Things could have been very different for Jurgen Locadia. Twelve years ago, as a young striker at PSV, Locadia was in the running for a place on the Netherlands squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™. In the end, he missed out on Louis van Gaal’s squad. There were subsequent calls to the Oranje, but injuries prevented a senior debut.
His destiny lay elsewhere, about 7,900 kilometres away in Curaçao, his mother’s home country. Now Locadia is poised to get his FIFA World Cup™ shot with the Blue Wave. The 32-year-old, who plies his trade for USL Championship side Miami FC along with Curaçao team-mate and goalkeeper Eloy Room, says that the Caribbean side are going to go all out at the global finals.
Jurgen Locadia: It’s good. They’re building a new facility in Homestead right now. So the future is looking good for Miami FC. We started the season off with a lot of new players, so I understand in the beginning you’re looking to see what fits, but slowly I’m seeing progress in the team.
Yes, I think I leave here the 24th of May. Up until that time, we play a lot of games, so I think it’s good to be here playing a lot and preparing for the World Cup.
I played with him in Holland at PSV before, so I know him and he actually signed before I did. He called me and then I followed him. He told me to join and I said, ‘Yeah, sure’.
I spoke with Eloy and I saw the highlights. It’s the first game with [Rutten], and they told me he doesn’t want to change too much. He wants to continue what Dick Advocaat did. I think it was more to see what players fit with each other, and for him to get to know the players better. I know Fred already. When I was 16, he brought me from my team in Holland to PSV. He knows what I bring to the table.
He’s direct. He’s straightforward. The system is always like a classic Dutch system, the 4-3-3 system. If you’re from Holland, that’s the system you grew up with. I don’t think he would change it in the World Cup. And he’s direct with players, there is no confusion over why one doesn’t play and stuff like that.
A lot. A lot of the Dutch players from Curaçao play in the youth teams of Holland, which I did as well, and then make the transition. I think Eloy started this journey because he was one of the first players to change from the Netherlands to Curaçao. Seeing him play for Curaçao made a lot of players think about it. Eventually we came up with a team which is predominantly players from Holland, and obviously there’s quality there.
Yes, every summer we had a big summer vacation. I went back to Curaçao to spend time with family there.
It’s something we dream of as kids. We watched the World Cup, of course, and now you’re able to step on the pitch, which is insane to think about. It’s a dream if you grow up playing soccer. That’s the end goal of a soccer player. The World Cup is a major achievement. For countries like the Netherlands, Argentina, Brazil, they qualify for every World Cup, but for us this is a major thing, and I think we all feel honored and very grateful for it.
My grandma. She passed away a long time ago, but she was the number-one supporter for me in my career when I was young. Hopefully she will be proud.
It’s probably the hardest group you can draw. Germany is very strong. Côte d’Ivoire have wonderful players. Ecuador, the same thing. They have a player who got sold for a hundred million [Moises Caicedo]. All the countries we face have top players. I told Eloy, every game starts with 0-0. We’re the underdogs already, so you might as well step on the pitch, give it your all and walk away with your head up high instead of being scared of failing or making mistakes.
I have no regrets. Your career, it will go how it will go. All the choices I made back then led to where I am right now. I don’t live with regrets. It happens and I’m happy I qualified with Curaçao. It would have been a different career if I was selected for the World Cup back then, but that’s how life works.
Back in 2017, I was first approached by Remko [Bicentini, the former Curaçao coach]. I think I was still playing for Brighton, so I didn’t want to make that decision back then because in my mind, there was still hope to play for the Dutch national team. Years later, I eventually made my debut for Curaçao. I think the push I got from Remko and Eloy and other players made me choose Curaçao.
What I admire about our team is that we never change. We still play our music to training after we lose a game. We still enjoy it. We still treat everyone the same, the technical staff, the kit man, the man who drives the bus to training. We don’t have much, but we’re happy. We’re very grateful for what we have.
