Honduras 0-Curacao 1
Group C action in Houston finished with ‘La H’ and Curacao in a must-win game for both sides. The South American team was the one that scored and eliminated the Central American team from the tournament. Curacao, with the win, recorded its first ever win in the CONCACAF Gold Cup and their dream to advance to the next round is still alive.
Leandro Bacuna scored the historic first ever Curacao Gold Cup goal in the first half to shock the Honduras team and its fans. That goal gave his side the three points and surprisingly eliminating one of the toughest team of the tournament in Honduras.
On the other side, Honduras is clearly the biggest disappointment of the tournament. They lost their first match against Jamaica and with another loss against Curacao they are in the last place of group C with 0 points and are eliminated from the area championship.
Even though the Central American team did everything they could to score, they did not. They tried using the speed of its players on the sides, but the lack of effectiveness of strikers ‘Choco’ Lozano and Rubilio Castillo is what has ‘La H’ out of the competition. Alberth Elis, who plays for the Houston Dynamo, had a hard time trying to provide his teammates good passes that could have ended in goals.
Honduras used other ways to attack Curacao, but goalkeeper Eloy Room had a fantastic night after recording 15 total saves to keep a clean sheet. He was one of the most important players for the unexpectedly Curacao that celebrated their win with the 20 fans who were supporting their team all game long in a hot and humid city of Houston.
Now Curacao will try to keep making history and beat Jamaica to advance to the quarterfinals in their last match of the group stage. On the other side, Honduras will try to get a win against El Salvador in a Central American derby. Both matches will take place in Los Angeles.
Edtior’s Note: All photos are courtesy of Jose Castellanos.
CONCACAF Gold Cup
FIFA
