The smallest nation to ever make the World Cup has arrived at the tournament in style.
Curacao rolled up to Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton in their blue, windowless bus, with music playing loudly and the players singing, according to video posted on social media.
The team that nobody thought had a chance to ever make the World Cup achieved the impossible in March.
On an island with just 157,100 people, the Blue Wave shocked the North American World Cup qualifying over the spring with their first-ever historic qualification.
The squad, which is made up mostly of Dutch internationals with Curacao backgrounds, was given an opportunity because the three best North American nations were already qualified by virtue of hosting.
Curacao, the 82nd-ranked team, had to overcome Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Bermuda in its final World Cup qualifying group. The national team was founded in 2010, and nobody could have predicted its rapid rise. They snuck in after drawing with Jamaica on the final match day, sending Curacao fans into hysterics.
The size of the island is not the only history that the team has created. Curacao will be led into their first game by the oldest manager in World Cup history: 78-year-old former Dutch international Dick Advocaat, who last managed Sunderland.
The group Curacao was placed in is daunting. The Caribbean nation will have to face Germany — who beat the U.S. 2-1 on Saturday in a final tuneup match — Ivory Coast and Ecuador. But that has not dashed the hopes of the players, including Livano Comenencia, who plays his club soccer in Switzerland.
“As soon as the game gets underway, anything can happen. It’s always 11 against 11, not five against 11,” Comenecia said. “Anything’s possible, even against Germany. I think four points will be enough to see us through to the next stage of the competition, a win and a draw. We’ll do everything in our power to make it happen.”
Curacao will continue to train in Florida before their first match in Houston against Germany. But for right now, the Blue Wave is riding high.
