Dick Advocaat wiped away tears before kick-off. By full-time, his Curacao side had been torn apart 7-1 by four-time champions Germany in their World Cup debut. But the 78-year-old coach, the oldest ever to manage at a World Cup, says there's nothing to be ashamed of.

"It isn't embarrassing to lose like that against such a team," Advocaat said after the match in Houston. "This team (Germany) is worth 850 million and Curacao, 25."

The tiny Caribbean island — the smallest nation by population ever to qualify for the World Cup — had dared to dream of a giant-killing. For a moment, it looked possible. A deflected strike from Livano Comenencia pulled Curacao level at 1-1, and Advocaat was out of his seat.

Then Germany turned on the style. Nico Schlotterbeck, Kai Havertz with a double, Jamal Musiala, Nathaniel Brown and Deniz Undav all scored. The 7-1 scoreline killed off any talk of one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history.

Advocaat, who returned to coach Curacao in February after stepping aside when his daughter fell ill, knows the score looks bad. "Obviously 7-1 is a heavy defeat," he said. "We must make sure no one's head drops, that they don't remain in a bad state of mind. But I'm not too worried about that happening."

The Dutchman was also at the last World Cup hosted in the US, 32 years ago, when he was in charge of the Netherlands. Now he's leading a team ranked 76th in the world against the elite. He says the real victory was just getting to the tournament.

"It's already formidable what we achieved in qualifying for the finals," Advocaat said. "And we should be conscious of that. All we need to do is simply show the best of ourselves here."

Curacao's fans, known as the 'Blue Wave', filled the stands with colour and noise. Advocaat said the "fantastic scenes of happiness" made up for the heavy defeat. "We'll still be happy to have competed at the biggest event in the world," he added.

The tournament doesn't get any easier. Curacao face Ecuador in their next Group E match on Saturday, then Ivory Coast in the final group game. Advocaat's job now is to lift his players' spirits after the demolition.

"We gave away too many easy goals," he admitted. But he isn't panicking. For a nation of just over 150,000 people, simply being at the World Cup is already a story that will be told for generations. The scoreline may hurt, but the memory of the 'Blue Wave' waving from the stands will last much longer.