Lopez said, “We felt like we were up there with some of the best teams in Africa, we could definitely match them on their day. With the new format introduced by FIFA and more teams in Africa that can qualify for the World Cup, there was added motivation for us to say, ‘Let’s do everything we can to qualify and make history’.”
Their reward for that successful qualifying campaign is a place in Group H alongside Spain, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay, and Lopes and his team are relishing the opportunity to pit themselves against the best the world has to offer.
“I think we have to try and get out of the group, that should be the goal. You can’t really say you want to go to the final, I think the first hurdle is to try and get out of your group, try to stay there a little bit longer,” he said.
“We know it will be tough, we are in a tough group, but we have to believe we can do it – we got here on merit, and we have to be competitive now.”