Miami FC goalkeeper Eloy Room sets World Cup record with 15 saves for Curacao
Miami FC goalkeeper Eloy Room set a World Cup record with 15 saves for Curacao in a 0-0 tie against Ecuador in Kansas City on Saturday night, earning the tiny Caribbean island its first-ever point in tournament history.
Room, 37, made the most saves in a 90-minute regulation match, and was one short of the all-time tournament record of 16 saves set by U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard in a 2-1 extra-time loss to Belgium in the 2014 Brazil World Cup.
The match was watched by members of the Dutch Royal Family, including King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima, as Curacao is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Room got a kiss from the Queen after the historic performance.
“I was the first to have a kiss, it was a small kiss, I hope my wife doesn’t hear this; no, it’s exceptional,” Room said, smiling. “I had never met them before and having them present at such a historic match is exceptional. It’s wonderful for them to sense the atmosphere.”
Room said his confidence grew with each save as the game wore on.
“We all grew and this was a team effort,” he said in the post-match interview. “We’ve been fighting, fighting until the last minute and earning a point this way for Curacao is absolutely great.”
It was the second time Room made history for the national team. His shutout of Jamaica last November sent Curaçao to its first World Cup. Curacao is the smallest nation ever, by size and population, to take part in the tournament.
The team lost its tournament opener 7-1 to Germany but rebounded with the tie Saturday.
Room said he was inspired by that performance against Jamaica and the memory of his father, Lesley Room, who died on November 12, 2025, just before the national team’s World Cup qualification matches.
“My father was with me,” he said. “I gave everything I could to stop all the balls, and the most important thing is that we earned a point.”
Room is a former MLS Cup winner with the Columbus Crew and this season signed with USL club Miami FC in the second-tier of U.S. professional soccer. He arrived in Miami with an impressive resume after stints in the Netherlands’ Eredivisie (Vitesse, PSV), Belgium (Cercle Brugge), and five MLS seasons with the Crew from 2019 to 2023, during which he won two MLS Cups.
The move to Miami made sense as Room wanted to get re-acclimated to the United States and it was close to Boca Raton, where the Curacao national team wound up having its World Cup base camp.
Room has made 72 appearances for the Curacao national team and is the joint all-time most capped player for his country, sharing the record with his teammate Leandro Bacuna.
He kept 11 clean sheets during World Cup qualification and has over 100 career clean sheets for club and country.
Born in the Netherlands, Room made the decision to play for Curacao in 2015 after being contacted by Dutch-Curacaoan football legend Patrick Kluivert. He chose the island nation over the Dutch national team because he found it to be an interesting project and wanted to achieve his childhood dream of reaching a World Cup.
“The whole reason that I chose to play for Curacao is that I had a dream as a little kid to make it to the World Cup with Curacao,” he said in an interview with FIFA.com. “When [Patrick] Kluivert contacted me to play for Curacao, first of all, I was really honored that Kluivert called me because he’s a big legend. I was surprised but also really proud. It was a proud moment for me and my family.
“I was one of the first guys who chose to play for Curacao as a professional. Kluivert said if I can get a player like you to join this project, it will attract a lot of other players.”
And that it did. Several Curacao players who played youth soccer in the Netherlands, including Room’s Miami FC teammate Jurgen Locadia, said they decided to play for Curacao because of Room.
Room said he always felt a connection with the island, even while living abroad.
“When I was young, we went there for vacations to see family,” he said in the leadup to the World Cup. “It was always a special moment to go there. The island is beautiful. It’s a warm feeling when you go there and I always feel at home.
“I still have family living there. Obviously, my father’s from there. My mother also lived in Curacao for a lot of years when she was younger. We have a deep connection with the island, so I’m so happy to give something back to the people and put Curacao on the map. And now I think almost everyone in the world knows what Curacao is.”
Curacao’s legendary Dutch coach Dick Advocaat has coached a number of national teams, including Russia, Serbia, Belgium and South Korea. He was moved by this Curacao team’s performance.
“You know how far we came, coming from nothing, and now, to see us playing an away match in front of 60,000 spectators, and match where we actually had opportunities of winning, that only gives us pride,” Advocaat said.
“Today the team was fighting like lions and you see what you can achieve playing against a team that was playing at a very high level with very high individual levels of players.”
The draw keeps both Curacao and Ecuador alive in the race for knockout play with one group game to go. Curaçao faces Ivory Coast in Philadelphia on Thursday and Ecuador plays Germany in New Jersey.