For ignorant millennials, the FIFA World Cup was a better atlas than school geography lessons. Korea-Japan 2002 taught us where Henri Camera’s Senegal is. Germany 2006 made it impossible to know about Andriy Shevchenko’s Ukraine. South Africa 2010 made a generation learn about Asamoah Gyan’s Ghana.
Had USA-Mexico-Canada 2026 been played during that time, we would have been in trouble. We would have scoured the world map to find Curacao – the team that held Ecuador to a 0-0 draw on Sunday – and found nothing. They are a small dot on the physical map.
Curaçao’s oldest distillery and producer of the original Blue Curaçao liqueur, Senior and Company, acknowledges the irony on their website: “The funny thing is that many people now know the term Blue Curaçao, but don’t know that Curaçao is also an island.” And you won’t be accused of geographical blasphemy for that. The population of the island is 158,000. is ranked 189. Its area is 444 square kilometers.
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is ranked 199. They are the smallest nation – both in terms of population and area – to ever play in a World Cup. At Kansas City, however, he showed that he didn’t just travel to the United States to make up the numbers.
When manager Dick Advocaat coached the Netherlands at the 1994 World Cup, 19 of the current 25 members of the Curacao squad were not even born. (AP Photo)
The football team itself is a fitting reflection of the island’s history and multicultural identity. The first people to call Curacao home were the Cacteos. Then came the European powers. Spanish. By the British. Dutch. Once a ranching outpost, in the eighteenth century it became a hub for the transatlantic slave trade—a redistribution center for enslaved Africans.
Like every oppressed population, Curaçao has undergone a revolution. Walk through the Kura Hulanda Museum, and the story of Tula will reveal itself. Tula revolted, inspired by the Haitian and French revolutions. Nothing important came of it — he was captured and killed before Tula could achieve his goal. On the streets of Willemstad, however, his legacy lives on. A draw with Ecuador, likewise, could remain a footnote in the wider narrative of Group E – squeezed between Germany’s last-gasp winner and the Netherlands’ five-goal display. But for those 158,000 residents, it would become folklore.
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It was not until 2011 that Curaçao – which is still under the Kingdom of the Netherlands – played its first match as a constituent country after the breakup of the Dutch Antilles. For most of the next six years, fixtures were limited to home games or trips around the Caribbean. The reason was simple: there was not enough money to travel further.
Curacao’s Leandro Bacuna and teammates celebrate after a draw against Ecuador. (AP Photo/Ed Jurga)
In fact, the players had to bear their own expenses and raise reimbursement applications. That is, if they were lucky. The first signs of change came through Patrick Kluivert – the Dutch icon whose mother is on the island. He acquired and naturalized Dutch players with Curacao roots. The project is bearing fruit. One of the first players he contacted was Eloy Room. Against Ecuador, the goalkeeper made 15 saves – the most by any goalkeeper in regulation time in World Cup history.
Room, however, is not the only member of the squad to script history. When Dick Advocaat coached the Netherlands team at the 1994 World Cup, 19 of the current 25 members were not even born. Against Germany on Sunday, he became the oldest coach in World Cup history at 78 years and 260 days.
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Initiation on Curaçao’s grandest pedestal was surprisingly informal. They beat Brazil 7-1 against Germany. Nevertheless, Advocat declared after the match: “We should be proud.”
Why is that? For the official attendance at that game – 68,021 – was more than a third of the island’s population. “We usually drive past a stadium this size. We never play there. It’s unimaginable that we’re actually playing in this big tournament. The fans will never forget it,” he said.
It’s not always smooth sailing for lawyers. At times, he has found himself embroiled in a battle between his players and the federation over unpaid salaries and bonuses. At the beginning of this year, football became completely secondary for him. He had to leave his role earlier this year to take care of his daughter, who was diagnosed with cancer.
Encouraging results from chemotherapy prompted him to return, but on the eve of a crucial qualifier against Jamaica – a match in which a draw would decide World Cup qualification – he had to leave once again.
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Curacao goalkeeper Eloy Room (1) makes a save during the World Cup Group E match between Ecuador and Curacao in Kansas City. (AP Photo/Ed Jurga)
The room tried to sound confident. He told his coach, “Family always comes first. You don’t have to worry. We will give everything against Jamaica.”
They did. he did Against Jamaica and now against Ecuador.
In the USA, Curaçao is known as the land of Jurickson professors and Kenley Jansons. MLB great. From Sunday, it will be known as the land of Eloy Rooms and Leandro Bacunas — who have been a consistent feature in the Curaçao team since 2016 and have joint-highest appearances for the Blue Wave.
A melting pot of cultures, four languages are spoken daily on the island – Dutch, Papiamento, English and Spanish.
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Add a fifth to it. From now on Curacao will also speak the language of football.