Germany gamers applaud followers after match, Houston Stadium, Houston, Texas, US, June 14, 2026. — ReutersCuracao equalise through Comenencia historic first World Cup objective.Kai Havertz nets twice in dominant Germany attacking show.Jamal Musiala, teammates lengthen lead in second-half surge.
Germany started their World Cup marketing campaign with a thumping 7-1 victory over debutants Curacao on Sunday in a match the place historical past was made on a number of fronts and the one-sided consequence couldn’t overshadow the event for the island nation.
Germany’s Felix Nmecha scored the quickest objective of the event thus far after six minutes and Nico Schlotterbeck, Kai Havertz (two), Jamal Musiala, Nathaniel Brown and Deniz Undav additionally netted in a straightforward outing for Julian Nagelsmann’s aspect.
However the largest cheer from the 68,021 crowd got here for Livano Comenencia’s Twenty first-minute equaliser for Curacao to attain their first objective at a World Cup as they grew to become the smallest nation by inhabitants dimension and space to play on the world finals.
Curacao’s sizeable help loved their historic day trip below Dick Advocaat, who grew to become the oldest coach in World Cup historical past on the age of 78, and cheered to the tip on an event maybe most believed would by no means come.
“We expected to do more against Germany, but they were too strong,” Advocaat stated. “We conceded three simple targets and 4-1 would have been a greater rating.
Curacao gamers look dejected after match, Houston Stadium, Houston, Texas, US, June 14, 2026. — Reuters
“Despite this 7-1 outcome, the joy of the fans is fantastic. This is not a disgrace, we can still be proud. We still have two games to go and those could end differently.
“The gamers is not going to be downcast, it was nonetheless nice to play on this recreation.”
Recalled goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is now also the oldest player to feature for Germany at a major tournament aged 40, beating the previous record holder Lothar Matthaeus.
“It took us a couple of minutes to get again into the sport after they equalised,” Nagelsmann said. “Curacao can play soccer too, as we noticed, and I’m curious to see how they’ll fare within the group going ahead.
“I’m very satisfied with us scoring seven goals and our performance for the most part. A winning start is always important and we’re glad we managed it.”
Chilly consolation for Curacao
Curacao can take some chilly consolation from the truth that the scoreline of their Group E opener matched Germany’s 7-1 win over hosts Brazil within the 2014 semi-finals and that on their day the four-times World Cup winners will be unstoppable.
This was not fairly at that stage, however the Germans had been nonetheless largely medical, managed possession and created probabilities at will to ship a message to rivals at this World Cup that they need to be within the dialog round potential winners.
Germany’s Kai Havertz scores seventh objective previous Curacao’s Eloy Room, Houston Stadium, Houston, Texas, US, June 14, 2026. — Reuters
Curacao are generally known as The Blue Wave however as a substitute it was wave after wave of white shirts that confronted them from the beginning.
Parity lasted six minutes earlier than Germany’s fast passing on the sting of the field created a scoring probability for Nmecha, however the second objective was scored by Curacao because the plan to hit their opponents on the break labored.
Comenencia’s shot from 15 metres took a deflection that lifted the ball previous Neuer.
Germany had been again in entrance after 38 minutes, although, with a easy glancing header by Schlotterbeck and from there it grew to become a procession.
Germany gained a penalty that Havertz transformed earlier than Musiala prolonged the lead early within the second interval leaving Brown, Undav and Havertz, along with his second objective, to finish the rout.
