On the rise
European players and coaches taking Curacao back to the top of CONCACAF
After winning the 2017 Caribbean Cup and reaching the quarter-finals of last year’s Gold Cup, qualifying for a debut World Cup is the next target for Curacao. Reaching Qatar would be the culmination of a long project to revive football on the island, which is a self-governing part of the Netherlands.
Curacao were one of the strongest sides in the CONCACAF region until the 1960s, but fell behind as tours to Europe that had raised standards died out. The Dutch federation continued to train local coaches through the European system and Curacao began looking for players from the Diaspora.
Eligible players would often play for Dutch teams at youth level and dream of emulating the likes of Ajax graduate Gregory van der Wiel or Feyenoord midfielder Leroy Fer and going on to play for the Oranje. Curacao’s representatives set about changing minds.
“In 2004, the national team began using professional players playing abroad in different competitions and in Holland,” says Etienne Siliee, Curacao’s coach from1993-2004 and technical advisor from 2010-2016. “This pool of professional players became bigger and bigger every year and with more talented players.”
The strength of the playing pool was boosted when a side of local players qualified for the 2013 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship. Experienced Dutch coach Hans Jan Schrijver was brought in for the finals in Mexico, where playing at high altitude for the first time was a disadvantage.
Schrijver boosted the squad with players from Europe and though Curacao lost 3-0 to Mexico and 2-1 to El Salvador, as both opponents qualified for the Under-20 World Cup finals, the results were no disgrace. After the tournament, Schrijver declared: “In four or five years, Curacao can be very good.”
The prophecy came true at the 2017 Caribbean Cup. After his appointment as coach in 2015, former Netherlands star Patrick Kluivert persuaded European players such as goalkeeper Eloy Room, then at PSV, and Leandro Bacuna, a Dutch U21 international, to sign up.
Kluivert left in 2016, leaving his assistant Remko Bicentini to take charge of the team for the tournament. Built on a solid defence, Curacao edged out hosts Martinique in the semi-finals, then beat holders Jamaica in the final. Bicentini says: “The main reasons for our success is the crop of players that we now can select. Our selection is also a close-knit team, all for each other.”
Curacao’s last matches were in the Nations League, where second-place in their group behind Costa Rica meant qualification for a third successive Gold Cup. The next step will be the World Cup qualifiers, which are being reorganised by CONCACAF. “It is certainly a real goal for us,” says Bicentini.
The team has used the FIFA window to travel and gain experience, playing in Qatar in 2017 and Thailand, where they won the 2019 King’s Cup. The team can also be helped by coaches back in Europe says Siliee, who adds: “[We need] the co-operation of the Dutch coaches to not select the crack players of Curacao for only one game and later on they cannot participate in the Curacao team.”
The team’s performance on the pitch should also persuade players from the European Diaspora that the Caribbean now offers a real route to success.
“We need Dutch coaches to not select the crack players of Curacao for only one game and later on they cannot participate in the Curacao team”
Etienne Siliee, former Curacao coach and technical adviser