Saturday's match pit Curaçao against "La Tri" of Ecuador as both teams sought their first point of the tournament. Ecuador, the No. 23 ranked team entering this year's World Cup, was widely considered a dark horse to make a significant run before dropping its opening match to Ivory Coast.
The Blue Wave, meanwhile – as Curaçao is affectionally known – was coming off a match in which the box score didn't begin to tell the full story. Curaçao fell to powerhouse Germany, 7-1, in its opening performance, but a goal by Livano Comenencia in the 21st minute briefly tied the Blue Wave with a true goliath of international soccer.
"Everybody in Germany watched the match, and now they know where Curaçao is," Curaçao Manager Dick Advocaat said last week. "They know what a beautiful island it is now, so we all benefit from this. It's only positive. If you see how far we've come – two years ago there was nothing at all, and we've come all this way. That already is an unbelievable performance."
Advocaat went on to chronicle the financial and logistical challenges that Curaçao faced early in his tenure as manager, from the lack of a competitive training facility to players having to pay for their own flights to matches. Just two years later, his team had scored an equalizer against the best of the best.
The tie held for roughly 17 minutes, and while Germany went on to win by a sizable margin, the fact remained that Curaçao – the No. 82 team in the world entering the tournament – had demonstrated that they belonged.
"I certainly watch the goal every single day, but I can't sit on it," Comenencia said. "I have to keep performing. We'll give the very best we have and show the very best we have. That's all we can do."
The Blue Wave certainly went on to do just that against Ecuador, notably 37-year-old goalkeeper Eloy Room, who logged a staggering 15 saves as Curaçao forced the draw.
"It means everything. It feels like a victory for us," said Room, whose 15 saves were the most through 90 minutes in World Cup history. "It's the first-ever point in the World Cup for us, so it's unreal. If you know the journey of where we come from, we're here now, and today we showed that we have real heart as a team."