Curaçao earns historic point at their first-ever World Cup tournament, after holding Ecuador to a nil-nil draw. Goalkeeper Eloy Room is the hero - with 15 saves to help his side bounce back from a 7-1 loss to Germany at the FIFA World Cup 2026™. Elsewhere, Japan dominates with a 4-0 win over Tunisia. Germany booked their place in the knockout stage for the first time since 2014 with a 2-1 victory over Ivory Coast. The Netherlands put five past Sweden 5-1, with Brian Brobbey and Cody Gakpo both scoring doubles. Join your host Haylena Krishnamoorthy for this episode of World Cup Daily | The 90+ Podcast, as she speaks to Malaysia's women's football team captain, Steffi Sarge Kaur, discussing what it means for players to represent their country on a global stage.
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TRANSCRIPT
Curaçao, the smallest nation at this tournament and playing in their first-ever FIFA World Cup, have picked up a historic first point after holding Ecuador to a nil-nil draw.
Goalkeeper Eloy Room is the hero - with 15 saves to help his side bounce back from a 7-1 loss to Germany in their tournament opener.
Elsewhere, Japan dominates with a 4-nil win over Tunisia.
Germany booked their place in the knockout stage for the first time since 2014 with a 2-1 victory over Ivory Coast.
And the Netherlands put five past Sweden with Brian Brobbey and Cody Gakpo both scoring doubles.
I’m your host, Haylena Krishnamoorthy, and in this episode of SBS News’ World Cup Daily: The 90+ Podcast, I'll bring you the biggest stories on and beyond the pitch.
"Curaçao has shocked Ecuador. An extraordinary point for Dick Advocaat. A historic performance for Eloy Room. Curaçao nil. Ecuador nil. One of the most shocking World Cup results in recent memory."
For a country of just 158,000 people, this was a result to remember.
Curaçao held Ecuador to a nil-nil draw in Kansas City earning the first World Cup point in the nation's history.
And at the centre of it all was goalkeeper Eloy Room.
His 15 saves frustrated Ecuador all game long and helped deliver one of the biggest surprises of the tournament so far.
The 37-year-old finished just one save short of the World Cup record of 16, set by US goalkeeper Tim Howard against Belgium back in 2014's World Cup in extra-time.
To clarify that's a World Cup record for a 90-minute match.
For those of you wondering - saves have only been officially recorded as a World Cup statistic since 1966.
For veteran coach Dick Advocaat, it was a remarkable turnaround.
The 78-year-old, the oldest coach in World Cup history, watched his side respond in an electric match after their 7-1 defeat to Germany in their opener.
And the celebrations didn't stop after the final whistle.
Curaçao is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and after the match the players were joined by King Willem-Alexander, Queen Máxima and Princess Ariane.
SBS Dutch spoke with Dick Advocaat afterwards, who said meeting the royal family became one of the highlights of the evening.
"Yes, besides the draw, that was actually the highlight of the evening. Yes, the people were so genuine. Yes. And they come in with so much joy on their faces. First the King, then the Queen, then his daughter, and she immediately joined in the festive revelry. Because with us, that music is always on. Yes, and immediately dancing with the players. Yes, that was truly a moment of truth for me. How they are in real life. They are real people."
To help put this result into perspective, I spoke with Malaysia's national footballer and captain of the women's team, Steffi Sarge Kaur, better known as Steffi Sidhu.
"To be honest, I'm so happy for Curacao 'cause having 150,000 population in the country and to be representing in the World Cup and, and to be having, still hope to qualify to the next, round is, is great. It's great news for, for all the Curacao country because basically it's, it's not easy to be playing against Ecuador. Ecuador is like a strong team."
It's hard to overstate just how significant this is for Curaçao.
And there's still plenty to play for.
If they can beat Ivory Coast in their final group match on Friday they could still reach the knockout stage.
For Steffi Sidhu, the story hits close to home.
Malaysia has never qualified for a men's or women's World Cup, so she understands what moments like this mean for players and supporters.
Now, speaking of teams making a statement, Japan certainly did that against Tunisia.
Before the match, Steffi predicted a Japanese victory.
"I'm hoping for Japan to win after this, definitely. Three points, that's good enough."
And she wasn't wrong.
Despite missing key players Kaoru Mitoma and Takumi Minamino through injury.
Japan produced one of their most compelling performances of the tournament so far, winning 4-nil.
Daichi Kamada opened the scoring just three minutes into the match.
The midfielder had already made headlines after scoring a late equaliser against the Netherlands earlier in the tournament.
Japan then took control through Ayase Ueda, who scored twice -once in the first half and again late in the second.
Junya Ito added Japan's third goal midway through the second half as Tunisia struggled to contain the Samurai Blue attack.
One interesting detail about Ueda - he currently plays in the Eredivisie, the top professional football league in the Netherlands.
Away from the game itself, I also asked Steffi about one of Japan's most admired traditions at major tournaments - supporters helping clean the stadium after matches.
"I mean I respect Japan, the Japanese for this 'cause they've been doing that since, since day one, and they've been doing it still now. It's literally clean. Like, you know, when they came in, like, I think it's before and after it's the same. So I guess, like, it's a big kudos to the Japanese players for, for having that actually very good habit. And you know, I hope we all could actually have that, that same habit as well."
Meanwhile, Germany are through to the knockout stage.
Their 2-1 win over Ivory Coast means the four-time champions have reached the tournament's second round for the first time since 2014.
And the Netherlands enjoyed a dominant 5-1 victory over Sweden.
Brian Brobbey and Cody Gakpo both scored twice in a performance that underlined Dutch attacking depth.
For Sweden, it was a difficult night - their heaviest World Cup defeat since 1950.
In fact, the last time they conceded five goals in a World Cup match was the 1958 final, when they lost 5-2 to Brazil.
And if you'd like to catch up on all of today's highlights, you can head to SBS On Demand.
That's all for today.
I'll be back with you on Tuesday with the latest from the World Cup, including Argentina against Austria, France taking on Iraq, Norway facing Senegal, and Jordan meeting Algeria.
Stay tuned for the latest at the World Cup Daily | The 90+ Podcast.
And to get the latest World Cup news, check out SBS News Headlines, wherever you get your podcasts.
