Curaçao’s players make World Cup history, then dance with the King & Queen in KC
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- Eloy Room made 15 saves in Curaçao’s scoreless World Cup draw against Ecuador.
- Curaçao became the smallest nation ever to record a World Cup point with the draw.
- King Willem‑Alexander and Queen Máxima danced with Curaçao players after the match.
On a historic World Cup night for Curaçao in Kansas City, goalkeeper Eloy Room just missed out on getting his name in the record book.
Room made 15 saves in Curaçao’s scoreless draw Saturday against Ecuador at Kansas City Stadium (aka Arrowhead), one shy of the World Cup record. Room, the former Columbus Crew goalkeeper, wanted Sweet 16 but would settle for a monument in his name.
“You don’t think about it when you do it, but of course it’s going to be something you look back to,” Room said of his big game. “And yeah, for me as a goalkeeper, this is almost the perfect game, you know?
“So I’m really proud and the team also, because again with the team. I made the saves, but we fought as a team, most of the players who came in.
“But yeah, I think I need a statue in Curaçao.”
Room was kidding, but someone inside Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday night had the power to make that happen.
Netherlands King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima, along with Princess Ariane, were at the match because Curaçao is part of the Dutch Kingdom. After the tie, the royals visited with the team in the Curaçao’s locker room.
Well, “visit” doesn’t do it justice.
It was a dance party.
To an American fan, a celebration over a tie — and a scoreless one at that — might seem strange. But with a population of 158,000, Curaçao is the smallest nation ever to qualify for the World Cup.
With a tie — regardless of the score — Curaçao became the 74th team to record a point in the standings of a World Cup. The country located just north of Venezuela — with a population smaller than KC’s — is the smallest in World Cup history to achieve that feat.
“It means everything,” Room said. “It feels like a victory for us, but no, it means a lot. It’s the first point, and for the World Cup for us. So it’s unreal.
“If you know the journey where we come from, and we’re now here, and today we showed we have real heart with the team, so it’s an unbelievable feeling.”
So was the party in the locker room. The King and Queen busted a few moves, to the delight of the players. They take pride in their joyful outlook on life.
Seeing the Monarchs greet each player and then cut it up with them was an iconic moment on a momentous evening for Curaçao. Reporters from the island said fans had taken to the streets back home to celebrate.
“It’s amazing,” Curaçao’s Tahith Chong said of the royal visit. “I think we kind of knew before the game that they were coming to the game, so to have it at such a game that we pick up our first point ever in history, it was amazing.”
