The Curaçao national football team has qualified for a World Cup for the first time in history. A 0-0 draw against Jamaica was enough to become group winners. Jamaica was the only remaining competitor for a ticket to the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Curaçao has more than 155,000 inhabitants, making it the smallest country ever to participate in a World Cup.
Curaçao controlled the game in the first half, hardly gave away any chances and created a few opportunities to score the opening goal. After the break, Jamaica started to play stronger and Curaçao escaped a deficit when Shamar Nicholson hit the crossbar and substitute Bailey Cadamarteri hit the post.
Nerve-wracking final phase
During the second half the supporters seemed to like it The Blue Wavethe nickname of the Curaçao team, believe in it more than the Jamaicans. While there were only about a hundred Curaçao supporters in the stadium, their music could be heard loudly, says Emiel Martens, who was present in the stadium in Kingston. “Jamaica first made a lot of music. But at a certain point the hope slipped away.”
However, it became very exciting in the final phase of the match. Jamaican Jonathan Russell was sent off after a double yellow card. However, that did not create force majeure on the field at Curaçao. In the 95th minute the referee put the ball on the spot for Jamaica.
“The beer flew through the air on the Jamaica side,” Martens said. But the VAR decided that Jeremy Antonisse had not committed a foul after all and therefore no penalty needed to be given. After eleven minutes of nerve-wracking injury time, the Curaçao fans were able to cheer when the match ended 0-0.
The team’s trainer, Dick Advocaat, was not on the bench during the last qualifying match. The coach, appointed in 2024, returned to the Netherlands last weekend due to family circumstances. Lawyer was replaced in Jamaica by his assistants Cor Pot and Dean Gorré.
Suriname
The footballers of Suriname simultaneously played an away match against Guatemala, also for a World Cup ticket. Coach Stanley Menzo’s team lost 3-1 and finished second in the group. The chance of qualifying for the World Cup has not yet been lost: the team can participate in the intercontinental play-offs in Mexico in March.
Guatemala had already been eliminated from the World Cup, but turned out to be a size too big for Suriname. The home team was already stronger in the first half, but was unable to capitalize on any opportunities. However, the score came quickly during the second half: Darwin Lom headed the ball in in the 49th minute. Less than ten minutes later the score was 2-0, via a leg from Ridgeciano Haps, and the score was 3-0 in the 65th minute.
Guatemala then created chance after chance, but in injury time Nicolas Samayao passed his own goalkeeper, ending the match 3-1. Because of that goal, Suriname is still allowed to participate in the play-offs, because it has a better goal difference than Honduras, which finished second in another group.
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