Curaçao deservedly became one of the crowd favorite teams of this year’s soccer World Cup, they were able to equalize against Germany (then they lost 7-1), and against Ecuador, goalkeeper Eloy Room made almost a World Cup record 15 saves. Only the American Tim Howard made more saves than this, he saved 16 shots in the 2014 World Cup round of 16 against Belgium. It’s true, it was an overtime match, and Room made so many saves without scoring. According to certain statistics, Howard also only had 15 saves in that game, so Room might have tied the record. And the secret is an emerging sport, at least according to Room padel helps improve your reflexes.
The 37-year-old goalkeeper is already after the 0-0 draw against Ecuador he jokedthat Howard must have been sweating watching TV at home watching his saves, and that maybe you could also get a statue back home, but he also said that he will remember this match 40 years from now. “My first save gave me confidence, I knew it was going to be a busy match. I’m a bit disappointed because we had scoring opportunities. For us it looks like a win,” he said of the draw.
Room experienced the same thing as Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha after he and his team drew 0-0 against Spain. Vozinha then quickly gained 1.5 million followers on Instagram, Room before the start, he had 122,000 followers, which increased to 837,000 a few hours after the match.
The Curaçao goalkeeper, who was born in the Netherlands (like all but one member of the national team), plays for Miami FC in the American second division. He started his career at the Dutch Vitesse, played the most for them, a total of 155 matches, and won the Dutch Cup with the team in 2017. A year later, he was already a player for PSV, but he only got the chance here five times, although he still won a Dutch league title. In 2019, he signed a contract with the MLS in America, where he spent five seasons in the goal of the Columbus Crew, before ending up in Miami with a short detour in the Netherlands and Belgium.
The hero of the match with his teammates after the whistle – Photo: Hannah McKay / Reuters
In 2015, at the request of Patrick Kluivert, then Curaçao’s national team captain and Dutch football legend, Room said yes to being part of Curaçao’s national team. “Actually, I was the first player to change nationality, then the others came” – he said about the change. Of course, this did not happen by itself, he convinced many of the current Curaçao national team not to wait for the Dutch invitation. Kluivert is no longer with the team, but Room is there at the World Cup 11 years later, as the oldest member of the team, and he also played a big role in the fact that they made it at all.
With 0-0, Curaçao became the country with the fewest points in the history of the World Cup. Since Curaçao is an island country belonging to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Dutch royal couple, who were at the World Cup, rushed from Houston to Kansas City after the 5-1 Dutch victory over the Swedes to see Curaçao’s match as well. After the whistle, King Vilmos Sándor and Queen Máxima Zorreguieta visited the dressing room to congratulate the team. Room is said to have even received a kiss from the queen, to which he saidhe hopes his wife doesn’t find out. The royal couple joined in the celebration, Sándor Vilmos danced with the team.
Curaçao will finish the group stage against the Ivory Coast, and although it would take a feat to win, if they succeed, the 155,000-strong country’s team could even advance.
