🚀 Read this must-read post from BBC Sport 📖
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📌 Main takeaway:
The players from the small, beautiful Caribbean island of Curacao are 90 minutes away from making World Cup history.
If Curacao avoids defeat away to Jamaica on Tuesday evening (Wednesday, 01:00 GMT), Curacao, led by former Netherlands and Rangers coach Dick Advocaat, will qualify for the finals for the first time.
They will become the youngest country ever to play in a World Cup. That record is held by Iceland, a 2018 finalist, but their country is much larger than Curacao, with a population of just over 150,000 (similar to Cambridge or Huddersfield) and a smaller area than the Isle of Man.
“It’s crazy and will be one of the biggest things to happen for Curacao,” said midfielder Juninho Bacuna, a former Huddersfield, Rangers and Birmingham player.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, he added: “It’s unbelievable and amazing. Even a few years ago you wouldn’t think about it, but now we are very close.”
“We are sure that we will do our best to qualify for the World Cup. To personally be a part of that and make this dream come true will be incredible.”
Curacao, located 37 miles off the coast of Venezuela, only became a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 2010, after the breakup of the Netherlands Antilles.
Ten years ago they were 150th in the FIFA world rankings. Now they are 82.
The expanded format for the 2026 World Cup, which includes 48 countries instead of 32, along with Canada, Mexico and the United States automatically qualifying, has given Curacao a much better chance.
In nine qualifying matches, they won seven. After a 2-0 win over Jamaica last October, then a 1-1 draw with Trinidad and Tobago, and then a 7-0 win away to Bermuda on Friday, the team now leads its group with one game to go.
In the final, they will face Jamaica, who are one point behind Curacao, and will qualify with a win.
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