PHOENIX, Arizona – For the first time 10 years, Honduras DF Johnny Leveron is playing in the Concacaf Gold Cup and relishing every bit of it.
Leveron made his Gold Cup debut in the 2011 edition when he featured in two matches for the Catrachos, including Honduras’ narrow 2-0 semifinal defeat to Mexico in extra time.
A decade later, Leveron played in all three of Honduras’ group stage games in 2021, including scoring a goal in the 4-0 win over Grenada.
There is no doubt that being back in a Gold Cup with Honduras has meant the world to the veteran defender.
“The truth is that I’m very motivated and proud to be representing my country and representing my national team,” said Leveron in an exclusive interview with Concacaf.com.
“I’m giving my all each day in every training. It’s an opportunity to demand more from ourselves and show ourselves. The last time I had this chance was facing Mexico in a semifinal and hopefully we have better luck this time,” added Leveron.
Leveron played the final 44 minutes of that 2-0 semifinal defeat to Honduras in which the Catrachos went toe-to-toe with El Tricolor in an affair that was scoreless after 90 minutes.
However, Mexico struck twice in extra time to deny Honduras a return to their first Gold Cup final since 1991. Leveron believes the lessons learned from that semifinal loss can be applied to Saturday’s semifinal.
“We can take things from that loss for sure. The extent of the circumstances that made us lose that game, a simple detail, losing a marker, a lack of communication, any detail like that is what affected us in that game. We hope in this game to have a lot more conviction, a lot more focus, be smarter in all aspects and know how to manage things in what will be a stadium full of fans against us,” concluded Leveron.
