The sudden departure of Steven Gerrard from Rangers just a few months after Juninho Bacuna had signed prevented the midfielder from establishing himself in the first team at the Glasgow club and ultimately led to him moving on to Birmingham City to get regular competitive football.
Could the return of Ibrox icon Dick Advocaat to management at the of 78 help Bacuna and his Curacao team mates to once again defy their doubters and cause a few ripples at the World Cup next month?
They are in Group E alongside Germany, Ivory Coast and Ecuador and will be doing extremely well to get a result in any of their matches, never mind finish in the top three and make it through to the knockout rounds, over in the United States.
Yet, the 48 times-capped 28-year-old and his compatriots have overcome seemingly insurmountable odds before thanks to Advocaat’s considerable influence and have no intention of simply making up numbers.
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They became the smallest country, both by population and by area, to secure a place in the finals in the 96 year history of the international tournament back in November.
“The Blue Wave” swept aside all before them in the early stages of CONCACAF qualifying. They won all four of their second round games and topped their section. That run included a 5-1 triumph over Haiti, who Scotland will play in their opening Group C outing.
The island nation in the southern Caribbean Sea, which has only 158,675 inhabitants and measures just 171 square miles, then went undefeated in the third round and edged out Jamaica by a point. Their achievement was celebrated wildly and caught the attention of the wider football world.
“It was my best experience in my football career,” said Bacuna earlier this week as he looked ahead to the World Cup warm-up friendly against Scotland at Hampden next Saturday. “It is one of the biggest stages in football, but we got there with the smallest country ever.
“No one believed we could do it, but we proved everyone wrong. We showed that we have got heart and we have got belief. My belief was there from the first moment that I joined the national team. We had God with us and that's how we made it.
“We didn't make it four years ago. We lost the last second round game. But we worked hard and the team got better and better. We got more players in and we got stronger and stronger. So the belief was super high going into this campaign. When I saw our group, I just knew this was our time and we were going to make it. But everyone believed.”
He added, “We are all excited going to the World Cup. But the guys are also focused. We don’t just want us to go there just to be there. We want to show the best of ourselves. If we lose, we lose, it's football. But our mindset will be that we're not going to lose, that we're going to try to do something.
“It's going to be tough of course. The teams we are playing have big name players so we will need to be at our best. We will need to prepare well, be fully focused and play our best. But it's a game of 90 minutes, it is 11 v 11, the ball is round, anything can happen.”
The majority of the players who represent Curacao - which only became a country in its own right in 2010 when the Netherlands Antilles, which also consisted of the islands of Saba, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten, Aruba and Bonaire, was dissolved – hail from the Netherlands.
Bacuna and his older brother and team mate Leandro, the former Aston Villa, Reading, Cardiff City and Waford midfielder who now plays for Igdir in Turkey, were both born and brought up in the city of Groningen. However, they have strong family ties to their adopted homeland and are completely committed to the cause.
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“My mom and dad are both from Curaçao,” he said. “Leandro and I were born in the Netherlands, but we grew up like Curaçaoans, we didn't really grow up as a Dutch people.
“We spoke the language (Papiamentu) always, we socialised with other families from back home, we went over as often as we could. So Curaçao was always my number one country. I'm happy that I'm playing for them as a national team and that I can make the people proud over there.
“My parents were certainly super proud when we drew with Jamaica and qualified for the World Cup. The moment we did it they called my brother and I. They were so emotional. It was an unbelievable feeling for them to see both of their sons playing for the national team and to qualify.
“Playing with my brother is a big dream that we have had since we were young. It's incredible. We can read each other's minds, we know what we want from each other, we know the connection we've got, we know each other's quality, we know what we can ask from each other. We've both got that fighting spirit in us as well.”
Bacuna, who will play for Dutch club Volendam against Willem II in the second leg of the Eredivisie promotion/relegation play-off this evening, knows that Advocaat must take much of the credit for the unexpected success which Curacao have enjoyed.
He is delighted The Little General, who stood down back in February because his daughter was suffering from ill health, has returned and is going to become the oldest manager in World Cup history.
Otto Rehhagel was 71 when he was in charge of Greece at South Africa 2010 and the man who won the Scottish title twice, the Scottish Cup twice and the League Cup once during his three years in charge at Rangers will beat that record by seven years.
“The manager had a big role of course,” he said. “He's a big name, experienced manager who has done a lot in his career. He came in with a big personality. One thing he made clear to us straight away was that if we wanted to get to the World Cup, if we wanted to make it, we needed to play as a team.
