Curaçao’s Blue Wave, Oranje-tinged from squad to staff | OneFootball

Curaçao, the smallest nation ever to reach a World Cup, face Germany on Sunday at 19:00, their rise built on deep ties with the Netherlands.

According to L'Équipe, the Blue Wave arrive with a 26-man squad developed entirely in Dutch clubs, with only one player born on the island and none raised there. With 156,000 people and 444 km2, four percent of its population will be in NRG Stadium, Houston.

The exception is Sheffield United midfielder Tahith Chong, 26, born in Willemstad, though he grew up in Rotterdam, came through Feyenoord and represented the Netherlands at youth level.

Diaspora roots shape the squad, with 12 players in the Eredivisie or Eerste Divisie and others in England or Türkiye. Also involved are Gervane Kastaneer, 30, who later played in Indonesia and Malaysia, and third goalkeeper Tyrick Bodak, 24, with four caps but no professional club game.

Despite autonomy in 2010 after the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles, Curaçao remains within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Next Saturday, King Willem-Alexander is scheduled in Houston at noon for the Netherlands against Sweden, then in Kansas City seven hours later, 1,000 km away, for Ecuador against Curaçao.

The bench is Dutch too. In 2015, ranked 160 by FIFA, Curaçao hired Patrick Kluivert for a year, recording wins including against Cuba. Dutchmen Remko Bicentini, Guus Hiddink and Fred Rutten followed, then Dick Advocaat, the Netherlands’ 1994 World Cup coach, who qualified the island, stepped aside to care for his ill daughter and returned shortly before the finals at 78.

Source: L'Équipe