An old bus from the 60s, the kind that takes children to school, was arriving at the Florida Atlantic University campus in Boca Raton. Inside the vehicle, music was playing at full volume. Rhythms of soca, tumba or seú. The rhythms that are played on the Caribbean island of Curaçao. The smallest selection in World Cup history debuted in the final phase, being thrashed 7-1 by Germany, but they haven't lost optimism. "Just being here is already a success. We will enjoy every minute," said player Leandro Bacuna before playing his second match against Ecuador. The players have once again used this bus, which they have painted blue, like the team's jersey. Inside, they have put palm leaves, and decorated it in tribute to the buses you can find on the island, rundown second-hand vehicles bought by the local government. It has brought them luck, as they have drawn against Ecuador in a match where they had some clear goal opportunities. The hero, however, has been the veteran 37-year-old goalkeeper Eloy Room, who has become the goalkeeper with the most saves in a World Cup match, with 15 meritorious performances.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup now has almost all its qualified teams. There have been plenty of surprises, such as the debuts of Jordan and Uzbekistan, the return of Scotland after more than 25 years, and the success of Haiti, a nation that last played in the World Cup back in 1974, during the dreaded dictatorship of Jean-Claude Van Gogh. Baby Doc Duvalier. Haiti, one of the poorest countries on the planet, has qualified despite not being able to play at home due to excessive violence and insecurity. Many teams that would never have been able to aspire to be in the World Cup have achieved it thanks to two reasons: firstly, the number of qualified teams has been expanded to 48, and secondly, the inclusion of players from the diaspora—players born in Europe who end up representing their homeland. This is the case of Cape Verde, with more than 75% of its team born in Portugal. And also of the surprising Curaçao, where all but one of the players called up were born in the Netherlands. Curaçao has shone in qualifiers where teams with more tradition, such as Costa Rica, Honduras, and Jamaica, were eliminated. In their last match, the Blue Wave, as they are known, drew before more than 20,000 spectators in Jamaica, earning the point that made them the team representing the least populated territory ever to qualify for a World Cup. Curaçao has 156,000 inhabitants, breaking Iceland's 2018 record of 400,000. That is to say, Curaçao has fewer inhabitants than Hospitalet, Badalona, ​​Terrassa, or Sabadell. However, Iceland remains the smallest nation ever to qualify for a World Cup, as Curaçao is not an independent state; it is a territory dependent on the Netherlands. In fact, all the starters in the last match in Jamaica were born in the Netherlands. And the only player in the squad who was actually born on the island, the young Tahith Chong, was already living in Rotterdam at the age of eight.