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Curaçao have been in dreamland since qualifying for a first World Cup last November but geopolitical reality kicked in as the team headed to Australia for games against China and the Socceroos. Due to war in the Middle East, Curaçao’s long-haul flight that should have been Amsterdam to Sydney via Dubai became instead Frankfurt to Singapore with lots of logistical stress and separate journeys.
The two island nations – though Australia is about 17,000 times bigger than the Caribbean country – meet in Melbourne on Tuesday. Curaçao has a population of 155,000 making it the smallest nation to make it to the global stage. Despite the differences, the two teams have more than just 2026 World Cup preparation in common.
There will be a familiar face on the opposition bench at AAMI Park who finds himself in a familiar situation. Roel Coumans was the assistant coach to Bert van Marwijk during his short spell in charge of the Socceroos that ended at the 2018 World Cup. Now Coumans is the number two for Curaçao after getting the call from head coach Fred Rutten, who has been in the role since February when Dick Advocaat stepped down after leading the team through qualification for the first time, topping a group containing Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Bermuda.
Curaçao’s recent coaching changes are similar to what Australia went through before the 2018 World Cup in Russia. “I was with Bert when we qualified with Saudi Arabia, in our group we finished above Australia, we qualified directly but they sacked us,” Coumans says. That was September 2017. The Socceroos then qualified through the playoffs but, in November, coach Ange Postecoglou quit and Van Marwijk got the call.
“I still don’t understand why Ange did not go to the World Cup, he did a huge job and there is more chemistry for a coach who has been through qualification with the players,” Coumans says. “When we came to Australia, we had not been through that together.”
It was not easy to take over a team so close to the tournament. “In Australia, we knew that we had to disappoint some players as they know that with a new coach things can change and they may not go to the World Cup,” he says. “So there was a little bit of tension.”
There is even less time with Curaçao, though the pool of players is smaller and there is also the advantage that the Dutch coaching staff know the squad. The island is a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands and almost all the players were born and raised in the European nation. Senior stars such as captain Leandro Bacuna, who played in the Premier League with Aston Villa, and his brother Juninho Bacuna, formerly of Birmingham City and Huddersfield Town, represented the Oranje at youth level before making the switch. Ex-Manchester United midfielder Tahith Chong, now with the red half of Sheffield, is a rare Curaçao native.
Such experience means there is a little less trepidation for a World Cup opener against Germany on 14 June than you may expect. Coumans also takes heart from Australia’s first fixture in 2018 against another European giant. “France were so good they could have put three great teams on the pitch but it was a close game,” he says. The coach still talks of the irony of VAR being trailed in the A-League before the World Cup and Australia being on the receiving end of the first ever VAR decision in that 2-1 loss to France, with the referee using the monitor to give Les Bleus a penalty. “The first match at a World Cup for a top team is a difficult one,” Coumans says. “Everyone expects a walkover and it will not be. We are looking forward to it.”
First, though, is Melbourne, the beginning of the final stage of preparation. “Australian players are at a higher level than our players on average but still, Australia is not Germany and have a different type of playing but the experience will be great for our players.”
Then the countdown really starts to the games with Germany, Ecuador and Côte d’Ivoire. There is only time for a quick visit to the southern Caribbean for a farewell match against Aruba in the first week of June. “Now it is Australia, then Holland, Scotland, Curaçao then Florida for our base camp.”
And when they arrive in the US, there should be plenty of goodwill. “The team manager said because we are the smallest country at the World Cup and every fan has a second, underdog team that they like, it seems that will be Curaçao, especially for people in Holland who will really support.”
Despite being ranked 76 in the world, the team could still give their fans something to cheer for. “There is always a chance,” said Coumans. “It’s football. There is one massive quality –the players are so eager to fight for each other. They will go to the limit to get a result.”
