It will be rival number 82 in the entire tour of the
Argentine National Team
, but
Curaçao
arrived in Santiago del Estero this Monday with the hope of making history.
Facing the world champion is not something that happens every day and, for this reason, the footballers - most of them born in the
Netherlands
- are clear about their objectives, although not in all cases they are sporting: on their arrival at the province
made an unusual request to captain Lionel Messi
.
What is it about?
As revealed by
Leandro Bacuna
and
Cuco Martina
, two of the members of the squad, they all want to keep a souvenir of the best player in the world, so they asked him to arrange the delivery of 23 '10' shirts.
"We are more than 20 players. Please arrange 23 shirts for us,"
Martina asked in a statement to TyC Sports, to avoid experiencing situations like last Thursday when the Panamanian players did
"rock, paper, or scissors"
to see who was the graceful
The two soccer players from Curaçao have a deep admiration for the 'Flea', to such an extent that Bacuna has posts dedicated to the 10 on his Instagram account.
Both stressed that it will be an "incredible"
game
for their Central American team, so they will "enjoy every minute."
In addition, Martina, the one who wore the Curaçao shirt the most times, added:
"It's a dream come true, it's something fantastic
. "
A celebration from Curacao, who wants to go to the World Cup.
(Curacao Football News)
The entire squad, like Almada
The occasional partner of the celebrations that will take place in the Mother of Cities stadium for the winning of the World Cup in Qatar has a team valued at
around 14 million dollars
, just less than the pass of striker
Thiago Almada
, one of the youngsters of the future in the selected world champion.
The comparison, based on data from the specialized
Transfermarkt
site, strongly reflects the enormous difference that exists with the Central American team, currently ranked 86th in the FIFA ranking and which has just lost last Saturday to Canada in the League of Nations. of Concacaf.
Curaçao, a tiny island of 444 square kilometers and 160,000 inhabitants, achieved its autonomy from the Netherlands Antilles in 2010 but without breaking with the Kingdom of the Netherlands, to which it owes all its soccer development.
All of its selected players are born in the European nation as well as its
55-year-old coach
Remko Bicentini , responsible for the most important sporting moments in the history of the Caribbean country.
Photo: Fernando de la Orden / Clarin
DT is currently completing his second term in the national team after a four-year process (2016-2020) that reported the greatest achievement of local football: the 2017 Caribbean Cup.
At the beginning of the Curaçao Football Federation (FFK), the National Team had an Argentine coach,
Manuel Bilches
from Mendoza (2011-2012), a former striker at Huracán Las Heras, Independiente Rivadavia and Deportivo Goudge.
Internationally renowned surnames also passed through the bench: the Dutch Guus Hiddink (2020-2021), former coach of Real Madrid, Chelsea and twice from the Netherlands, and his compatriot Patrick Kluivert, former Barcelona (122 goals in 257 games), who left the club months before Lionel Messi's debut.
In his current squad, only two footballers exceed a million dollars in their price.
They are the brothers
Leandro
and
Juninho Bacuna
, natives of the city of Groningen.
The first of them is the eldest (31 years old), a footballer for Watford in the English Second Division and shares with his teammate Rangelo Janga the merit of being the team's top scorer (14 goals).
Juninho (25), the team's most valued player (4.5 million), plays for Birmingham, also in the English Championship.
The record of appearances corresponds to the right back and captain Cuco Martina (55 games), who plays for Breda in the second Dutch category.
Curaçao was eliminated hand in hand by Panama in the second round of the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers in Qatar.
Before, they had successfully passed through the initial phase after winning the group with Guatemala, Cuba, Saint Vincent and the Grenadine and the British Virgin Islands.
With information from Telam
look too
The agenda of the Argentine National Team: what he did in his last training session before Curaçao and the trip to Conmebol
Those rare new rivals: from the surprise defeat with China to Curaçao, the 82nd adversary in the history of the National Team
The Argentine National Team, a shot from Brazil: what does it need to be 1st in the FIFA ranking?
Emiliano Martínez spoke after FIFA's "anti Dibu" rule for penalties: "I have fun, it's my time to disconnect"
The Curaçao player who has to take pills to travel by plane and joined only to play against Messi
The caramelized kiss of Messi to Antonela and the "offside" of Lautaro Martínez: the pearls of the intimate party of the Argentine National Team
The changes that Scaloni plans and how he follows the itinerary of the Selection
