At the beginning of every qualifying tournament for major events, every country hopes to earn an automatic spot for the event. Unfortunately, the "lesser" nations are unable to do so because the big boys of each confederations take those spots.
However, things took a turn when a CONCACAF confederate nation qualified for the World Cup for the first time.
The tiny Caribbean island country Curaçao will go to the 2026 World Cup as the smallest nation by population ever to qualify for the marquee event in men’s football.
Curaçao, an autonomous territory of about 156 000 people within the Netherlands kingdom, takes the record off Iceland, with a population of just over 350 000, which was the previous smallest country to reach the World Cup when it qualified for the tournament in Russia in 2018.
A team relying heavily on players born and raised in the Netherlands rode its luck on Tuesday to take a 0-0 draw in Jamaica and finish top of a four-team group. Its other opponents were Trinidad and Tobago and last-place Bermuda.
Curaçao has actively recruited from its diaspora, getting permission from FIFA within world football’s rules to change the national-team eligibility of players who once represented the Netherlands at youth or Under-21 level, including five since August. Defender, Joshua Brenet, even played a World Cup qualifying game for the Netherlands in 2016.
Tahith Chong, a former Manchester United youth player, is one of the few squad members born in Curaçao, which was called Netherlands Antilles until getting its autonomy 15 years ago. A storied Dutch coach has led Curaçao on to the elite stage for the first expanded 48-team World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Dick Advocaat, at age 78, is set to lead his third team at a World Cup and his second in the U.S.A.. He took his native Netherlands to the quarter-finals at the 1994 edition and coached South Korea at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
The delay in Dick Advocaat becoming Curaçao’s head coach might have been ominous but, instead, it was the foundation for glory. Frustrated by the national federation’s financial problems, he deferred starting until January 2024, when the problems were resolved and players paid, paving the way for a historic World Cup qualifying campaign.
Last month, Cape Verde were confirmed as surprise tournament debutants but the African nation is almost 10 times bigger by area than the former Dutch colony; indicating the level of achievement by Advocaat and his squad.
"It’s an impossibility that is made possible," the winger, Kenji Gorré, said from the team hotel in Jamaica after two hours' sleep. "It’s literally impossible for such a small island, such a small 150,000 population, and now to go to the biggest pinnacle of football is unbelievable."
Advocaat initiated contact with Curaçao about the job, knowing that by the time the tournament came around, he would be 78. That could be another bit of history because Advocaat may become the oldest coach in the tournament’s history, surpassing Otto Rehhagel, who was 71 years and 317 days old when he oversaw Greece’s third and final group game in 2010. Although Romania’s coach, Mircea Lucescu, is hoping to make it through the play-offs and take charge in North America at the age of 80.
"He’s been fantastic," Gorré said of Advocaat. "As soon as he came in he brought a lot of experience with him. For him to believe in us and believe in our dream as well just shows also the potential that he saw, and I’m just really grateful that he said yes to the job and trusted his feeling on it. Now we’re walking in the destiny of what we’ve called."
Advocaat was joined by his long‑time assistant, Cor Pot but there was also a desire to maintain some local knowledge. The former Huddersfield and Barnsley midfielder and Kenji’s father, Dean Gorré, was kept on the staff, having worked as the interim head coach.
"It’s been amazing," Kenji Gorré said. "To experience going to the World Cup with my dad being the coach and my dad leading us to the World Cup, it’s something that was only a dream. These are things that were dreamt of when I was young."
"With God all things are possible and you can see that even with a faith of a size as a mustard seed, you know, God can do a miracle. And even just for my family, like my mum, who is from Curaçao, and her mum, my grandma, and they’ve got so much family in Curaçao as well that I’m just proud. And that just does something to my soul."
Advocaat was unfortunately absent from Kingston, having returned to the Netherlands to deal with a personal matter. When he arrived last year, he set about making the national set-up more professional and instilling a desire to avoid defeat at all costs. Few know better how to run camps and qualifiers.
This is Advocaat’s 10th spell in charge of a men’s national side, his previous appointments being the Netherlands (three times); the United Arab Emirates; South Korea; Belgium; Russia; Serbia and Iraq.
