Curaçao keeper Room ties Howard’s World Cup saves record in draw

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Curaçao goalkeeper Eloy Room made 15 saves to equal the men’s World Cup record and help earn the tiny Caribbean nation its first World Cup point with a 0-0 draw against heavily favored Ecuador on Saturday.

The 37-year-old Room bounced back in spectacular fashion from conceding seven goals to Germany in his first World Cup match a week ago to produce one of the finest performances by a goalkeeper in tournament history.

“It’s going to be an insane memory,” Room said. “You don’t think about it when you do it, but of course it’s going to be something you look back to. For me as a goalkeeper, this is almost a perfect game.”

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His save total is tied for the most in a World Cup game — since saves became an official stat in 1966 — according to ESPN Research, matching the mark set by Tim Howard of the United States against Belgium in 2014.

While FIFA marks Howard’s tally at 16 saves, others — including ESPN’s data provider StatsPerform — record one of those saves as being from an off-target shot.

Room’s save tally is also the most in a World Cup game by a keeper who kept a shutout and stands alone as the most in a World Cup game that did not go to extra time.

“A little bit annoyed that I don’t have the record from Tim Howard, but I think he was sweating in front of the TV because I was close,” said Room, a former MLS Cup winner with the Columbus Crew who now plays for Miami FC in the U.S. second-tier USL Championship.

“But no, it’s unbelievable. And I cannot do it alone. I did it with the team and my defenders and the midfielders, strikers. We did it as a team.”

Howard’s performance earned him a call from then-U.S. President Barack Obama and the moniker “Secretary of Defense.”

Room already has an idea for the honor he would like bestowed upon him.

“I think I need a statue in Curaçao now,” he said with a smile.

There were some distinguished names watching on in Kansas City who might just be able to arrange that.

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands were in attendance after watching the Dutch team rout Sweden earlier in the day. Curaçao, the smallest World Cup team in population and size, is a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, making the king and queen the heads of state.

“They were even dancing in the locker room to our music,” Room said. “That’s unreal that they witnessed this game.”

Joining them in the pro-Ecuador crowd at the home of the Kansas City Chiefs were Kansas City Royals players Bobby Witt Jr., Salvador Perez and Starling Marte.

Ecuador attempted 28 shots and put 15 of them on target, the most in a men’s World Cup match without scoring since at least 1966.

“In football, there are things that simply can’t be explained,” Ecuador coach Sebastián Beccacece said after the match. “The result speaks for itself, so anything else I say could sound like an excuse. Today, we had to win, and we didn’t.”

Room set the tone early, making a huge stop on an Enner Valencia breakaway in the third minute. He then stopped Valencia on another golden opportunity in the 20th minute.

Ecuador began to ramp up the degree of difficulty in the second half, forcing short-range stops of Gonzalo Plata in the 59th minute, Valencia again in the 65th and substitute Kevin Rodríguez in the 66th.

In all, Ecuador’s attempted shots were worth 3.08 expected goals (xG).

Meanwhile, though Ecuador keeper Hernán Galíndez faced only three shots on goal, he had to make a pair of massive saves on efforts from Leandro Bacuna and Livano Comenencia — Curacao’s goal scorer against Germany — to assure things remained even.

In both halves, Ecuador began to run out of ideas late, and Curaçao bunkered in to provide as much defensive help as possible as the finish line grew closer.

Ecuador’s last shot on target came in the 80th minute, which meant that Room didn’t have a chance to set the record. But he likely considered that an acceptable trade for securing Curaçao’s first World Cup point.

“You know how far we’ve come, basically from nothing,” Curaçao coach Dick Advocaat said. “And then you come here and play an away match in front of 60,000 people and draw 0-0. All you can feel is pride at how far we’ve come.”

The draw is devastating for Ecuador, who likely will need a win over Germany on Thursday in East Rutherford, New Jersey, to advance to the knockout rounds. The same goes for Curaçao against Ivory Coast, but even if Curaçao don’t advance, their first World Cup trip has already been historic.

“The first match affected me much more because we lost 7-1,” Advocaat said. “Yet the supporters welcomed our players with incredible enthusiasm. Normally, after a result like that, you get booed. Instead, the exact opposite happened.

“Today, you saw the team give something back to those supporters. I thought that was a beautiful moment.”

The Associated Press and ESPN Research contributed to this report.