SAN JOSE (DA) — The Curaçao men’s national team opens another Concacaf Nations League campaign tonight when it visits Costa Rica at Estadio Ricardo Saprissa, with important points at stake from the start of a short four-match group-stage schedule.
The League A Group A match will kick off at 10 p.m. Curaçao time.
The Blue Wave, coached by Dick Advocaat, shares the group with Costa Rica, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Under the competition format, each team plays four matches — two at home and two away — without facing every other team in the group.
That leaves little room to recover from dropped points. The top two teams will advance to the quarterfinals, where Mexico, the United States, Canada and Panama are already waiting as the four pre-seeded teams.
Final group position will also be important in the path toward the 2027 Concacaf Gold Cup, as the Nations League is the sole qualifying route to the tournament.
The four League A quarterfinal winners will qualify directly for the Gold Cup and advance to the Nations League Finals.
Teams finishing third and fourth in each group will move on to the Gold Cup Prelims, while the fifth- and sixth-place teams will have another opportunity through the League A and C Play-In.
After tonight’s match, Curaçao will return to Willemstad for two consecutive games at Stadion Ergilio Hato.
The Blue Wave will host Nicaragua on Sunday, Sept. 27 at 8 p.m. Curaçao time, followed by Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday, Oct. 1 at 6 p.m.
Curaçao will close the group stage on Sunday, Oct. 4 with an away match against Trinidad and Tobago in Port of Spain, also at 6 p.m. Curaçao time.
Tonight’s match in San Jose therefore begins a decisive four-game stretch for Curaçao, with a place in the League A quarterfinals and positioning in the road to the 2027 Gold Cup both at stake.