- Curacao equalizes via Comenencia’s historic first World Cup goal.
- Kai Havertz netted twice in the dominant attack in Germany.
- Jamal Musiala, teammates increase the lead in the second half.
Germany kicked off their World Cup campaign with a thumping 7-1 win over debutants Curacao on Sunday in a game where history was made on several fronts and the one-sided result could not overshadow the occasion for the island nation.
Germany’s Felix Nmecha scored the fastest goal of the tournament so far after six minutes and Nico Schlotterbeck, Kai Havertz (two), Jamal Musiala, Nathaniel Brown and Deniz Undav also scored in an easy outing for Julian Nagelsmann’s side.
But the biggest cheer from the 68,021 crowd came for Livano Comenencia’s 21st-minute equalizer for Curacao to score their first goal at a World Cup as they became the smallest nation by population size and area to play at the global finals.
Curacao’s big support enjoyed their historic day under Dick Advocaat, who became the oldest coach in World Cup history at the age of 78, and cheered to the finish on an occasion most might have thought would never come.
“We expected to do more against Germany but they were too strong,” Advocaat said. “We conceded three easy goals and 4-1 would have been a better score.
“Despite this 7-1 result, the joy of the fans is amazing. This is not a disgrace, we can still be proud. We still have two games left and they could have ended differently.
“The players will not be down, it was still great to play in this game.”
Recalled goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is also now the oldest player to play for Germany at a major tournament at the age of 40, beating former record holder Lothar Matthaeus.
“It took us a few minutes to get back into the game after they equalised,” Nagelsmann said. “Curacao can also play football as we saw and I am curious to see how they will do in the group going forward.
“I’m very happy with the seven goals we scored and our performance for the most part. A winning start is always important and we’re glad we did it.”
Cold comfort for Curacao
Curacao can take cold comfort from the fact that the scoreline in their Group E opener matched Germany’s 7-1 win over hosts Brazil in the 2014 semi-finals and that the four-time World Cup winners on their day can be unstoppable.
This wasn’t quite up to that level, but the Germans were still largely clinical, controlled possession and created chances at will to send a message to rivals at this World Cup that they should be in the conversation around potential winners.
Curacao is known as The Blue Wave, but instead it was wave after wave of white shirts that confronted them from the start.
Parity lasted six minutes before Germany’s quick pass on the edge of the box created a scoring chance for Nmecha, but the second goal was scored by Curacao as the plan to hit their opponents on the break worked.
Comenencia’s shot from 15 yards took a deflection that lifted the ball past Neuer.
However, Germany were back in front after 38 minutes with a single glancing header from Schlotterbeck, and from there it turned into a procession.
Germany won a penalty which Havertz converted before Musiala extended the lead early in the second period, leaving Brown, Undav and Havertz, with his second goal, to complete the run.
