The two sides have never met before today, but the pundits and fans would say Curacao should win rather easily.
Four years ago, Curacao snuck into the knockout stages of the 2019 Gold Cup thrillingly and gave the United States a tough game in the quarterfinals. That performance has raised the bar for the expectations of a team that has only appeared at two previous Gold Cups. Nonetheless, Curacao is hoping to make another run.
Saint Kitts and Nevis are getting their first taste of major tournament football and are looking to go on a magical run of their own. This group has already done it once before, in the First Round of the 2022 World Cup qualification by topping a group headlined by Trinidad and Tobago.
The Sugar Boyz went unbeaten in Nations League C play, with three wins and a draw against Aruba and Saint Martin. The team’s nine goals were scored by eight players, a prime example of the side’s overall deadliness as a unit.
Curacao managed just three points in their own Nations League A campaign, but the competition was much bigger. A comfortable win on the road in Honduras is nothing to sneeze at even for the very top teams in the region.
Much of the core from the 2019 team, including Leandro Bacuna, Cuco Martina, and goalkeeper Eloy Room is back, and striker Rangelo Janga, fresh off a solid season in Romania, has been brought in to bolster the attack.
When the match got underway you could sense something special might happen tonight in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Just 3 minutes into the match and the Sugar Boyz found a path to the goal, Hazel took the ball into the box, but Curacao’s Bacuna managed to get back in time to prevent a shot on the goal.
Curacao started to take over the game after that wake-up call and found the back of the net in the 22′ Jurgen Locadia fired a rocket from the top of the box, it managed to slip in despite St Kitts and Nevis Goalkeeper Archibald guessing properly but his fingertips couldn’t deflect the ball enough to keep it out of the goal.
Curacao took the early 1 – 0 lead and hunkered down the game. For Locadia it was his first international goal of his career. Despite the chances created, the match would make it to halftime with only one goal tallied.
The second half would be the start of a fairytale ending, in just the forty-ninth minute Sterling-James tried to catch the Curacao keeper off guard unleashing a bomb from a long distance, forcing the keeper Eloy Room to parry away the shot. Just like the first half the underdogs came out strong fast and narrowly missed a much-needed goal.
Again, fans would see Curacao settle the game down and take over, this time though Archibald stood strong denying multiple chances and capturing multiple balls that would have led to rebound goals and a disastrous score line for his side. In 83′ the world would be shocked by an awe-inspiring goal by St Kitts and Nevis.
Tiquanny Williams would make a brilliant cut back to the penalty spot and found teammate Tyquan Terrell who rocketed a shot into the upper netting for the tie. The score would stand that way at the end of 90′, it will take penalty kicks to find a winner tonight.
St Kitts and Nevis player press conference after their big win over Curaçao in penalties. #GoldCup #upset #soccer #baddawgsports
— Bad Dawg Sports (@jj_pavlick) June 18, 2023
🎥 Credit: Concacaf pic.twitter.com/7AIiYHCat8
Enter the Hero of St Kitts and Nevis Goalkeeper Archibald, he would save the very first attempt, then just missed saving the second one diving just a split second late, he would go on and save the fourth attempt by Curacao and set his team up for victory.
Terelle would convert and now the heavily favored Curacao would need to convert its final attempt to have any hope. Leandro Bacuna would step up, Curacao’s most experienced player, he would do his traditional stutter-step approach but would sail the ball into the stands.
St. Kitts and Nevis would go wild in disbelief. They knocked off the giants in Curacao in penalties and it was their keeper who was the superhero for the team.
Photo Credit: CONCACAF
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