Former England manager Steve McClaren suffered more major-tournament qualifying embarrassment overnight as his Jamaica team lost out to Curacao for a place at the World Cup – the smallest nation ever to reach the finals.
McClaren, 64, was derided as ‘the Wally with the brolly’ when he failed to lead England to Euro 2008 in the Wembley rain at the hands of Croatia.
And now he has quit his job in the Caribbean after Jamaica failed to qualify with a 0-0 draw against minnows Curacao.
According to the tiny nation’s assistant manager Dean Gorre, stepping in for Dick Advocaat, it brought McClaren to tears. ‘Steve was crying,’ he said. ‘It affected him that much.
Curacao salvaged a 0-0 draw to become the smallest nation by population to qualify for a World Cup and will be joined by CONCACAF sides Panama and Haiti who also booked their spots.
Curacao finished as the only undefeated nation in the tournament and finished atop of Group B with 12 points to advance to the World Cup for the first time in its history.
There was further embarrassment for McClaren, given Curacao got the historic result despite not having his opposite Advocaat on the bench. The 78-year-old Advocaat missed the crucial match because he had to return to the Netherlands last weekend for family reasons.
Advocaat was at the helm of the Netherlands national team for three stints and managed South Korea, Belgium and Russia before taking the job with Curacao.
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics in Curacao, the country has a population of 156,115 persons as of last January. Iceland, with a population of just over 350,000 was the smallest country to reach the World Cup when it qualified for the tournament in Russia in 2018.
Panama advanced to its second World Cup after defeating El Salvador 3-0 on first-half goals from César Blackman and Erick Davis. Jose Luis Rodriguez added a goal for the Panamanians, who have Russia 2018 as their only World Cup appearance
More to follow.
