HOUSTON, TEXAS – Curacao midfielder Leandro Bacuna has preached positivity to his teammates ahead of his team’s 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup Group C headliner on Friday at BBVA Stadium in Houston.
The second-time participants in the Gold Cup are yet to take a point or score a goal in the competition, as they continue with their mission to improve on their debut appearance two years ago.
“Everything is still open,” Bacuna told Concacaf.com in an exclusive interview on Wednesday. “Honduras, they lost their first game as well so they have to make something right. If we win the game, we’ve got a good chance to go to the next round.”
Curacao and Honduras face off for the first time ever in a match that pits two teams that lost their opening match on Monday night in Kingston, Jamaica.
A loss could all but eliminate a team from advancing to the knockout phase, while a win would bring a feeling of redemption and hope.
“The most important thing for us is to stay focused even though we lost the first game,” said Bacuna in the pre-match press conference on Thursday. “We had a look at their game against Jamaica and we can see the points where we can get them and where we can try to score goals, trying to play from the back and trying to create chances.”
Throughout the group stage, one of the messages of the Curacao national team has been playing for the island and continue the advancement of football in the Caribbean nation.
That message is not lost through the pressure of trying to garner a result. Bacuna stressed the greater cause as a message of motivation.
“The key is to keep everything positive, to keep seeing the bright side,” added Bacuna. “Even the small wins. We are the ones on the pitch that can make a change. The better we play, the farther we get, the more professional it gets as well.”
