HOUSTON, June 15 — Curaçao fans will have woken up the morning after still a little hurt by the 7-1 defeat to Germany in their World Cup debut on Sunday, but the result has not dampened their spirit or their delight at a first global finals for the tiny island nation.
Curaçao are the smallest country by population and area to qualify for the World Cup and was given a rude awakening by a clinical German team.
But even after the heavy defeat, fans stayed in their seats and applauded the players, cheering and singing.
For the first 38 minutes, they held the Germans at 1-1 after Livano Comenencia scored a historic first-ever World Cup goal for Curaçao. Then the floodgates opened.
"(I am) very proud because we are the smallest island, smallest country and we scored against Germany! We are very happy and very, very proud!" fan Otmar Cornelia told Reuters.
Others believe that appearing on the global stage will inspire a new generation of players in the country or in the diaspora to take up the game and dream of achieving what many had felt was highly unlikely.
"Children who see this game know exactly that the future is without any limits. I am honoured, I am happy, I am blessed, I celebrate Curaçao.
"We are again on the world map. We scored our first World Cup goal. I am proud, I am happy, and it means a lot to me, it means a lot to my nation," supporter Sandy Martina said after the match.
Caroline Sluys travelled from Curaçao with her son for the match.
"This is so much fun. This is the first time Curaçao have made it to the World Cup, and we are just a little island of 150,000 inhabitants. It is amazing," she said.
Curaçao are next in action on Saturday when they play Ecuador in Kansas City. They finish their pool play against the Ivory Coast in Philadelphia on June 25.
