After a dramatic 1-0 victory over Thailand at the 2019 King's Cup, the Vietnamese team will face Curacao in the final.
Curacao is a small country in the Caribbean. However, in recent years, the island with an area of 444km2 and 160,000 inatives has grown strongly to become a regional football force.
5 years ago, Curacao ranked 183th in the world and the team's performance results were very poor. Since the Curacao Federation of Labor was established in 2011, by 2014, they have won only 18.7%, losing 62.5% of their 32 matches. To develop the country's football scene, the Curacao Federation of Labor has made an important decision that changed the history of the island nation's football scene, which is to bring a son from Kluivert to become the coach of the national team.
Kluivert was born in Amsterdam on 1 July 1976, the third child in the family. His father was a football player in Suriname, a country in the Antilles in the (old) Netherlands. After a period of training his football skills on the streets and at the local club Schellingwoude, Kluivert attracted the attention of Ajax scouts and was admitted to the club's prestigious academy at the age of just 7.
At the age of 19, Kluivert became a mainstay of Ajax Amsterdam and the Netherlands Open. After Ajax, Kluivert traveled through major European football clubs such as Milan, Barcelona, Newcastle, Valencia, PSV and then ended his career at Lille.
After retiring, Kluivert has held various coaching positions to further improve his coaching career. At the 2014 World Cup, Kluivert was one of Van Gaal's assistants. After that, Kluivert returned to his mother's hometown to become the coach of Curacao.
At Curacao, Kluivert developed this team into a modern team, building a playing style from the back, trying to control the ball more than the opponent through short passes and triangles. Witnessing Curacao's performance, many people called them "Little Netherlands" because of their style reminiscent of famous all-powerful football.
Although Kluivert's time with the Curacao national team was not long, only 15 months and divided into 2 stages, the " legate" he left behind was invaluable. His successors are always aware of developing the team on the existing platform, from people to playing style, turning Curacao into a force in the Caribbean.
At the Caribbean Championship, the Caribbean Cup, in 2017, Curacao caused an unprecedented shock when they won the championship. Their reward is a skyrocketing ranking on FIFA's rankings, from 183 to 83.
In 2018, Curacao showed incredible form when they were unbeaten in all 5 matches, including a draw and a victory over a very strong opponent from South America Bolivia.
In 2019, at the King's Cup 2019, Curacao continued to impress with a 3-1 victory over India to face the Vietnamese team in the final. The upcoming match against the Caribbean will be a valuable test for coach Park Hang-seo and his team before conquering more difficult challenges in the coming time.
