Eloy Room’s historic night in goal preserves Curacao a draw with Ecuador in World Cup game in KC

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KQTV) - Badly needing a spark in the World Cup, 37-year-old goalie Eloy Room put the small nation of Curacao on his back Saturday night. Room and the team held Ecuador scoreless in a 0-0 draw in the second Group Stage round for the World Cup in Kansas City.

Room finished with an incredible 15 saves in goal, which ranks second all time in World Cup history for one game, finishing a close second behind USA's Tim Howard with 16.

"I was not thinking about that during the game, of course I knew it was a busy game, a lot of saves. I'm a little bit annoyed that I don't have the record from Tim Howard, Because he had 16, but I think he was sweating in front of the defeat because I was close," said Room. "It's unbelievable. I cannot do it alone. I did it with the team and my defenders so we did it as a team. I'm happy I can do my job because first of all, I'm a goalkeeper and I need to stop balls. For me it's really special. But again, it's also my job, so I try to help the team out and today it worked out perfect."

You guys know how far we came, coming from nothing. Now if you see that we play an away match in front of 60,000 spectators and a match where we actually have an opportunity of winning, that only gives us pride to see how far we came," said Curacao head coach Dick Advocaat.  

"We are not able to create joy for the team nor for our fans, but life has taught me you have to always continue to work, always learn," said Ecuador head coach Sebastián Beccacece. "Challenges can become opportunities. It is normal now to feel this pain, this disappointment, but this is not over yet. We have 100 minutes ahead of us and we're going to be there in a sound way to try to reach our goals." 

The draw still gets Curacao a point, the first ever for the smallest nation to ever qualify for a World Cup. Curacao will next play the Ivory Coast on Thursday, June 25th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at 3 pm in the final Group Stage round. Ecuador will face Germany on the 25th in East Rutherford, New Jersey at 3 pm.

Kansas City will host its third World Cup match on Thursday, June 25th as the Netherlands takes on Tunisia at 6 pm.