{"id":1808,"date":"2026-06-25T18:43:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T10:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/?p=1808"},"modified":"2026-06-25T18:43:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T10:43:13","slug":"curacao-belong-on-world-cup-stage-says-advocaat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/25\/curacao-belong-on-world-cup-stage-says-advocaat\/","title":{"rendered":"Curacao belong on World Cup stage, says Advocaat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Curacao boss Dick Advocaat said the World Cup debutants have proved they belong on football’s biggest stage as they prepare to face Ivory Coast on Thursday with a place in the last 32 at stake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goalkeeper Eloy Room was the hero in Kansas City on Saturday, making 15 saves as the tiny Caribbean island held Ecuador to a shock 0-0 draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That followed a chastening 7-1 opening defeat against Group E winners Germany in Curacao’s first-ever World Cup match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curacao are bottom of the group, level with Ecuador on a single point, and two behind Ivory Coast. The top two teams go through to the next round automatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Veteran Dutch coach Advocaat said at his pre-match press conference on Wednesday that the draw against Ecuador proved his team could make life difficult for top teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It proved we could also hold our own against very strong opponents,” said the 78-year-old. “That was a match that could have gone either way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A draw was actually, in my view, a fair reflection of the balance between the teams even though they did have a few more chances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“But we also managed to make things difficult for the opponent.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A bullish Advocaat said his team, featuring 25 Dutch-born players, would take the game to the fancied Ivory Coast side in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This will probably be the first match in which we are the favourites,” he joked. “It’s going to be a tough game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We’ve already shown against Ecuador what we can do — that we don’t just defend, but also pick the right moments to attack. And we’re going to do that again tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tahith Chong, the only member of the squad born on Curacao, said celebrations on the island following the Ecuador draw had been long and loud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I think all the boys have seen footage… the island definitely didn’t sleep that night,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And he brushed aside any thoughts that the success would mean less to the Dutch-born players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’m a bit tired of hearing that every time,” said the Sheffield United player, referring to the make-up of the squad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I always see 25 other guys as my brothers,” he said. “We want to achieve something beautiful together as a group.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Curacao boss Dick Advocaat said the World Cup debutants have proved they belong on football’s biggest stage as<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1808"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1810,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1808\/revisions\/1810"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}