MIAMI, Florida – When it comes to high-stakes Concacaf affairs between Costa Rican club Alajuelense and Olimpia of Honduras, Pablo Gabas certainly knows a thing or two about them.
In his career, the midfielder had three different spells with Alajuelense and twice faced Olimpia in different competitions. The first was the 2005 Copa Interclubes de la UNCAF Final in which he scored the Alajuelense goal in a final that ended 1-1 and the Ticos winning in a penalty shootout. Gabas was also on the end of a 3-0 aggregate defeat to Olimpia in the 2017 Scotiabank Concacaf League Round of 16.
Needless to say, the start of this week’s 2022 SCL Final between the two clubs conjures up recollections of the past for the 40-year-old.
“It is a final that brings back a lot of memories, going against Olimpia, which is one of the strongest clubs in all of Central America and at the Concacaf level as well. They are always in the mix in every tournament,” said Gabas in an interview with Concacaf.com.
“I played against Olimpia in the UNCAF in 2005, which was a final. We won there in Honduras, but we lost here at home in Costa Rica and in penalties we ended up being champions. It was a very close game. In 2017 I played in that series as well and we lost in Honduras and in Costa Rica. That was a team that was just being put together. We had a lot of new players. We were just getting things started and found ourselves up against an Olimpia that beat us soundly,” said Gabas.
2017 SCL LD Alajuelense vs CD Olimpia
Gabas feels like Wednesday first leg in Honduras will serve as the key to the entire series.
“I think these two teams have played the best during the entire tournament. For me, the first leg is always the most important. People always say it’s nice to close at home but having to get a result in a second leg against a team set up to defend can be tough.
“It seems like this game in the Estadio Chelato Ucles there in Honduras that Alajuelense cannot lose, or if they do lose, that it is at a minimum. But if Olimpia win by two goals or more, Olimpia have the make-up to come here to Costa Rica and play well,” said Gabas.
While Alajuelense’s domestic campaign in Costa Rica ended with a frustrating semifinal defeat to Saprissa, Gabas believes that in this edition of the SCL Alajuelense have been able to find the right balance.
“I think in these Concacaf games they have been able to adapt themselves better. They have someone like Celso Borges who is playing very well right now. Bryan Ruiz is of course a player who can help you a lot even though he is retiring in a month-and-a-half. There’s Alex Lopez as well, who knows the Honduran team well. They have a group of players who are performing well at the international level and here at home in the Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto they have been very strong and that has benefitted them in these two-legged series,” said Gabas.
Alajuelense are no strangers to having success in Concacaf. Gabas was part of the Alajuelense team that won the 2004 Concacaf Champions Cup, and in the last decade in the Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League they went to back-to-back semifinals in 2013-14 and 2014-15.
“When it was time to play Concacaf games, I was transformed. It was a way to show myself at an international level. That’s what took me to play in Mexico for a while. Playing a Concacaf games is a completely different feeling. You play against a different country. The atmosphere envelops you and hopefully in this Final the Alajuelense fans accompany the team. Losing the semifinal against Saprissa in the domestic league was tough, but hopefully they play a good game this week in Honduras so they can close things out next week in Costa Rica,” said Gabas.
When he pauses to reflect on some of his triumphs in Concacaf, Gabas looks back on the big goals he scored, in particular in the 2011-12 SCCL against the Los Angeles Galaxy and Morelia and then in the 2014-15 semifinal versus Montreal.
LA Galaxy vs LD Alajuelense
Those encounters playing under the bright lights of Concacaf served as an inspiration and motivated Gabas to compete at a higher level.
“Alajuelense was very special for me in my footballing life. I’ve played a lot of Concacaf games in a lot of places. I’ve been able to do great things that people remember, goals that I have scored. Each time that a Concacaf game comes around, the people remember the goals that I scored against the LA Galaxy, against Morelia, against Montreal in that Champions League semifinal. I felt like I always played well, but that in Concacaf games they made me raise my level,” concluded Gabas.