Havertz shines as Germany defeat Curacao 7-1 in World Cup opener
Germany earned a comfortable 7-1 victory over debutants Curacao in their 2026 World Cup opener on Sunday at the Houston Stadium.
The four-time winners stormed to an early lead in the sixth minute with a powerful curling effort from Felix Nmecha.
Livano Comenencia equalised for Curacao in the 21st minute with a left-footed drive from the edge of the box which deflected past Germany keeper Manuel Neuer.
Nico Schlotterbeck quickly restored Germany’s lead with a well placed header in the 38th minute before Kai Havertz made it 3-1 from the penalty spot on the stroke of halftime.
Two minutes after the restart, Jamal Musiala added the fourth goal for Germany from a Kimmich pass.
Brown and Undav scored the fifth and sixth goals respectively before Kai Havertz rounded off the victory with a clinical finish in the 88th minute to make it 7-1.
It was a harsh introduction to football’s biggest stage for Curacao, who are the smallest nation ever, by size and population, to take part in a World Cup.
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The victory moved Germany past Brazil as the World Cup’s leading scorers with 239 goals.
Curacao were the first debutants in 72 years to lose by six goals in their first match, following South Korea’s 9-0 defeat by Hungary.
Curacao coach, Dick Advocaat was proud of his team’s performance despite the heavy defeat.
He said: “We expected to do more, but they were too strong. We conceded three easy goals and 4-1 would have been a better score.
“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 players will not be downcast, it was still great to play in this game.”
Germany will be back in action against Ivory Coast on Saturday while Curacao will take on Ecuador on Sunday.
Top Stats From Germany vs Curacao Match
Only five FIFA World Cup matches this century have seen a team score 7+ goals, while three of those five have been by 🇩🇪 Germany:
8-0 v Saudi Arabia (2002)
7-1 v Brazil (2014)
7-1 v Curaçao (2026)
2 – Borussia Dortmund teammates to score for the same team in a FIFA World Cup match:
2026 – 🇩🇪 Nmecha & Schlotterback v Curaçao
2006 – 🇨🇿 Koller & Rosický v USA
40 – Aged 40 years and 79 days, Manuel Neuer today becomes Germany’s oldest ever appearance maker at a major tournament (World Cup/EUROs), surpassing Lothar Matthäus who was 39 years and 91 days old against Portugal in the group stage of EURO 2000.
Germany are now the ALL TIME TOP SCORERS at the World Cup, moving ahead of Brazil by one goal:
â—‰ 239 – Germany
â—Ž 238 – Brazil
Germany have won their opening World Cup game for the first time since 2014.
They have also scored 5+ goals in a World Cup game for the first time since the famous 7-1 vs Brazil, also in 2014.
