Curaçao coach Advocaat: “They certainly don’t have a chance” – DFB squad 38 times more valuable

Attending the World Cup for the first time

Germany’s opening opponent Curaçao doesn’t just want to be there at the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico. “We want to make it as difficult as possible for everyone. We certainly don’t have a chance,” said national coach Dick Advocaat at the training camp of the clear outsiders in Noordwijk, Netherlands, who have the fourth lowest squad value in the tournament. Germany and Curaçao will meet in Houston on June 14th.

The team from the Caribbean island has become the smallest country in World Cup history to qualify for a World Cup. Only around 160,000 people live in Curaçao, so many players come from the Netherlands, as Curaçao is an autonomous federal state of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

“It’s huge for the island that we’re even there,” says Advocaat, who doesn’t want to fly to the USA as a tourist. “You’re not allowed to go to a tournament like that,” said the 78-year-old, who previously worked, among other things, as coach of Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga. “We want to get to the next round. That’s why we’re going there. A surprise is always possible. And one surprise can be enough to move forward.”

“Of course they are strong teams. But we have a great team spirit. There is a lot of ambition in the team. And if you have that, you can achieve a lot,” explained Advocaat, for whom this is the third World Cup after 1994 (Netherlands) and 2006 (South Korea). In the group, his team, which has a squad value of 26 million euros, will face Germany, which is valued at 998 million euros, more than 38 times as high. PSV defender Armando Obispo has the highest market value with 4 million euros, followed by ex-Bremen player Tahith Chong with 3.5 million euros. The world number 82 is also against the other two group opponents Ecuador (259 million) and Ivory Coast (554 million). the clear outsider.