’ defence. He is striving to repay the manager’s confidence in him, he tells BRIAN TRENCH.
When the history of Bohemians in this decade is written, the club’s recruitment from Belvedere in 2009 and 2010 may well be seen as a decisive moment. Several of those who moved from Belvo to Bohs at that time have become part of the senior squad’s core – Stephen Traynor, Keith Buckley and Roberto Lopes.
Lopes was just one season at Belvedere when he appeared in the shop window for Pat Fenlon and the coaches of Bohemians’ under-20 team. He had cut his teeth at Lourdes Celtic and had three years at Home Farm.
READ MORE
At Bohemians, ‘Pico’ progressed rapidly, becoming captain of the under-20s while still 18. In that team, he enjoyed two highpoints of his still-short career, when he led Bohemians to an extra-time defeat of Shamrock Rovers in the Leinster Senior Cup in 2011, and was called up to the Republic of Ireland under-19 squad in the same year.
“We fielded a reserve side and Rovers had a really strong team. On paper we had no right to win the game. It was a very special moment.
“To be called up to the under-19 international team came as a shock. I was told to be on standby and I didn’t really think more about it. But, with people dropping out through injuries, I got a call and had to move quickly. It was a great experience to see how things are done at that level. Once you get the taste for it you want more.”
Lopes has made occasional appearances at left-back and in midfield but this season he has appeared consistently alongside Owen Heary or Stephen Paisley in the centre of defence, “my most comfortable position”.
In pre-season interviews, manager Aaron Callaghan expressed confidence that Lopes would make a major step-up in 2013. “I have to take it as a compliment that the manager gives me praise like that,” says Lopes. “But if he has that faith in me, I have to pay him back for it.”
Lopes believes Bohemians can no longer seek shelter in the view of Callaghan’s team as a young side. “That label is an easy way to make excuses for ourselves. There are other teams, like Cork, that are also young. We need to grow up fast and move forward as quickly as we can.”
He has “mixed feelings” about the team’s performance so far this season. “We have got off to a better start than last year and picked up more points but we have taken two bad defeats to Sligo and Derry, with bad performances.
“But we can feel ourselves growing and with the experience of those two defeats behind us, we can build again.”
Being often in the last line of defence before the goalkeeper, Lopes may be in the spotlight more than others when errors lead to goals. “There have been errors that have cost us games that we might have won, or nicked a point in. We do go over these things and analyse them. Talking about it is the main way to make sure they don’t happen again.”
Lopes believes Bohemians “can push very close” to a European place, a Setanta Cup spot or a cup trophy. He has tasted cup success already this year with Dublin Institute of Technology, where he is a second-year student of leisure management currently on placement in the college as a sports officer. Lopes’s extra-time goal put DIT into the final of the CUFL (Colleges and Universities Football League) Premier League, where they defeated DCU.
“I value the education I am getting very highly and the football is a bonus. I don’t take it as seriously as the league football but we got on well as a squad and it was a great feeling to become champions, especially when there were really good teams like UCD and Carlow IT in the competition.”
Lopes’ commitment to Bohemians is part of a family contribution. His younger brother, Jacques, is a full-back with the under-19 team, and his chef father, Carlos, prepares the Thursday evening meal that the players and coaches enjoy together at Dalymount Park.
Through his dad, Lopes is eligible to play for Cape Verde, a country of half-a-million people that has reached the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations this year. The national team includes players in the Portuguese league and other leading European leagues, while those who might have declared for Cape Verde but have chosen Portugal include Nani and Eliseu.
Whatever about future international honours and affiliations, Lopes expresses his ambition in football clearly: “I just want to play at the highest level I can. If I can make a career out of it, and if that means getting an opportunity to play in England, that would be brilliant. But I am realistic with my goals. I just want to be playing football.”
The next challenge for Lopes will be keeping his place in the team when Owen Heary returns from injury. “That’s another improvement this season. We have good competition for places across the team, with two players for nearly every position. It keeps people on their toes.
“Obviously, with me being the youngest it would be easy to say I would be the first out. But it’s not really like that. If you keep up the effort in training, you’ll get your opportunity and it’s up to you to keep it.”
