⚽️ Kick-off time: 3pm local/5pm BST/12pm EDT/2am AEST⚽️ Player guide | Bracketology | Wallchart | And mail DanielEmail! “Don’t forget the story of Pico Lopes,” chides Tikthra, “a lad from Crumlin in inner-city Dublin who was first called up to the Cape Verde team in 2019 and became only the second ever League of Ireland player to qualify for a World Cup. Declan Rice and Pico are the only two former Ireland internationals still left with a chance of winning the World Cup.”I was getting to him! First of all, I’m glad Crumlin has someone other than Conor McGregor repping for them; secondly, UK telly just showed a lovely interview with him in which he explained he was on LinkedIn for employment purposes and the manager of Cape Verde contacted him. Problem was, the message was in Portuguese so he ignored it, but got another, in English nine months later, and here he is, at the World Cup. His relief remains palpable. Continue reading...