Fifteen minutes remained when Manchester United substitute Bastian Schweinsteiger struck a goal-bound shot towards the Stretford End in last week's Uefa Champions League qualifying round-first leg.
The German’s effort looked like it would give United a vital two-goal cushion against Club Brugge, but the Belgian side’s Costa Rican defender Oscar Duarte blocked it superbly and the ball went out for a corner.
“We were playing well, defending well,” said Duarte, 26. “We could have taken a 1-2 result back to Belgium and been confident of overturning it, like we did in the previous round”, when Brugge defeated Panathinaikos 3-0 at home after losing 2-1 away.
Four minutes later, Brugge were down to 10 men when Duarte’s defensive partner, Brandon Mechele, received a second yellow card. Mechele had played well before he left the field to cries of “Cheerio”; he is suspended for the second leg of the tie, Wednesday night0 .
“That was tough for us, we were unlucky” Duarte said. “We held out, we had an away goal, but then Fellaini scored after 93 minutes.”
Duarte can be as pleased with his performance as he was when he kept Wayne Rooney and England’s other attackers from scoring in the World Cup last year, when Costa Rica, the outsiders, won a group containing England, Italy and Uruguay.
“People expected us to finish bottom in that group, so we surprised them. We didn’t surprise ourselves because we know we have a very good team. I scored against Uruguay, a header, very pretty. And we beat Italy, a dream for us. We worked for it.” Costa Rica returned as heroes, but Duarte had a second party to attend.
He was born in Nicaragua, where he spent his first six years until his mother moved the family to neighbouring Costa Rica. Relations between the two countries traditionally are not neighbourly, but thousands of Nicaraguans move in search of better work and many face discrimination.
“I was very young when we moved but I played football all the time,” Duarte said. “In Nicaragua, baseball is more popular; football in Costa Rica. My uncle played football and it was great way to make friends. I’d sometimes see my idols, Zidane or Ronaldinho, on television. In Costa Rica, Paulo Wanchope was a very important person. Then he became the national team trainer.”
A reception was put on for Duarte when he returned to Nicaragua. “I was surprised at the welcome when I went back,” he said. “Hundreds of people waiting for me in the airport. It was the first time a player from Nicaragua had played in the World Cup finals.”
Duarte’s professional career started with Saprissa in Costa Rica’s capital, San Jose, before a move to Belgium.
“It was January and freezing when I arrived in 2013,” he said. “You don’t get ice in Central America. I couldn’t believe that my new teammates were going to train outside and I put several layers on, but they weren’t needed. I was fine.
“The culture was very different to anything I was used to – a historic, beautiful city with canals. A calm place.”
Duarte played more games than any outfield player last season as his team reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League, won the Belgian Cup and finished second in the league. He speaks in Spanish but has also learned English.
“Even though Flemish is spoken in Brugge, English is the language of the dressing room,” he said. “I had classes for eight months. Our coach speaks to us in English, the language everyone understands or learns.
“The coach is serious, intelligent, a man with lots of experience as a player and manager. He learns all about every rival: the club, the team.”
Coach Michel Preud’homme said that it was almost impossible for his side to come back from 3-1 down, but Duarte is more positive.
“Of course it will be difficult to beat Manchester United 3-0 like we did with Panathinaikos, but we have to believe. If we can get a goal in the first half and we can play as well as we did in Manchester, we can go through,” he said.
“We enjoyed playing in Manchester and I found it to be a fantastic experience from the minute we were told about the draw, while we trained, to the expectation ahead of the game in Belgium and walking out on the perfect Old Trafford pitch and seeing those enormous red stands of seats. We enjoyed it but we we’re not tourists; we wanted to win the game. You could see that by the way we played. We don’t fear reputations.”
Duarte felt his side played well.
“We were the better team at the start in Manchester and found good space. The game was more intense than a Belgian league match, faster with more counter attacks. If we lost the ball then we were punished. We had to concentrate and when Chicharito came on he searched for spaces all the time and ran into them.
Duarte swapped shirts with Spanish midfielder Ander Herrera after the game, to add to a collection that includes Gary Cahill’s England shirt from Belo Horizonte. He hopes to play against such players on a more regular basis.
“I want to play at the highest level possible,” he said. “Spain, England. That’s my dream, that’s what I’ll work towards. Players have left here and done well. Carlos Bacca went to Sevilla and now Milan.”
Brugge’s goalkeeper last season was the Australian national Mat Ryan, 23. He was the only player who played more times than Duarte, before a summer move to Valencia, a club with whom Duarte has been linked.
“Any interest is flattering but I’m happy here at Brugge and will be even happier if we knock Manchester United out and reach the Champions League.”
In front of a capacity crowd of 29,000 tonight, he’ll do his best to make that come true.
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