Full Time
Germany put seven past World Cup debutants Curaçao to open their 2026 campaign in emphatic fashion, winning 7-1 on June 14. Lukas Nmecha got Germany going in the 6th minute, before Curaçao — playing in their first ever World Cup match, which deserves a moment — pulled one back through Comenecia on 21. It didn't last: Schlotterbeck, a Havertz penalty, a Musiala strike, a Brown own goal, another Undav effort, and a second Havertz late on made it a very long afternoon for the Caribbean side. Germany top Group E; Curaçao have a mountain to climb, but they're here, and that alone is something.
Pre-match Talking Points
-
1Germany are among the favourites to win the whole tournament, and this is their opening match — against a nation of fewer than 160,000 people making their World Cup debut. In football terms it's a bit like a Champions League giant opening against the village pub team, except Curaçao got here by going completely unbeaten in qualifying, which is more than can be said for most nations three times their size. Germany are expected to win; the question is by how much.
-
2Curaçao are officially the smallest nation — by both population and land area — ever to appear at a World Cup. Iceland held that record going into 2018 with a population of 350,000. Curaçao have less than half that. Their coach is Dick Advocaat, a 79-year-old veteran who has managed Rangers, PSV, and the Russian national team. This is, by some distance, the most improbable tournament of his long career.
-
3The player to watch for Germany is Florian Wirtz, who completed a move worth around £100 million to Liverpool last summer and was voted German Footballer of the Year in 2025. He's 22, plays as an attacking midfielder, and has the kind of close control that makes opponents look like they're running in mud. Alongside him is Jamal Musiala, who returned this season from a broken leg and — even at what Nagelsmann calls '95 percent fitness' — is one of the best players in world football. Germany have a frighteningly good midfield.
-
4Manuel Neuer is back in goal for Germany, which is either remarkable or slightly alarming depending on your stance on 40-year-old goalkeepers. He's been nursing a minor calf issue but is expected to start. Germany went into the tournament having won all four of their 2026 warm-up matches, including a 4-0 dismantling of Finland and a 2-1 win over the United States. The Opta supercomputer gives them a 96.4% chance of qualifying from this group.
-
5The real story here is Curaçao, not Germany. Their midfield is run by actual brothers: Leandro and Juninho Bacuna, who also both happen to be ex-Premier League players. If Curaçao can keep the score respectable — or, in the wildest possible outcome, nick something — it would be one of the stories of the tournament. If Germany hammer them, as expected, Curaçao still go home having made history. For a tiny Caribbean island, just being here is the point.
Team Talking Points
-
1Germany's World Cup ended in the Round of 32, and it was arguably the biggest shock of the entire tournament: a 1-1 draw with Paraguay, ranked 41st in the world to Germany's 10th, before Paraguay won 4-3 on penalties. It's the first time in World Cup history Germany have lost a shootout.
-
2Kai Havertz equalised early in the second half after Paraguay had led at the break through Julio Enciso — for a while it looked like normal service. Then Havertz, Jonathan Tah and Nick Woltemade all missed in the shootout, and Paraguay's goalkeeper made the saves that mattered.
-
3There was also a Jonathan Tah goal ruled out by VAR in extra time, which will get replayed in Germany for a while as the moment that might have changed everything — though Paraguay deserved plenty of credit regardless of that call.
-
4Group stage-wise, Germany had looked fine: a 7-1 win over Curaçao and a 2-1 win over Ivory Coast, before a loss to Ecuador in their final game — with qualification already sewn up — turned out to foreshadow the bigger upset to come.
-
5Four-time champions going out in the Round of 32 to the 41st-ranked team in the world is the kind of result German football will be picking over for years. For everyone else, it's a reminder that World Cups are unusually good at humbling the favourites — no team, however decorated, gets to skip that lesson forever.
🍺
Top thing to say down the pub
Germany lost their first ever World Cup penalty shootout — to Paraguay, ranked 41st in the world, in the Round of 32. Four-time champions. Genuinely one of the biggest shocks in the tournament's history.
🚫
Avoid saying
"Germany always find a way in the end" — not this time. They lost on penalties to a team ranked 31 places below them, and it wasn't some fluke smash-and-grab — Paraguay were the better side on the day. Read the room.
-
1Curaçao's first ever World Cup ended in the group stage, as expected, but the story was never really about winning it — this is a nation of about 156,000 people, smaller than Iceland was when they famously qualified in 2018, and they were there at all.
-
2Their signature moment was a 0-0 draw with Ecuador, secured almost single-handedly by 37-year-old goalkeeper Eloy Room, who made a stack of saves to hold out for Curaçao's first ever World Cup point. Ecuador went on to beat Germany in their next game, which tells you how good that Curaçao defensive display actually was.
-
3The low point, scoreline-wise, was a 7-1 opening defeat to Germany — but even that had a silver lining. Manager Dick Advocaat, 78 years old and a fixture of Dutch football for decades, said afterwards he was moved to see people back home still celebrating in the streets, 7-1 loss and all.
-
4Curaçao's tournament ended with a 2-0 defeat to Ivory Coast, finishing bottom of a group that also contained Germany and Ecuador — a tough draw for a debutant by any measure.
-
5Nobody expects Curaçao back at a World Cup any time soon — qualifying at all was closer to a miracle than a trend. But they've now got the record for smallest nation ever to play at one, and a night when the whole island partied after a 7-1 loss because they were finally there. That's worth more than three points.
🍺
Top thing to say down the pub
Curaçao is smaller than Iceland was when they made a World Cup — and their goalkeeper nearly held Ecuador, who then went and beat Germany, to nothing. Not bad for a country of 156,000 people.
🚫
Avoid saying
"Who?" — don't. This is the smallest nation ever to qualify for a World Cup, and their fans partied in the streets after losing 7-1. Show some respect.