{"id":38232,"date":"2026-07-04T14:14:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T14:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/04\/world-cup-star-cancels-bbc-interview-walks-out-in-emotional-scenes-soccer-sports\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T14:14:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T14:14:25","slug":"world-cup-star-cancels-bbc-interview-walks-out-in-emotional-scenes-soccer-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/04\/world-cup-star-cancels-bbc-interview-walks-out-in-emotional-scenes-soccer-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup star cancels BBC interview, walks out in emotional scenes | Soccer | Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Cape Verde star Pico L\u00f3pez became emotional following his country&#8217;s dramatic defeat at the World Cup and called off an interview early. The African island nation pushed Argentina to the end in their Round of 32 match, with reigning champions Argentina needing a late winner in extra time to overcome their opponents.<\/p>\n<p>Cape Verde, making their first appearance in the World Cup finals, drew with Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia to advance to the final round. Despite falling behind twice against Lionel Messi&#8217;s Argentina side, they came back both times and Sidney L\u00f3pez Cabral produced one of the best moments of the tournament with a stunning goal to make it 2-2 in extra time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Cape Verde scored an own goal in the second half of overtime, making Argentina 3-2, but they suffered heartbreakingly in the final stages. However, the country has won the hearts of its fans with its performances.<\/p>\n<p>One of the team&#8217;s standout stories is Roberto &#8216;Pico&#8217; Lopez. The centre-back was born in Ireland but has qualified for Cape Verde through his father.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to the BBC after the match, he said: &#8220;We came into this tournament wanting to make history, to show that we deserve to be here, and I think overall we&#8217;ve shown that we&#8217;re more than capable of competing with the best teams in the world.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Express sports on FB! Get all the best sports news and more on our Facebook page<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Ten years ago, the centre-back was working as a mortgage advisor. He also came to represent Cape Verde through a message he received from the social media site LinkedIn.<\/p>\n<p>When asked about his own personal journey, he added: \u201cYeah, I just try to stay in the moment as much as I can. I think there comes a time when I think about it, which is great, if I do say so myself, but my ambition, my dream, was just to work hard every day and try to get a little bit better.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And there&#8217;s also a bit of pride in the fact that I&#8217;ve gone from where I was 10 years ago to where I am now, because&#8230;&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>He then became emotional, adding, &#8220;I&#8217;m done,&#8221; and calmly walked away from the interview.<\/p>\n<p>His club, Shamrock Rovers, responded to the interview with a simple message: &#8220;We&#8217;re proud of you,&#8221; along with a green heart emoji.<\/p>\n<p>He also received support from fans on social media. &#8220;No pico no party, what an absolute hero! He deserves everything,&#8221; one person wrote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>A second said: &#8220;Incredible @picolopes an absolute hero.&#8221; A third added: &#8220;I agree. Well done to this guy. He&#8217;s brought real excitement to two countries. And he doesn&#8217;t deserve any less.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What a gentleman deserves all the credit @picolopes for his great performance at the World Cup,&#8221; said a fourth man.<\/p>\n<p>Lopez made his international debut in 2019 and won his 49th cap against Argentina. He played every available minute at the World Cup and is likely to be hailed as a hero upon his return to both Cape Verde and Ireland.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/sport\/football\/2225309\/world-cup-pico-lopes-cape-verde\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cape Verde star Pico L\u00f3pez became emotional following his country&#8217;s dramatic defeat at the World Cup and called off an interview early. The African island nation pushed Argentina to the end in their Round of 32 match, with reigning champions Argentina needing a late winner in extra time to overcome their opponents. Cape Verde, making<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-38232","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-matches"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>World Cup star cancels BBC interview, walks out in emotional scenes | Soccer | Sports - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/04\/world-cup-star-cancels-bbc-interview-walks-out-in-emotional-scenes-soccer-sports\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"World Cup star cancels BBC interview, walks out in emotional scenes | Soccer | Sports - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cape Verde star Pico L\u00f3pez became emotional following his country&#8217;s dramatic defeat at the World Cup and called off an interview early. 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