His compatriots, Patrick Kluivert and Guus Hiddink, previously held the Curaçao role but neither had the impact of Advocaat. A key part of Advocaat’s plan to take Curaçao to the next level was to integrate members of the diaspora. In years gone by, the Netherlands internationals, Patrick van Aanholt, Gregory van der Wiel and Jetro Willems were eligible to play for Curaçao and the current Netherlands players, Jurriën Timber and Justin Kluivert, have Curaçaoan heritage.
Most of the squad were born in the Netherlands, including the starting XI from the decisive draw on Tuesday night. Many of Advocaat’s charges featured for Netherlands age-group teams.
There is also plenty of experience. The defender, Armando Obispo, has played in the Champions League for PSV, as has the striker, Jürgen Locadia, who cost Brighton £15m in 2018 but is unemployed after leaving the Spanish fourth-tier side, Intercity, in the summer. Three of the squad members play in the English Football League, including the former Manchester United midfielder, Tahith Chong, the only squad member born on the island, who moved to Sheffield United from Luton in August. The former Ajax youngsters Ar’jany Martha and Sontje Hansen play for Rotherham and Middlesbrough, respectively. The former PSV full-back, Joshua Brenet, moved to Livingston (Scotland) in September and Shurandy Sambo of Burnley is on loan at Sparta Rotterdam.
The Bacuna brothers, Leandro and Juninho, have Premier League experience with Aston Villa and Huddersfield, respectively. The links to Yorkshire don't end there because Kenji Gorré, who has 35 caps, moved to England when his dad joined Huddersfield in 1999. The younger Gorré came through the ranks at Manchester United before embarking on a nomadic career taking in Portugal, Qatar and now Israel.
"It’s not really sunk in yet," said Kenji Gorré with his Mancunian twang. "What if we do get England? What if we do get Holland? What if we do get Brazil? It will be phenomenal."
Curaçao’s adventure is set to put players from unheralded clubs on the biggest stage. The squad that clinched qualification included players from Rotherham in England’s third-tier league, Bandırmaspor in the Turkish second division and Abha in Saudi Arabia.
Curaçao got the historic result despite not having Advocaat on the bench. He missed the match in Jamaica because he had to return to the Netherlands last weekend for family reasons.
In the opening group phase this time, they had a 100% record, defeating St Lucia, Aruba, Barbados and most notably, Haiti, who will also be in North America next summer. In the third round, the more established nations of Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago stood in their path in a group that also included Bermuda. Kenji Gorré scored in the crucial 2-0 home victory against Jamaica last month and Bermuda were thrashed 7-0 last week to boost confidence going into the decider.
Fortitude got them through, even though there were nerves when Jamaica were awarded an injury-time penalty that was overturned after a video assistant referee consultation. Curaçao finished top of group B and delirium greeted the final whistle.
Curaçao will be joined by regional neighbours, Panama and Haiti, which also booked their World Cup spots on Tuesday.
Panama advanced to its second World Cup after defeating El Salvador 3-0 on first-half goals from César Blackman and Eric Davis, plus Jose Luis Rodriguez late in the game.
Panama’s only previous World Cup appearance was in 2018. It overtook Suriname, another Dutch-influenced team, which started play atop the group before losing 3-1 against Guatemala.
Haiti, a troubled Caribbean country, had a surprising campaign and beat Nicaragua 2-0 to win its group over favourites, Honduras and Costa Rica, which was a quarter-finalist at the 2014 World Cup. Haiti’s only previous trip to the World Cup was in West Germany in 1974.
Curaçao, situated north of Venezuela, is no longer a colony but remains within the kingdom of the Netherlands. Their first international was in 2011, having previously played as the Territory of Curaçao until the Netherlands Antilles was dissolved. In three previous World Cup qualifying campaigns Curaçao won six of 18 matches.
I like seeing small teams finding a way into big tournaments. It proves that anything is possible. I hope, at the very least, they go past the group stage. This is provided that they don't get grouped with South Africa. In that case, I can only guess that only one of them will advance.
Based on the magnitude, I believe that the majority of the country will travel to see their team play in their debut World Cup campaign.