Curaçao national team receives warm welcome during World Cup workout in Boca Raton

BOCA RATON, FLA. (WSVN) - The Curaçao soccer team received a warm welcome from fans in Boca Raton as they prepared for their first match of the tournament against Germany.

Hundreds of fans came out to the Florida Atlantic University football stadium to cheer on the players from Curaçao.

“It brings a lot of joy to see the people, the energy. We always like to have the connection with them, with the audience, and if you see how many people came out now to see this training, it gives us a lot of positive energy,” said Curaçao goalkeeper Eloy Room.

Curaçao’s team, commonly known as the Blue Wave, hopes to shock the world on this global stage after going undefeated in qualifying.

They now head into the tournament as both an underdog to make it out of Group E and to even get far in the competition.

“Mountains are made to be climbed, so that’s what we’re going to do. We’ll go in there with a game plan, obviously, we have an amazing manager who’s gonna prepare us in the right way,” said Curaçao midfielder Tahith Chong.

The tiny Caribbean island, located about 37 miles north of the coast of Venezuela, has a population of 158,000. It’s about a three-hour flight from Miami. As a Dutch island, it’s also part of the Netherlands.

Curaçao is also the smallest nation to ever qualify for the World Cup.

The official language in Curaçao is Papiamentu, a Portuguese-based creole.

Despite the nation’s small size, there’s a surprisingly strong presence of Curaçao fans in South Florida.

“I was born in Curaçao,” Patricia Maldonado, a Curaçao fan, told 7Sports’ Mike DiPasquale.

7Sports asked Maldonado how big this moment is for the Dutch Caribbean island to be on this massive stage.

“Everything in Curaçao right now is the Blue Wave, the whole island lives with the team,” she said.

Even those without a background in Curaçao grew to support the team after marrying into it.

“Look what they do in baseball, look what they do in football, you know, it’s amazing for such a small island. The whole island is crazy about the team,” said Elliott Rifkin, whose wife is from Curaçao.

Curaçao opens the tournament with a tall task, facing Germany at Houston Stadium on Sunday at 1 p.m. Germany, the 10th-ranked team in the world and four-time World Cup champions, is currently favored to advance from Group E.

Curaçao’s players said they’re not afraid to face the Herculean opponent right away in their World Cup debut.

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