Curaçao's debut at World Cup, facing a giant such as Germany, ended in a perhaps predictable way: Germany thrashed 7-1 the small Caribbean country. Still, the match had its spice when Curaçao drew early in the first half, with a goal by Livano Comenencia, and for roughly 20 minutes, the match was even, with Curaçao threatening Germany and coming reasonably close to scoring another goal.
The end result was a painful rout for a team representing a 155,000-person island, a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, but it was still historic: first World Cup match for Curaçao and first World Cup goal.
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The match also had the peculiarity of having the youngest coach this World Cup, Julian Nagelsmann, 38, and the oldest, Dick Advocaat, 78 (also the oldest of all time in the history of the competition). Advocaat actually stepped down from his role last February to take care of his daughter, who had health issues. However, he returned to the team in May when his daughter's health improved.
This led to an emotional moment when Advocaat, with a vast experiences as manager in World Cup, including Netherlands in 1994 and South Korea in 2010, cried before the match and later took pride on his team despite the result.
"This is not a disgrace. I think we can still be proud", said the Dutch manager. "The goal was absolutely fantastic for all of us, for the nation as well."
"This is related with the joy of the people in Curaçao," he said (via Fox Sports). "It may be a matter of my age, but this is when the emotion comes to the surface."
What's next for Curaçao in World Cup
Facing Germany in their debut World Cup match was a huge challenge. Curaçao faces Ecuador on Sunday, June 21 (2 AM CEST) next and Ivory Coast on Thursday, June 25. Ivory Coast stunned Ecuador last night, so with Germany expected to take the top spot, it will be a tough battle for the runner-up place...