ORLANDO, USA — Captain Andre Blake thinks the sensible approach to success in the Concacaf Gold Cup is to grow with the tournament.

The Philadelphia Union goalkeeper thinks putting the shoulder to the wheel, plus learning and growing with each game could be the key to achieving shared goals.

Blake, 30, says today’s opening Group C match against Suriname at Exploria Stadium here may not be aesthetically pleasing, but a result ought to be conjured one way or another to get the campaign off to a positive start from a result point of view.

“I don’t expect it [today’s game] to be perfect, especially in a tournament like this as you normally see teams get better when they play more games.

“So, tomorrow (today) may not be pretty, but it’s a tournament and you will just have to find ways to survive and advance, so if it means that we have to pull up our sleeves and grind, then we will have to do that,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Blake says the changing face of football has allowed “smaller” teams to become more tactically, strategically, and technically savvy, therefore, forcing less dependence on individual talent.

“It’s not going to be an easy game as football has changed; it’s not like before when the team with the most talent could just go out there and win.

“Nowadays a team of hard-working guys can frustrate as you saw last night (Friday) in the game against Trinidad and Mexico, so we have to be ready,” he shared.

But Blake, an agile goal-tender who is highly thought of in the confederation, says he’s confident that his players are ready to face down any challenge that awaits them.

“I know the guys are ready, so we just have to go out there tomorrow (today) and get a positive result and keep building on that going forward.

“I think the couple of days we had to train was good and we started to work on how we want to play, and plus it was a chance for players to get more familiar with each other, and that was important,” he stated.

“At the same time, training can prepare, but it is only games that can get you ready for games, so tomorrow (today) is going to be the first test,” Blake added.

The Boyz skipper said he is aware that expectations at home are high, especially since the team has come within a whiff of the Gold Cup trophy in back-to-back tournaments as beaten finalists.

“We feel we have been so close a few times and we are no longer the underdogs and there are high expectations of us now. We know this and we just must go out there and do it…we have had some valuable experience and we have guys who have been in big games, so we feel pretty good that this could be the year for us to go all the way.

“We know it’s not going to be easy, but I think we have the players here to get the job done and we have to now go on the field and show that we want this,” Blake said.

With Costa Rica and Guadeloupe also in their group, the Clarendon native is aware that the path forward will present its share of obstacles.

“It’s a challenging group, but it’s a group that we should advance from once we go out there and do the work as the work is done on the pitch…we can sit here and talk all day, but if we don’t go out there and work, we could be in trouble,” Blake noted.

— Sean Williams