Curaçao

• 1
  Curaçao's first ever World Cup ended in the group stage, as expected, but the story was never really about winning it — this is a nation of about 156,000 people, smaller than Iceland was when they famously qualified in 2018, and they were there at all.
• 2
  Their signature moment was a 0-0 draw with Ecuador, secured almost single-handedly by 37-year-old goalkeeper Eloy Room, who made a stack of saves to hold out for Curaçao's first ever World Cup point. Ecuador went on to beat Germany in their next game, which tells you how good that Curaçao defensive display actually was.
• 3
  The low point, scoreline-wise, was a 7-1 opening defeat to Germany — but even that had a silver lining. Manager Dick Advocaat, 78 years old and a fixture of Dutch football for decades, said afterwards he was moved to see people back home still celebrating in the streets, 7-1 loss and all.
• 4
  Curaçao's tournament ended with a 2-0 defeat to Ivory Coast, finishing bottom of a group that also contained Germany and Ecuador — a tough draw for a debutant by any measure.
• 5
  Nobody expects Curaçao back at a World Cup any time soon — qualifying at all was closer to a miracle than a trend. But they've now got the record for smallest nation ever to play at one, and a night when the whole island partied after a 7-1 loss because they were finally there. That's worth more than three points.