KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Curacao overcame a 0-0 draw with Jamaica on Tuesday to qualify for international competition as the country with the smallest population. world cup CONCACAF’s Panama and Haiti will also be joined as they have reserved spots.
Curaçao finished as the only unbeaten nation in the tournament, finishing first in Group B with 12 points and advancing to the World Cup for the first time in their history.
Curaçao achieves historic result despite the absence of a coach dick advocaat On the bench. Advocaat, 78, missed an important match as he had to return to the Netherlands last weekend for family reasons.
Advocaat spent three spells in charge of the Dutch national team before taking over in Curacao, and also coached South Korea, Belgium and Russia.
Jamaica almost took the lead in the 54th minute when Greg Lee’s header deflected off the right post. Two more headers rattled the post as Jamaica chased the winning goal, with Shamar Nicholson hitting the crossbar in the 70th minute and Bailey Cadamarteri hitting the right post in the 87th minute.
In added time, substitute Jeremy Antonis’ sliding tackle brought down Dujuan Richards in the area, giving Jamaica a penalty. However, a video review overturned that.
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics of Curacao, the country’s population as of January last year was 156,115. Iceland has a population of over 350,000 people They were the smallest country to qualify for the World Cup in 2018 when they qualified for the tournament in Russia.
Haiti secured a spot in the 2026 Soccer World Cup with a decisive victory over Nicaragua on Tuesday. (AP/Pierre Luxama)
Panama defeated El Salvador 3-0 with first half goals from Cesar Blackman (17 years old) and Eric Davis (45 years old) and advanced to their second World Cup. Jose Luis Rodriguez (85) added a goal for Panama, whose only World Cup appearance will be in Russia 2018.
Panama finished in the highest place in Group A with 12 points, while Suriname, who entered the final match in first place on goal difference, lost to Guatemala 1-3 and finished in second place with nine points.
Haiti, Caribbean country in troublehad a remarkable campaign, defeating Nicaragua 2-0 and then defeating favorites Honduras and Costa Rica in Group C.
Roycious Deedson took the lead in the 9th minute, and Ruben Providence added another goal in the 45th minute. Haiti’s only previous appearance in the World Cup was in Germany in 1974.
Tuesday’s CONCAFAC results confirmed the six teams that will participate in the intercontinental playoffs to be held in Mexico next March. Two teams will qualify for the playoffs: Iraq from Asia, Congo from Africa, Jamaica and Suriname from CONCACAF, Bolivia from South America, and New Caledonia from Oceania.
AP Soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
