Two nations, four points, one crazy World Cup day.
There may be about 5,000 miles between the Netherlands and their former colony Curacao but the World Cup meant members of the Dutch royal family managed to see both sides play on Saturday.
King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima and Princess Ariane of the Netherlands were in Houston for a noon kick-off and saw the Dutch side power to an impressive 5-1 win over Sweden.
A mere 800-mile trip north to Kansas City later and the royals were able to see Curacao claim their first ever World Cup point against Ecuador.
All but one of the Curacao squad was born in the Netherlands, with the royal party ending the day celebrating with the players in the dressing room.
“It is an extra-special World Cup because we have both the Netherlands and Curacao,” Willem-Alexander told RTL-TV.
“So we have twice as many teams to cheer for. It’s a great opportunity to cheer on both the Blues and the Oranges.
“All in all, it will be a special World Cup for me with two teams, and I naturally hope they go extremely far.”
Queen Maxima is from Argentina and could squeeze in the holders’ match against Austria if she pops to Arlington, Texas on Monday.
Curacao is smaller than the Isle of Man with a population of 158,000 and remains part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
During the 17th Century the Netherlands conquered large swathes of territory in regions that now make up Indonesia, South Africa, Curacao and West Papua.
Thousands of people were trafficked from Africa to Dutch colonies in the Caribbean and South America – amounting to about 5% of the entire transatlantic slave trade – before the practice was banned in 1863.
King Willem-Alexander formally apologised for his country’s role in the slave trade in 2023, saying he felt “personally and intensely” affected.
