Historic goal by Comenencia 

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HOUSTON — “By watching their games,” Julian Nagelsmann said the day before Germany faced off against Curaçao when asked how his country would prepare against a relatively unknown opponent. It certainly was a David against Goliath clash in front of 68,021 spectators at Houston Stadium. With a population of just 158,000, the island nation is the smallest ever to take part in a World Cup. The size gap showed as Germany smashed Curaçao 7-1. The result means that Germany have now overtaken Brazil as the top goalscoring country in the World Cup all-time league table for the first time since Germany’s 7-1 win over Brazil at the 2014 World Cup.

Although Germany struggled at the last two tournaments, they are still a giant of the game, having won the tournament four times, only one fewer than record champions Brazil. In terms of squad value, there is also a massive gulf between those two countries. While Germany ranks fifth among participating countries with an overall squad value of €947m, Curaçao are fourth from bottom with a squad value of just €25.78m. For a moment, it also felt like Curaçao could perhaps cause the biggest upset at the World Cup yet. After Germany took the lead in the sixth minute thanks to a beautiful finish by Felix Nmecha, Curaçao equalized from a counter situation, with Livano Comenencia (21’) beating goalkeeper Manuel Neuer with a clinical finish to score his country’s first-ever World Cup goal.

“We will have to watch the game back,” Kai Havertz said when asked about conceding. “It got a bit too chaotic for ten minutes. But we fought through it, and that shows that we have grown as a team. It is seldom that anyone plays a perfect game.” Perhaps the goal against was what Germany needed, though. Turning it up a notch, Germany responded quickly with Nico Schlotterbeck (39’) scoring just before Havertz (45+5’) scored from the spot after Nmecha was brought down in the box. Germany kept adding to the score: Jamal Musiala (46’), Nathaniel Brown (68’), Deniz Undav (78’) and Havertz again (88’) scored in the second half.

Six different goalscorers – Germany dismantle Curaçao

Six different goal scorers underlined the quality in this team. “We have an incredible quality in the team,” Brown said. “Not just the players who played but also those on the bench. Everyone can score. It’s one of our biggest strengths of our team.” It is the biggest win by some margin of the World Cup thus far. It is also Germany’s biggest win at the World Cup since they beat Brazil 7-1 in the semifinals of the 2014 World Cup. For Germany, it is also the biggest win to open a tournament since their 8-0 victory over Saudi Arabia at the 2002 World Cup. In that tournament, Germany also entered as an underdog and would later reach the final, losing to Brazil.

Given that Germany lost the last two opening games, the fixture against Curaçao was very much about laying the foundation for a long run at this summer’s tournament. “It was important to just score goals,” Brown said. “We wanted to capture our entire nation. I don’t want to downplay Curaçao. We know better opponents will come. Still, you have to score seven goals, and we did that today.” While this is Brown’s first tournament, Manuel Neuer started his fifth tournament. And Neuer agreed that this game was important to gain confidence. “It gives us confidence,” Neuer said. “Confidence in ourselves and the whole team. A bit of relief that we are now in the tournament, the way we played. The most important thing is that we are comfortable on the field. To be in the tournament and to have started like that gives you confidence and calmness.”