PORTLAND, Maine — Mikey Lopez was the first member of his family to play soccer, and as his father, Miguel Lopez, watched his then-4-year-old boy running around the pitch, he said to his wife that he could already see something special.
“After the first game, I told my wife – and she won’t let me lie – ‘Wait and see, this kid is going to be a pro soccer player,’” Miguel said. “I kid you not. And ever since, I really believed, and we’ve been supporting him ever since.”
Miguel was one of 20 family members to attend Mikey’s final match as a professional Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium, where the Portland Hearts of Pine won 4-1 over the first-place Charlotte Independence. Mikey announced last week that he was retiring after 14 years as a pro soccer player, prompting 16 members of the Lopez clan (the other four attending were his wife’s family) to make the arduous trip from Texas to Portland because this was a match not to be missed.
Mikey’s mother, Martha Lopez, agreed with her husband’s prediction, although she acknowledged that they had never expected all of the pageantry at the end of it. As part of the festivities, Mikey’s family joined him on the field pregame as the club gave him a framed No. 5 jersey while supporters chanted “Thank you, Mikey.”
“You always think hopefully, right?” Martha said of her son becoming a pro. “You always think and hope that he will get to be a professional, but we never thought he was gonna get to this point.”
As she said her last sentence, she looked around the stadium, which was completely full and teeming with energy. All 6,400 seats had been sold, and so many had come to say goodbye to her son in the Hearts’ final match of 2026. Fans carried signs, they screamed enthusiastically any time he made a play on the field, and then there were of course the Dirigo Union supporters, chanting songs about the Hearts’ beloved captain.
Elena Lopez, Mikey’s wife, said she had been asked a lot about whether this was a wistful moment. She understood the sentiment but she knew how much her husband had given to the game, particularly physically because his knees are shot. Since they have been together, there have also been moves to eight different communities “in less than that in years,” she said. This job as a pro soccer player has allowed her to meet so many new people and experience so many different things that she found Saturday to be a summing up of all that time.
“I think this is exciting,” Elena said. “We have so much family here, we have the crowd here. I think everyone’s like, it’s bittersweet, but for me, it’s exciting because you know being a player, at a certain point, you’ll hit a dead end. But when you have a new next chapter opening, the possibilities are totally open to him.”
Mikey has said he plans to become a soccer coach. He has already obtained the credentials for it, and he is hoping he can stay in Portland for a new direction in life. His first choice is to remain with the club, and while he has acknowledged he doesn’t know what will happen, club officials have spoken highly of him as a coach and seem interested in trying to make it work.
The one person who was most missed was Mikey’s grandfather, Jose Luis Lopez, who died in July. In the aftermath of his death, the family went into his workshop, a shed behind the house that no one else entered much. And did they ever find a surprise. Covering the walls beside Jose Luis’ workbench were clips and photos of Mikey playing soccer over the past three decades.
“My dad was a very loving person, but an old school loving person – not one that would come to you and say ‘I love you, I love you,’” Miguel recalled. “You would never imagine him taking his time to have all these clippings of all the stuff since Mikey was little and went with the national team. He had his clippings on a wall meticulously displayed there.”
But as Miguel explained, Mikey just had that kind of impact on his family.
“I feel like … he united the family all these years,” Miguel said as a few tears fell. “We had something to look up to, to look forward to watch him play and you know, we’re gonna miss it.”
Asked to describe his son, Miguel said simply, “He’s a great player but better than anything, a better person.”
As this interview with Miguel was concluding at the south end of the stadium, a roar erupted. Amid a loud whistle at the far end of the field, there was a mass of players converging close to the front of the goal, and it was clear something big was happening. Miguel and Martha rushed back toward the field to take a look.
A few moments later, Mikey was setting up for a penalty kick. He shot the ball and the goalkeeper dove and saved it but could not corral it. Mikey sprinted forward and buried the rebound into the back of the net, giving Portland what would turn out to be the game-winning goal.
No one has a perfect career, but Mikey Lopez, with his family and 6,400 friends in attendance, found the perfect ending.