HARRISON, New Jersey – Despite exiting the 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup with three defeats, Nicaragua Head Coach Henry Duarte believes his team made strides and learned a lot during the tournament.
Specifically, it was the lesson that when chances are presented, they have to be finished in order to have any chance to win.
“I want to congratulate my players. I think they played a good game. It’s one of the best games I’ve seen, but unfortunately, we committed a few errors, which you can’t do at this tournament. It was an intense, back-and-forth match. These defeats can show you many things, when you are in attack, you have to finish your chances and take down the opponent,” said Duarte in his post-match press conference following a 2-0 defeat to Bermuda on Monday night.
“At times we showed a lack of experience at being able to manage situations. We have quick, agile players, but we lack that No. 9 that can finish,” added Duarte.
When considering the overall landscape of Nicaraguan football following its participation in the tournament, Duarte sees clear examples of growth.
“I think from a football perspective there has been a growth and when we are able to start finishing the chances we have in front of goal, the results are going to come.
“Outside of the first 45 minutes against Costa Rica, Nicaragua showed a great advancement in football. It didn’t sit back, it went looking for the game and that’s the only way to try to win the game and also so that young players are enthused about football, whoever is not enthused watching Nicaragua doesn’t like football,” concluded Duarte.