“He told us we needed to play to get results, not just have fun, concede goals and win 5-4. He told us if we're winning 1-0 we're still winning. Now we play more controlled football with more structure. That has helped us as a team. He has had a big impact and has helped us a lot. He's a big figure for us.”
Bacuna was lured to Rangers from Huddersfield Town five years ago by another major figure in the world game, former Liverpool and England midfielder Gerrard. The prospect of playing under the Champions League winner proved to be an enticing one for him.
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He only played in 12 games in the 2021/22 campaign and moved on after just five months. But he featured in Europa League matches against Sparta Prague, Brondby and Lyon, relished the experience and has no regrets about the move.
“I enjoyed Rangers,” he said. “I liked the fans, I liked the club, I liked the people and I'm thankful I was given the chance to play there. Unfortunately, it didn't go as we had planned, but that's part of football. I made a decision to take a step back, to go back to the championship and to play games.
“I came when Steven Gerrard was their manager. I needed some time to get fit and once I had got fit he left. That was a bit unfortunate. Then a new manager [Giovanni van Bonckhorst] came in and I didn't really get my chance to play under him. But, like I said, it's part of football. Maybe it wasn't planned for me to play there.
“But overall I had a good time at Rangers. I got on well with the sporting director, with everyone at the club and with the fans. I certainly appreciated the help that everyone there gave me. But as a footballer you want to play more regularly.
“But I did enjoy my half season there. Scottish football was fast and physical. I would compare it with the Championship in England. There are a lot of long balls, a lot of duels. It's a good competition for players to grow and develop. You always have to be at your best.
“I definitely enjoyed working with Gerrard. He was a great coach and I liked his game plan, his strategy, the confidence he gave to the players, his ability to bring the best out of everyone. He did a great job at Rangers in my opinion. When I left I still followed them and watched literally every single game.”
Bacuna is looking forward to returning to Glasgow next week and playing for Curacao, who lost 2-0 to China in Sydney and 5-1 to Australia in Melbourne back in March when Fred Rutten was their caretaker, in their penultimate match before their World Cup opener against four-time winners Germany in Houston.
“It's going to be nice to be back,” he said. “I haven't been there for a long time now. I'm excited because Scotland have a very good team. It's going to be very nice preparation for us. It will show if we can compete with a bigger country than we are used to playing.
“We will go out there, try to play our own game, make sure we get the best out of everyone in the squad and try to get as fit as possible so when we go to the World Cup that we are ready.”
Scotland, who lost their March matches against Japan at Hampden and the Ivory Coast at the Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool by narrow 1-0 scorelines, will be eager to record a morale-boosting victory.
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So what can they expect from Curacao? Could the visitors spoil the send-off party? Bucuna is hopeful the international minnows can silence the Tartan Army and raise their own confidence levels.
Asked who Steve Clarke and his men would need to be wary of, he said, “I would say all 26 players! Look out for everyone! Seriously, though, we've got a lot of talented players in our team.
“Our goalkeeper Eloy Room of Miami is a strong goalkeeper. He's done a great job in his career. In the defence, we've got Roshon van Eijma, Sherel Floranus, Shurandy Sambo and Arrmando Obispo. They are all playing regularly for their clubs in the Netherlands and are strong as well. They know their job.
“In midfield, there is obviously my brother and I. But the other midfielder, Livano Comenencia of Zurich, is a young, hungry player. We've got a lot of technical players.
“On the wings, Kenji Gorre of Maccabi Haifa and Sontje Hansen of Middlesbrough are excellent. But, as I say, we've got a lot of good guys. Everyone can play, everyone will do their job, everyone is dangerous in their way.”
Bacuna is feeling good personally. He moved from Gaziantep in Turkey to Volendam in the Netherlands in February in order to get regular football ahead of the World Cup and has since been involved in a win over PSV Eindhoven and a draw with Feyenoord.
“We've gone through ups and downs,” he said. “I joined halfway through the season and the team was struggling. But we're doing our best and hopefully we can win this weekend and stay in the league. It's been good to be playing games and getting myself fit for the summer.
“I came here with a mission - to help the team to avoid getting relegated and to get ready for the World Cup. I need to be at my very best and hopefully I will be.”
Debutants Curacao will find it tough to compete against the best nations on the planet at the World Cup, but it will certainly be a lot of fun seeing how Juninho Bacuna and his countrymen, with a little help from old warhorse Dick Advocaat, fare in the United States.
