Advocaat weeps with pride as Curaçao make history despite 7-1 Germany defeat

Curaçao’s World Cup debut ended in a 7-1 defeat to four-time champions Germany in the group stage on Sunday, but the occasion moved coach Dick Advocaat to tears before a ball had even been kicked — and he refused to frame the result as a humiliation.

“This is not a disgrace,” the 78-year-old said. “I think we can still be proud.”

For 37 minutes, the Blue Wave dared to believe. Livano Comenencia levelled at 1-1 in the 21st minute with a left-footed finish through traffic from the centre of the box — Curaçao’s first-ever goal at a World Cup — and the small nation’s supporters erupted. Germany broke the deadlock again in the 38th minute and did not look back, eventually running out comfortable winners.

The margin of defeat was historically steep. According to Opta, Curaçao’s six-goal losing margin was the largest suffered by a nation on its World Cup debut since South Korea lost 9-0 to Hungary in 1954.

Yet the story of the day was as much about the occasion as the scoreline. Advocaat, who previously managed the Netherlands at the 1994 World Cup and South Korea at the 2006 edition, became the oldest coach in World Cup history. His opponent, Germany’s Julian Nagelsmann, is 38 — making the gap between the two managers 40 years, a contrast that underlined just how extraordinary Curaçao’s journey has been.

“This is related with the joy of the people in Curaçao,” Advocaat said of his pre-match tears. “It may be a matter of my age, but this is when the emotion comes to the surface. I don’t really like it… but the joy of the people is fantastic.”

Nagelsmann acknowledged that Curaçao had exceeded expectations. “The opponent played better than many had expected in Germany,” he said. “They played with a lot of courage.”

Winger Kenji Gorre captured the bittersweet mood in the Curaçao camp. “Mixed emotions, mixed feelings. On one side, you think, ‘Wow, we’ve made history by coming to the World Cup.’ On the other it’s like, ‘Wow, we wish that we could have got some points.’ But we’re playing against the world’s best and the world’s best punish you at every opportunity they can.”

Comenencia’s goal, he added, was a milestone that transcended the result. “It’s the first goal ever scored on the world stage. It’s just phenomenal, and we’re all grateful that we were here to experience it.”

Curaçao, a Caribbean island nation of just 158,000 people, will look to carry the lessons of Sunday into their next group-stage fixture against Ecuador in Kansas City on Saturday. “We still have matches to go and things can still end up differently,” Advocaat said.