Over the past few weeks, more than half the world’s population has tuned in to the FIFA World Cup, the most watched sporting event on earth. For a few weeks every four years, people from every country set aside their differences and celebrate something they all share. What draws me in is how unpredictable it is – a team favoured to win can dominate one match and lose the next to a clear underdog.

This past week gave us a good example. A match between Curaçao and Ecuador ended 0-0, a draw. The newspaper headlines called it a miracle. I don’t know much about the technical side of football, so my reaction was: How could a match where neither team scored any points be of any importance? It turns out the final score tells only a fraction of the story.

Early in the tournament, a draw doesn’t equal a loss. It actually means that both teams can move a step closer to the next round. With a population of about 158,000, Curaçao is the smallest nation ever to compete in a World Cup. For them, going up against the heavily-favoured South American country, the zero-zero draw was just as good as a win.