ORLANDO, Florida.- With a top spot in Group C at stake, expect scoring to be a premium when Costa Rica and Jamaica go head to head at Exploria Stadium in Orlando Tuesday.
Both teams enter the match with a perfect start to the Gold Cup, with six points apiece. Junior Flemmings is excited about the upcoming encounter and believes his Reggae Boyz side will be raring to go. He believes this is one of the better, if the best Jamaican team in recent years.
“I think we want to treat every opponent the same," Flemmings told Concacaf.com. "Every game you have to treat as a final, because this is a tournament situation. We have to put our foot on the peddle from the first minute and push for the result. We are going there for three points and three points only. It doesn’t matter who [we face].”
Costa Rica boss Luis Fernando Suarez shared the same sentiment.
“What I want most is that we never look at a team differently, neither more nor less," Suarez emphasized to Concacaf.com.
Although Suarez is confident and happy that Los Ticos are in good form to start their Gold Cup, he insisted the work is not done. He reflected on the team's struggles before the tournament.
“The team is much calmer, there are times when those feelings of always losing suddenly become habitual and a huge burden. At least that [burden] was taken away, but we [the team] have more things to do," he explained.
With the Group C crown on the line and future matchups to be determined by Tuesday's clash, Costa Rica midfielder David Guzman knows what is at stake.
“We are both going in to fight for the first place," Guzman said. "It is the one who makes the least mistakes, the one who prepares the best, is the one who can win. I think that we have prepared quite well.”
