Updated

Updated · Fox News · Jun 22

Zorana Room Defends Eloy Room After Curacao's 0-0 Draw as Howard Predicted 20-Goal Rout

Updated

Updated · Fox News · Jun 22

Zorana Room Defends Eloy Room After Curacao's 0-0 Draw as Howard Predicted 20-Goal Rout

Q: A legend's mockery, a wife's fury, a record-tying revenge. Is this the most personal rivalry of the 2026 World Cup?

Yes—on the evidence so far, it is arguably the most personal rivalry of the 2026 World Cup. What makes it stand out is that it goes beyond ordinary pundit-versus-player tension. Tim Howard had reportedly dismissed Curaçao before the tournament, saying they would be “smoked” and could concede more than 20 goals. After Curaçao’s 0-0 draw with Ecuador, Zorana Room turned that into a direct public feud, saying she would defend her husband and the team “with my life” and arguing Howard had no standing to belittle Curaçao. The footballing subplot made it sharper. Eloy Room then produced one of the tournament’s signature performances, making 15 saves to secure Curaçao’s first-ever World Cup point after a 7-1 loss to Germany. That total appears to have tied the 90-minute World Cup saves mark associated with Howard and left Room within one of Howard’s broader tournament record of 16 against Belgium in 2014. Zorana explicitly framed it as payback, saying, “We have beef with this guy … so we gotta take his record,” while Room joked Howard must have been “sweating in front of the TV.” That combination—a public slight, a spouse’s highly personal response, and a record chase tied directly to the critic—gives this feud unusual emotional force. Other World Cup rivalries may be bigger competitively, but few have been this personal, this public, and this neatly resolved on the field in a single night.

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jun 22

Zorana Room publicly backed Curacao goalkeeper Eloy Room after the team held Ecuador to a 0-0 World Cup draw, using social media to endorse criticism of former U.S. keeper Tim Howard.
Howard had said Curacao would get "smoked" in the expanded 2026 tournament and concede more than 20 goals, a forecast sharpened by the team's 7-1 opening loss.
Eloy Room answered with more than a dozen saves against Ecuador, preserving Curacao's first point and giving his wife a platform to argue the team had earned its place.
Her post also took aim at Howard's standing to judge Curacao, citing the United States' failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup after losing to Trinidad and Tobago.