Curacao fans take heavy defeat in their stride as World Cup delight undimmed

Curacao fans will have woken up the morning after still a little hurt by the 7-1 defeat to Germany in their World Cup debut on Sunday, but the result has not dampened their spirit or their delight at a first global finals for the tiny island nation.

Curacao are the smallest country by population and area to qualify for the World Cup and were given a rude awakening by a clinical German team.

But even after the heavy defeat, fans stayed in their seats and applauded the players, cheering and singing.

For the first 38 minutes they held the Germans at 1-1 after Livano Comenencia scored a historic first-ever World Cup goal for Curacao. Then the floodgates opened.

"(I am) very proud because we are the smallest island, smallest country and we scored against Germany! We are very happy and very, very proud!" fan Otmar Cornelia told Reuters.

Others believe by appearing on the global stage, it will inspire a new generation of players in the country, or in the diaspora, to take up the game and dream they can achieve what many had felt was highly unlikely.

"Children who see this game know exactly that the future is without any limits," supporter Sandy Martina said after the match.

"I am honoured, I am happy, I am blessed, I celebrate Curacao. We are again on the world map. We scored our first World Cup goal. I am proud, I am happy and it means a lot to me, it means a lot to my nation."

Caroline Sluys travelled from Curacao with her son for the match.

"This is so much fun. This is the first time Curacao have made it to the World Cup and we are just a little island of 150,000 inhabitants. It is amazing," she said.

Curacao are next in action on Saturday when they play Ecuador in Kansas City. They finish their pool play against Ivory Coast in Philadelphia on June 25.

(Reporting by Nick Said; Additional reporting by Michael D Kahn; Editing by Toby Chopra)