Creichel Pérez: a goal, thanks to God and a final
The player scored in Alajuelense's 2-1 win over Motagua and called that goal a gift; his team is now in the final.
Creichel Pérez scored in Alajuelense's 2-1 win over Motagua in the second-leg semifinal of the 2026 Copa Centroamericana, and the first thing he did was give thanks to God. He told Fútbol Centroamérica.
"I don't know how to explain it, I just wanted to thank God," he said.
He then expanded on the idea: he described that goal as what he had been looking for, a gift God gives him. He didn't talk about deserving it. And right away he looked ahead: keep competing and go for the tournament title.
«Gratitude is the response, not the entry fee.»
For a quick reader, it's a gracious line from the mixed zone. For anyone who stops to think, it's a posture toward gifts. That's what this column is about.
A gift, not a receipt
On the field, your own goal is usually told as a conquest: I went after it, I got it. Pérez told it as something handed over: someone gave him what he was looking for. The difference isn't just vocabulary. If the achievement is only mine, I'm locked in with my effort and my anxiety. If the achievement is a gift, there is a Giver and a possible response, which is gratitude.
In a locker room where everyone fights for their spot, admitting that something was given to you sounds almost like weakness. And yet it sets you free: if I didn't produce it all myself, I don't have to hold it all up myself either.
James puts it plainly: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above" (James 1:17, ESV). The gift comes first. Gratitude is the response, not the entry fee.
Faith is not a bargaining chip
Time to hit the brakes. Giving thanks is not a formula for securing the next goal. It would be cruel, and false, to tell a young person that if he prays more he'll score the penalty on Sunday. Biblical gratitude is not an investment: it doesn't buy minutes or titles or a life without defeats.
Pérez gave thanks before the final, not after winning it. And his goal remains a sporting one: to compete and fight for the trophy, without decreeing anything. Nor did he announce that the final will be easy.
When the gift doesn't come
That's the test. There are players who train just as hard and don't score; there are those who miss the squad the same weekend their family travels to watch them. Can you give thanks without the goal? Habakkuk wrote it when there was no harvest and no livestock: "yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation" (Habakkuk 3:18, ESV).
That doesn't erase the pain of the bench or turn frustration into sin. It only changes where joy is anchored: in the God who gives and who also walks with us when he doesn't give what we ask for. Identity isn't tied to the scoreboard.
This week, before asking for something new, name out loud three things you've already received and give thanks for them. If you're in a season of waiting, don't carry it alone: find someone at your church to pray with you. And what do you do when the gift doesn't come?
