Not many people would have heard of the tiny Caribbean island of Curaçao but football World Cups have a habit of pushing small nations into the global spotlight, even if briefly. In the 1990s, it was Cameroon and Costa Rica, followed by Slovenia, Angola, and Togo in the 2000s. That tradition is now being carried forward by Curaçao, Cape Verde, and Haiti, all of which reaffirm that football remains the one truly global sport. It is a game in which an island that is a speck on the map can outshine nations with vast sports budgets and large populations.

Curaçao became a FIFA member only in 2010, yet the expanded 48-team World Cup in North America has given it a rare chance to aim high. After all, no one recruits a pedigreed coach like Dick Advocaat unless ambitions run deep. Advocaat led the

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