Curaçao National Team Held Ecuador to a Draw Thanks to Their Goalkeeper's Phenomenal Performance
37-year-old Curaçao national team goalkeeper Eloy Room, who currently plays for the American club "Miami," became the main hero of the 2026 World Cup match against Ecuador. Thanks to his excellent play, the tournament debutants managed to secure a historic first point by drawing 0-0.
Eloy Room. Photo: AP Photo/Ed Zurga
Ecuador completely dominated the field in this match: they possessed the ball 75% of the time, completed 642 passes, and created chances worth 3.05 expected goals (xG). However, they could not beat Room.
During the match, the goalkeeper made 15 saves — one of the best records in World Cup history. For comparison, the record belongs to American goalkeeper Tim Howard, who made 16 saves in a match against Belgium in 2014 over 120 minutes of play. Room almost repeated this achievement in 90 minutes of regular time.
Already in the third minute, he saved the team after a dangerous shot by Enner Valencia. Towards the end of the first half, Room parried a powerful shot from John Yeboah, and in the second half, he prevented Gonzalo Plata from scoring and again saved the goal after a shot from Valencia from almost two meters away.
Besides the saves, Room commanded Curaçao's defense, which operated in a 5-4-1 formation and managed to withstand constant opponent pressure.
Thanks to this draw, Curaçao earned its first point in its World Cup history and even maintained certain chances of advancing to the playoffs. Eloy Room was recognized as the best player of the match.
The Matchday 2 game in this same Group E between the national teams of Germany and Ivory Coast ended with a 2:1 victory for the Germans. Since Germany crushed Curaçao 7:1 in the first match, they have already secured their place in the playoffs. In second place in the group is Ivory Coast with three points, while Ecuador and Curaçao each have one.
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