Germany overcame the opening match with a 7-1 win over Curaçao on Sunday (14 June 2026) at NRG Stadium in Houston in the Group E of the North American World Cup.
Felix Nemisha opened the scoring in the sixth minute, then Leviano Komenensa equalized for Curaçao in the 26th minute. Then for the Germans, Nico Schlotterbeek, Kai Havertz, Jamal Musiala and Nathaniel Brown and substitute Deniz Ondaf scored.
In their 21st World Cup appearance as the most European team to play in the finals, and the second most overall after Brazil (23), the German team managed to win its opening match after failing to do so in the previous two editions in Qatar 2022 and Russia 2018.
Germany repeated their famous historic 7-1 victory over Brazil by sweeping Curaçao, a participant in the FIFA World Cup for the first time, by the same score in the first round of the group stage of the 2026 tournament held in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
The German national team did not mercy its opponent's weakness to achieve a historic victory, while the Curaçao national team was content to enter history by scoring the first goals, and the German team greatly ensured qualification for the second round thanks to this wide victory.
For the same group , Ivory Coast secured a late 1-0 win over Ecuador on Monday in Philadelphia in Group F. Substitute striker Amad Diallo scored the winning goal in the 90th minute.
The Netherlands and Japan face off in the 2026 World Cup
The Netherlands and Japan drew with two goals each in the opening Group F matches of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The Dutch national team took the lead with its first goal through Virgil van Dijk in the 50th minute, before Keito Nakamura equalized for Japan in the 57th minute, while Crescencio Sammervel put the Netherlands back in front with a second goal in the 64th minute, and one minute before the end of the match, the Japanese team succeeded in equalizing through substitute Daichi Kamada in the 89th minute.
With this result, the Dutch and Japanese teams will get a point in their balance in the group, which includes Tunisia and Sweden, who will meet later in the second match of the group.
Netherlands equals Brazil's all-time record at World Cup
Despite losing two points in the final moments to Japan, the "Millers" came out with a historic win after extending their unbeaten streak at the World Cup to 13 matches, equalling the record set by Brazil between 1966 and 1978.
This achievement confirms the stability of the Dutch team in its recent World Cup participation, as it succeeded in maintaining its unbeaten record over more than one edition of the tournament, placing its name next to the Brazilian national team in the list of the most undefeated teams in the history of the World Cup.
The list of the longest unbeaten streaks in the tournament includes long-standing teams, now led by the Netherlands and Brazil with 13 consecutive matches, followed by Italy with 12 matches, then Brazil, Germany and Uruguay with 11 matches in different periods of the tournament's history.
The Netherlands are scheduled to face Sweden on June 20th, while Japan will meet Tunisia at dawn on June 21st, in two matches that could significantly determine the features of the competition within the group.
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