Curaçao, Haiti and Panama book their spots at the World Cup | OneFootball

The small Caribbean nation of Curaçao became the smallest country in history to qualify for the World Cup this Tuesday, while Haiti secured its return to the tournament for the first time in 52 years, alongside Panama.

An electrifying finish in the Concacaf Qualifiers campaign saw Curaçao — with a population of just 156,000 — advance to next year’s World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, after a 0-0 draw against Jamaica in Kingston.

Haiti, on the other hand, which hadn’t played in the World Cup since 1974, also completed an unlikely qualifying campaign with a 2-0 victory over Nicaragua.

Ironically, Haiti secured the decisive qualifying win in Curaçao, where the team has been forced to play its home games due to instability in its own country.

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Panama, meanwhile, secured the other direct spot available this Tuesday by beating El Salvador 3-0 at home. That result dashed Suriname’s hopes of securing a direct berth. Suriname, defeated 3-1 away by Guatemala, still managed to advance to the playoffs.

Curaçao, whose experienced Dutch coach Dick Advocaat had to miss the game due to a family issue in the Netherlands, celebrated a historic result.

The team known as the “Blue Wave” finished at the top of Group B with 12 points from six games, one point ahead of Jamaica. Curaçao is by far the smallest nation to qualify for the World Cup, which will be expanded to 48 teams next year for the first time. The most populous country to have previously qualified was Iceland, in 2018, with about 350,000 inhabitants.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.