{"id":736861,"date":"2026-06-14T22:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T22:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/736861\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T22:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T22:40:09","slug":"germany-hit-curacao-for-seven-to-open-their-world-cup-world-cup-2026-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/736861\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany hit Curacao for seven to open their World Cup | World Cup 2026 News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"World<\/a><\/p>\n

Four-time winners Germany thrash World Cup debutants Curacao 7-1 in their first group game on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Published On 14 Jun 202614 Jun 2026<\/p>\n

Germany won their first opening match at a World Cup since lifting the trophy in 2014 as they eased to a 7-1 win against debutants Curacao in their opening Group E match in Houston, Texas in the United States.<\/p>\n

The Germans will face stiffer tests against group rivals Ecuador and Ivory Coast, but Sunday\u2019s win against the tiny Caribbean nation puts them in a good position to progress to the knockout stages for the first time since 2014.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

An early German goal by Felix Nmecha was cancelled out by a deflected strike from Livano Comenencia, which had the Curacao fans, known as the Blue Wave, out of their seats in Houston.<\/p>\n

However, Nico Schlotterbeck, Kai Havertz with a double, Jamal Musiala, Nathaniel Brown and Deniz Undav scored to put to bed any possibility of one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history.<\/p>\n

Germany settled early, Nmecha scoring a beauty in the sixth minute, receiving the ball from Florian Wirtz and curling it around a Curacao defender and past goalkeeper Eloy Room.<\/p>\n

The goal had coach Julian Nagelsmann letting out a huge roar.<\/p>\n

Nmecha, who like Musiala played for England at junior level before choosing Germany, went close minutes later with a rasping effort from outside the box.<\/p>\n

German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who at 40 is the oldest German player ever to appear at a World Cup and is playing in his fifth global tournament, had had little to do until Comenencia struck with a shot that took a deflection.<\/p>\n

While Germany\u2019s senior player shook his head ruefully, the oldest coach to ever appear at the finals, 78-year-old Dick Advocaat, was up out of his seat with his arms raised.<\/p>\n

The drinks break allowed the Germans to regroup.<\/p>\n

Soon after the restart, Schlotterbeck\u2019s header was brilliantly turned over the bar by Room.<\/p>\n

The four-time world champions huffed and puffed around the Curacao goal, but time and again, desperate defending frustrated the Germans.<\/p>\n

However, the Curacao defence cracked in the 38th minute when an unmarked Schlotterbeck headed home from a corner for his first goal for his country.<\/p>\n

The Germans went into the break with a two-goal advantage as Havertz stroked home a penalty after Nmecha had been brought down by Riechedly Bazoer.<\/p>\n

Germany struck 69 seconds into the second half, with Musiala running on to Joshua Kimmich\u2019s pass and scoring from a tight angle.<\/p>\n

It should have been 5-1 just after the hour mark, but Leroy Sane sent his effort wide with only Room to beat.<\/p>\n

Where Sane came up short, Brown did not, as the fullback fired home just before the second hydration break.<\/p>\n

Substitute Undav made it six with his seventh goal in his last seven international appearances.<\/p>\n

Havertz rounded it off with his 24th goal for Germany to replicate the same scoreline they famously recorded against hosts Brazil in the 2014 semifinals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four-time winners Germany thrash World Cup debutants Curacao 7-1 in their first group game on Sunday. Published On…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":736862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2057,596,5717,43,44,588,41,39,42,40,1055,6075,124617],"class_list":["post-736861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-europe","tag-football","tag-germany","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-sport","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=736861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=736861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=736861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}