The 37-year-old was a backup goalkeeper in the Netherlands for the majority of his career, but on a glorious night for the Caribbean nation, he became a member of Curacao royalty in Kansas City.
Eloy Room, the goalie for Curacao, made history at the World Cup by making 15 saves in a 0-0 draw with Ecuador, earning the small Caribbean nation their first-ever point in the competition.
The record for the most saves in a 90-minute World Cup encounter since records started in 1966 was broken by Room, 37. With 16 stops in an extra-time loss to Belgium in 2014, only Tim Howard of the USA has made more stops in a World Cup match.
With approximately 156,000 residents, Curacao is the smallest nation to compete in the World Cup. Room is the most recent seasoned goalie to make an impression at the competition after Vozinha of Cape Verde’s performance in the 0-0 draw with Spain.
“I think I need a statue in Curacao now,” Room said. His Instagram is also set to explode, with the goalkeeper gaining more than 600,000 new followers in the hours after his performance. “For me as a goalkeeper, this is almost a perfect game,” he added.
Who is Eloy Room?
Room played Dutch football for much of his career. He was born in the Netherlands, close to the German border. After being persuaded to join the team by Patrick Kluivert, the former Netherlands international who was in charge of Curacao at the time, he made his debut for the island nation in 2015. Room was qualified to play for Curacao, thanks to his father.
He debuted for Curacao in 2015 and played a key role in the island’s first Gold Cup triumph over Honduras in 2019. He played for Cercle Brugge in Belgium and Vitesse in the Netherlands before becoming a free agent and joining Miami FC in the USL Championship in January 2026.
In November of last year, Room maintained a perfect record as the Blue Wave drew 0-0 with Jamaica to earn their first World Cup qualification. Curacao made their World Cup debut against Germany under the leadership of former Netherlands manager Dick Advocaat, although they were defeated 7-1 in their first Group E match.
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Curacao’s tenacious performance against Ecuador might be even more remarkable as a result. Room was there when it mattered, but Ecuador still managed 27 shots and an xG of 3.05. Enner Valencia’s two close-range attempts and long-range strikes by Moises Caicedo and John Yeboah were among his notable saves.
“Maybe Germany came too early,” Advocaat said. “That day they were simply out of our league, but today the team was standing as it should have been standing. They were fighting like lions and then you see what you can achieve against a team that’s playing on a very high level with very high individual levels of the players.”
Following their trip to Houston to see the Netherlands’ triumph over Sweden earlier in the day, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands attended Curacao’s historic performance in Kansas City. Within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Curacao is an independent constituent nation.
Now, perhaps, Curacao has new royalty in a 37-year-old goalkeeper who spent much of his career as a back-up in the Netherlands. “The first save, the tone was put in place, also for the team. It gave me confidence and I grew, we all grew, this was a team effort,” he said. “We’ve been fighting, fighting up to the last minute. Earning a point this way for Curacao is absolutely great.”
