Germany crush debutants Curacao in opening game of Group E

Germany on Sunday crushed debutants Curacao 7-1 in their Group E match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup at Houston Stadium in the US.

The National Eleven secured an early lead with Felix Nmecha playing off of Florian Wirtz and finessing it into the far corner in the sixth minute.

A surprise equalizer came from Curacao’s Livano Comenencia in the 21st minute, his country’s first World Cup goal, and the Caribbean islanders at the stadium went wild.

It took Germany 17 minutes to retake the lead, with Nico Schlotterbeck making a run across the six-yard line to tap Nathaniel Brown’s corner into the net in the 38th minute.

As the first half was ending, Kai Havertz converted a penalty awarded to Felix Nmecha for an intervention on the ankle at the 45+5th minute.

The second half started strong for Germany, as Joshua Kimmich passed the ball into the box on the path of Jamal Musiala’s run, who scored his team’s fourth goal in the 47th minute.

After a relative lull with occasional Curacao attempts that did not find their mark, Germany’s Nathaniel Brown delivered a class volley into the far corner in the 68th minute to score the fifth goal.

Germany kept on pressing for its advantage, carving through the Curacao defense as Deniz Undav stepped up to score his team’s sixth goal in the 78th minute, for a historic five-goal lead over the debutants.

As the game came to a close, Havertz’s deep run through the Curacao defense split them open and resulted in Germany’s seventh goal in the 88th minute.

Germany are placed at the top of Group E while Curacao, suffering a historic defeat, sank to the bottom.