Without cloak and sword, he doesn’t fly, he doesn’t teleport, he has no power. Well yes. That of stopping all the balls to the Ecuadorian team. Eloy Room has achieved the best performance in the entire history of the World Cups. The 15 stops that he has made (ten have been inside the area) in the 90 minutes of the game has been the highest number of interventions performed by a goalkeeper in the entire history of the World Cup and all of them to finish undefeated. Curaçao thus managed to obtain the first point of his story in this tournament that has been celebrated as a real party in Kansas City.
To date, it had been Tim Howard the goalkeeper who had made the most saves in a World Cup. A total of 16 stopsbut in a meeting that had extra time and in which the United States ended up conceding two goals and being eliminated. At 37 years old and playing for one of the weakest teams in the entire tournament, Eloy Room has made history. After conceding seven goals from Germany, the Curacao goalkeeper has tasted the joys of soccer in a World Cup. “The figure was the opposing goalkeeper, he had a dream night“said Hugo Galíndez, Ecuador’s goalkeeper, about his opponent.
Caribbean ‘thanks’ to Patrick Kluivert
Born in Nijmegen (Netherlands), Eloy Room began defending the Caribbean goal in 2015 when Patrick Kluivert convinced him to play for his father’s team, Lesley Room. His father told him stories about Ergilio Hato. ‘The black panther’ and the best goalkeeper in the history of Curacao. Carrying out a large part of his career in the Netherlands, passing through several quarries, Vitesse, Go Ahead Eagles and PSV, Eloy Room left Europe to try his luck on American soil with the Columbus Crew.
With the Ohio team he managed to win two leagues and one cup. In 2023 he returned to Vitesse where he lasted one season before his contract was terminated and two months later he had found a team again in Belgium. In it Witches Circle He barely played two games and when his contract year ended he was left without a team again. It was the Miami FC of the American second division who managed to catch him and make him their goalkeeper.
Another ‘Vozinha’ phenomenon
Just as it would happen with Vozinha In the match between Cape Verde and Spain, Eloy Room has gone from being a normal goalkeeper to a global phenomenon. At the end of the meeting he had 127 thousand followers on the ‘Instagram’ social network and it is already close to a million. The African goalkeeper already has almost 15 million. Both share similarities and that is that they play in two of the most modest teams in the World Cup and managed to get all the balls they were sent against teams that, on paper, were better and deserved to win, but that were left to zero.
Eloy Room making a stop against Ecuador.
“I think Neuer will want my shirt”
Curacao’s options included showing a good image in the World Cup. Before the first day against GermanyEloy was asked about the meaning that this match had for him when facing Manuel Neuerone of its “great references”. When asked if he would ask for the shirt, he responded with humor. “I think Neuer will want mine“He seriously acknowledged that”it would be the icing on the cake“. Finally he conceded seven goals and only made four saves, but he had one of his idols in front of him.
Eloy Room He is a fan of t-shirts and in a friendly against Argentina On March 29, 2023, the Curacao goalkeeper conceded seven goals and asked the player for the shirt. ‘Dibu’ Martínez already Lionel Messione of his idols. The Rosario star asked him for an exchange, something that surprised Room. Even more so, when he acknowledged that he had made good saves, despite the result. Since then that photo has been immortalized on their social networks. “Dreams come true“, it is titled.
Who knows, helped by the spirit of Ergilio Hato, Eloy Room has managed to show that dreams can be fulfilled more than once and everyone already knows him.
