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Two countries, four points, one crazy World Cup day.
The Netherlands and their former colony Curacao may be nearly 5,000 miles apart but the World Cup meant members of the Dutch royal family were able to watch both sides play on Saturday.
King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima and Princess Ariane of the Netherlands were in Houston for the noon kick-off and watched the Dutch team impress. 5-1 win over Sweden.
A journey of just 800 miles north of Kansas City later and the Royals were able to claim their first World Cup point in Curacao. Against Ecuador.
With all but one of the Curacao squad born in the Netherlands, the royal party celebrated the day with the players in the dressing room.
“It’s 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 on. It’s a great opportunity to cheer on both the Blues and the Orange.
“All in all, it will be a special World Cup for me with the two teams, and I naturally expect them to go far.”
Queen Maxima hails from Argentina and could put pressure on the holders against Austria when she pops into Arlington, Texas on Monday.
Curaçao is smaller than the Isle of Man with a population of 158,000 and remains part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Conquered the Netherlands in the 17th century A large part of the region now consists of Indonesia, South Africa, Curacao and West Papua.
Thousands of people were trafficked from Africa to the Dutch colonies in the Caribbean and South America before the practice was outlawed in 1863 – about 5% of the entire transatlantic slave trade.
King Willem-Alexander Officially apologized As for his country’s role in the slave trade in 2023, he said he was “personally and intensely” affected.
