FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida – Saint Kitts and Nevis are in the group stage of the Concacaf Gold Cup for the first time. In fact, the 2023 tournament marks the first occasion they have appeared at the Gold Cup in any capacity. When they arrived for the first round of the Prelims last week, they had already broken new ground.

To fight through two preliminary rounds and get into the tournament proper, where they will face regional powers like the United States and Jamaica, is the most remarkable achievement in the team’s history. 

The Sugar Boyz got here thanks to two consecutive triumphs in penalty shootouts; the first against Curacao and the second against French Guiana. Perhaps nobody played a larger role in those wins than goalkeeper and captain Julani Archibald. 

“It means the world to us. Trying so many years for the Gold Cup and we came up short, and to do it this time the way we did, taking the long route, it’s a great feeling,” said Archibald in an exclusive interview with Concacaf.com.

The veteran had two saves in the first shootout and another one in the second; both opponents also missed the frame entirely once each. The result was that the Sugar Boyz managed to win two shootouts while taking a grand total of just eight kicks. They dominated those shootouts, scoring seven out of eight times (88%) while holding opponents to just four makes out of nine (44%). 

How did they do it? According to Archibald, it’s all psychological. The captain has a strategy for managing the nerves around every aspect of a game, including a penalty shootout. That means impacting himself, his teammates, and the opposing penalty takers. 

“I just try to get into the kicker’s head. In penalties, the kicker is the one who faces the most pressure. If they score, nobody really worries about the goalkeeper, but if you save it, the goalkeeper is a hero. So, I’ve never gone into any penalty shootout with any pressure,” said Archibald.

But if all the pressure is on the kickers, what can the Sugar Boyz takers do? Here, Archibald says, the trick is to simplify. 

“I told them; they have to back themselves when they take the penalties. Whichever corner they choose, they just got to go 100%.” The results speak for themselves. 

And when the second shootout rolled around a few days later, Archibald was mentally prepared for that too. Here he had additional advice for his penalty-taking teammates. 

“For the second game, I told them I know the other goalkeeper has studied our penalties from the other game and will go the way he saw them kick, so I said to go the other way. It works in favor of us,” said Archibald.

The message is clear and simple. No matter what the scenario is, the Sugar Boyz always operate under the same mental approach: We are in control, and the pressure is always on the other side.

Now, as the Sugar Boyz get ready to face some of the fiercest competition of their lives, Archibald stresses the importance of remaining calm. 

“We just need to take it one game at a time, just like any other game. The situation might be different, but you just have to treat it like any other game,” said Archibald. 

It’s no surprise that a team with this kind of composed approach could excel at penalties.

Recent history also shows that Saint Kitts and Nevis will fancy their chances of making big inroads in their Gold Cup group. They advanced past the first round of World Cup qualification during the last cycle, and did so by finishing ahead of fellow Gold Cup Group A participants Trinidad and Tobago in the process.

Archibald and his teammates are not concerned with what others think of their chances. They know that they are the masters of their own domain, and that all the pressure falls on the shoulders of their opponents. 

The Sugar Boyz have proven time and time again that they are capable of achieving more, and they are ready to prove it one more time at the Gold Cup.