Curaçao recognised as least populous World Cup nation, once lost 6-0 to Corinthians in 1981 | OneFootball

On Tuesday, Curaçao received a Guinness certificate recognising it as the least populous country to play at a World Cup, with 156,115 people. Nearly 45 years earlier, Corinthians had handed the Caribbean side a heavy defeat.

On 2 December 1981, Mário Travaglini’s team beat the then Curaçao selection 6-0 in Willemstad, at the Centro Esportivo de Curaçao. The hosts were a conglomerate of players from Dutch Antilles leagues, many of them semi-amateurs.

Sócrates hit a hat-trick, with Zenon, Mário and Paulinho also on the scoresheet. It was the final game of the club’s Central America friendly tour.

The win came at the end of a disappointing year for Corinthians, who failed to reach the knockout phase of the Campeonato Brasileiro or the final stage of the Paulista, in the last season of president Vicente Matheus. The core of that side would underpin Democracia Corinthiana, a self-governance movement giving all club members an equal vote, which emerged during Brazil’s 1964-1985 military dictatorship.

At the time Curaçao did not exist under FIFA’s umbrella, competing as the Netherlands Antilles from 1954 to 2010. Since 2011, Curaçao have taken part independently in FIFA competitions. Their World Cup debut ended in a 7-1 defeat to Germany in Group E last Sunday, with Ecuador next on Saturday at 21:00 Brasília time in Kansas City, then Ivory Coast on 25 at 17:00 in Philadelphia.

Source: Meu Timao