Four-time World Cup champion Germany and newcomer Curacao sit at opposite ends of the global soccer spectrum.<\/p>\n
In June they will be facing each other in Group E, which also includes Ivory Coast and Ecuador.<\/p>\n
Germany will be under pressure not to fall at the first hurdle again after failing to advance from the group stage in back-to-back tournaments since winning the World Cup in 2014.<\/p>\n
Germany <\/p>\n
Liverpool playmaker Florian Wirtz is at the heart of everything Germany does under coach Julian Nagelsmann. At 6-foot-6 (1.98 meters) striker Nick Woltemade is hard for defenses to handle. Meanwhile, 18-year-old midfielder Lennart Karl could be the tournament\u2019s breakout star.<\/p>\n
Still, conceding three goals in a 4-3 friendly win over Switzerland in March revived concerns over Germany\u2019s defensive robustness and doubts over Nagelsmann\u2019s insistence on using Real Madrid center back Antonio R\u00fcdiger as a bench player. Germany hasn\u2019t faced top-level opponents since losses to France and Portugal last year. There isn\u2019t a reliable goalkeeping successor to Manuel Neuer, either.<\/p>\n
Defender Nathaniel Brown adds an American connection. He was eligible for the United States but chose Germany, his birthplace, instead.<\/p>\n
Curacao<\/p>\n
With a population of about 156,000, Curacao is the smallest nation ever to qualify for the World Cup. An opening game against the mighty Germany will be a daunting introduction. <\/p>\n
Its preparations have not gone to plan after veteran Dutch coach Dick Advocaat quit in February due to his daughter\u2019s health issues.<\/p>\n
He was replaced by Fred Rutten, a former coach at FC Twente, PSV and Feyenoord in the Netherlands and Schalke 04 in Germany.<\/p>\n
Curacao, a Caribbean island country which for centuries was under Dutch colonial rule, relies heavily on players born and raised in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n
Ivory Coast<\/p>\n
The Ivory Coast is back at the World Cup for the first time since 2014 and long after the retirement of national icons Didier Drogba and Yaya Toure.<\/p>\n
It has been a long wait for the Ivorians, having struggled without its golden generation of star players.<\/p>\n
Now a new generation has emerged, winning the African Cup of Nations in 2024 and securing a return to the World Cup by qualifying top of its group.<\/p>\n
Ivory Coast has made three previous appearances at the World Cup, but has never advanced beyond the group stage. <\/p>\n
Coach Emerse Fae was appointed midway through the 2024 AFCON and went on to lead his nation to the trophy.<\/p>\n
Manchester United forward Amad Diallo is one of the stars of the new generation.<\/p>\n
Ecuador <\/p>\n
Moises Caicedo became the most expensive player in the history of British soccer when joining Chelsea from Brighton for $146 million in 2023. <\/p>\n
The midfielder will be key to Ecuador\u2019s hopes of advancing beyond the group stage for the first time in 20 years and only the second time in its history. <\/p>\n
It qualified in second place behind defending champion Argentina, despite starting the campaign with a three-point deduction for a false document being used to get a passport for a player during qualifying for the 2022 World Cup.<\/p>\n
Forward Enner Valencia was Ecuador\u2019s top scorer in qualifying, with six of his country\u2019s 14 goals.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
James Robson is at https:\/\/x.com\/jamesalanrobson<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP World Cup coverage: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/fifa-world-cup<\/p>\n
James Robson, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four-time World Cup champion Germany and newcomer Curacao sit at opposite ends of the global soccer spectrum. In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603389,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-603388","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-soccer","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}