Curacao has arrived in Santiago del Estero: Messi’s unusual request and a team rating equal only to Thiago Almada

He will be the number 82 rival throughout the tour of Argentina national teamBut Curacao He 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 players, most of them born in Holland– They are clear about their goals, even if not in all cases they are sporty: upon their arrival in the province They made an unusual request to captain Lionel Messi.

What is it about? as revealed Leander Bacuna AND Cuckoo Martinatwo of the team members, all want to keep a memory of the best player in the world, so they asked him to organize the delivery of 23 ’10’ shirts.

“We are more than 20 players. Please prepare us 23 shirts”Martina asked in statements to TyC Sports, to avoid experiencing situations like the players from Panama did last Thursday “rock, paper or scissors” to see who was the winner.

The two Curaçao footballers have a deep admiration for the ‘Pulce’, to such an extent that Bacuna has posts dedicated to the 10 on his Instagram account.

Both stressed that it will be a match “incredible” for their Central American team, so “they will enjoy every minute”. Furthermore, Martina, the one who wore the Curaçao shirt several times, added: “It’s a dream come true, it’s something fantastic”.

The whole team, like Almada

The occasional partner of the celebrations that will take place in the Mother of Cities stadium for the victory of the World Cup in Qatar has a team rated about 14 million dollarsjust short of the attacker’s pass Thiago Almadaone of the youth of the future in the selected world champion.

The comparison, based on data from the specialized site transfer marketstrongly reflects the enormous difference that exists with the Central American team, currently in 86th place in the FIFA rankings and which just lost last Saturday against Canada in the Concacaf Nations League.

Curaçao, a tiny island of 444 square kilometers and 160,000 inhabitants, obtained autonomy from the Netherlands Antilles in 2010 but without breaking with the Kingdom of the Netherlands, to which it owes all its football development.

All of their selected players were born in the European nation as was their coach Remko Bicentini55 years old, creator of the most important sporting moments in the history of the Caribbean country.

DT is currently completing his second tenure in the national team after a four-year process (2016-2020) which marked the biggest achievement of local football: the 2017 Caribbean Cup.

At the beginning of the Curaçao Football Federation (FFK), the national team had a coach from Argentina, from Mendoza Manuel Bilches (2011-2012), former striker of Huracán Las Heras, Independiente Rivadavia and Deportivo Goudge.

Internationally renowned surnames have also passed from the bench: the Dutchman Guus Hiddink (2020-2021), former coach of Real Madrid, Chelsea and twice Dutch, and his compatriot Patrick Kluivert, ex Barcelona (122 goals in 257 games), who he left the club months before Lionel Messi’s debut.

In his current team, only two footballers exceed a million dollars in price. It’s about siblings Leander AND Juninho Bacunanatives of the city of Groningen.

The first of them is the oldest (31 years old), a Watford footballer in the English Second Division and shares with his teammate Rangelo Janga the credit of being the team’s top scorer (14 goals).

Juninho (25), the team’s highest-rated player (4.5 million), plays for Birmingham, including in the English league.

The attendance record is held by right-back and captain Cuco Martina (55 games), who plays for Breda in the Dutch second tier.

Curaçao were eliminated hand-in-hand by Panama in the second round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers in Qatar. They had previously made it through the initial stage successfully after winning group with Guatemala, Cuba, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and British Virgin Islands.