Curacao named a 26-man squad for its first World Cup this week and brought Dick Advocaat back as head coach, putting the 78-year-old on course to become the oldest coach in tournament history.

The surprise return came last week after Fred Rutten resigned a month before Curacao's debut at the expanded 48-team finals, which start on 11 June in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Curacao are ranked 82nd in the world and begin their Group E campaign against Germany on 14 June.

For a country with a population of just over 150,000 and a land area of 171 square miles, the scale of the achievement is already striking. Curacao became the smallest nation ever to qualify for the World Cup, and the squad named for the tournament includes Middlesbrough winger Sontje Hansen, Sheffield United's Tahith Chong and Shurandy Sambo, who is on loan at Sparta Rotterdam from Burnley.

Advocaat had stepped down as Curacao head coach in February before returning last week, a move that gives the team an experienced hand just as the biggest stage in international football arrives. Curacao face Ecuador on 21 June and Ivory Coast four days later, fixtures that will quickly show whether the side can turn qualification history into results on the field.

The tension for Curacao is plain. The country has already done what no smaller nation had ever done by reaching the finals, but the draw has left it with a brutal opening run and a coach whose place in the record books depends on whether he is still in the dugout when the matches begin. The next answer will come quickly in Group E, and it will say whether this story is only about making it to the World Cup or about belonging there.