The Surinam selection debuted in Group A of the Gold Cup With a great game against Costa Rica. The Ticos suffered to keep the 4-3 victory at the Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California.
The Surinameses demonstrated with good football and courage that They will not be an easy opponent on the road to the 2026 World Cup. They fought with intensity to trace the score and stay with their first three points, but Costa Rica snatched them in the replacement time.
The Surinam team will be direct rival of Guatemala in the final phase of the Concacaf tie Rumbo to the FIFA World Cup 2026. Although some considered Surinam as the least powerful rival of the group, their performance in the debut demonstrated otherwise.
Next to Panama, Guatemala and El Salvador, Surinam will fight to obtain the greatest number of points to be leader of Group A and obtain the direct ticket to the World Cup in North America, or failing to be one of the best seconds to dispute the intercontinental repechage, being a careful rival for the bicolor.
Emotions from beginning to end
From the start, the game was high intensity, With a tica squad overturned to the attack in front of a shy selection of Surinam, that with the passage of the minutes he settled better in the field and planted from you to you before his rival.
The first goal of the game arrived at the 12th minute in favor of Costa Rica, When striker Anthony Contreras anticipated goalkeeper Etienne Vaessen and sent the ball to the bottom of the network. The advantage was extended to the 19th minute with a penalty converted by Manfred Ugalde, which put the 2-0 on the scoreboard.
Timely reaction
Surinam did not lose order or concentration, And at minute 34 the striker Sherldo Becker scored the discount for 2-1. Shortly after, at 59, midfielder Dion Malone tied the 2-2 match.
The bewilderment seized the Costa Ricans, who saw how they lost the advantage in the scoreboard. But Surinam did not stop. At minute 64, defender Shaquille Pinas charged a penalty that the experienced goalkeeper Keylor Navas could not stop, to place the 3-2 in favor of Surinam.
With the score against, Costa Rica reacted. At minute 76, Josimar Alcócer tied 3-3 and returned hope to the Ticos.
When it seemed that the tie was sealed, a controversial penalty arrived in replacement time, and Ugalde transformed it into a goal at minute 90+13 to decree the final 4-3.
“There is much to correct”
After the game, Manfred Ugalde, author of the Gol de la Victoria, REconoció that Surinam is a team “with quality players” and that they must analyze the party to correct errors.
“There will be no easy game, we have been preparing for that”, Said Ugalde for the next commitments. Costa Rica must face the Dominican Republic on June 18.
For his part, the coach of Costa Rica, Miguel “Piojo” Herrera, admitted that the team suffered more than expected: “It has an answer, it has delivery, it has determination“Said the Mexican, although he also acknowledged that” there is much to correct. “” It will always be better to correct winning than losing, “Herrera concluded.