The smallest nation ever to compete in the tournament celebrate the long adventure that got them there, and remember those who cannot be there to enjoy it with them
Angelo Cijntje can look back now and smile. It was September 2023 and Curaçao’s trip from Trinidad to Martinique for a Concacaf Nations League game had been complicated on matchday by the lack of a charter flight. “A small propeller plane had to shuttle back and forth, flying players over in groups of six,” Cijntje, the performance coach, says. “The starting XI made it on time, but the subs came in while the game was under way. Their luggage didn’t make it, so they had nothing but their boots, shin pads and maybe a pair of socks.”
Wouter Jansen, Curaçao’s team coordinator, was also part of that trip. “It’s worthy of a film,” he says. “Those are the kind of adventures you never forget.”