World Cup debutants Curacao made history by scoring their first-ever goal at the tournament, but they suffered a heavy 7-1 defeat to Germany in their opening Group E match in Houston.

Germany, four-time world champions, started strongly and took the lead after just six minutes through Felix Nmecha. The midfielder curled a powerful shot into the net to score the fastest goal of the tournament so far.

Curacao, the smallest nation ever to compete at a World Cup, responded brilliantly. Zurich midfielder Livano Comenencia became a national hero when he scored the country’s first World Cup goal in the 21st minute. His shot from outside the box took a deflection and beat veteran goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

The goal sparked celebrations among Curacao supporters and marked a historic moment for the Caribbean nation of around 155,000 people.

Curacao briefly threatened another surprise when striker Jurgen Locadia appealed for a penalty, but the referee waved play on.

Germany soon regained control. Defender Nico Schlotterbeck restored their lead with a header from Nathaniel Brown’s corner before Kai Havertz converted a penalty in first-half stoppage time after Felix Nmecha was brought down in the box.

Leading 3-1 at the break, Germany stepped up their performance in the second half.

Just over a minute after the restart, Jamal Musiala scored from a Joshua Kimmich pass to make it 4-1. Brown then added a fifth with a fine volley before substitute Deniz Undav got on the scoresheet for Germany’s sixth goal.

Havertz completed his brace two minutes from time with a delicate finish over Curacao goalkeeper Eloy Room after another assist from Undav.

Six different German players found the net as Julian Nagelsmann’s side began their World Cup campaign in impressive fashion.

Although the result was a painful one for Curacao, the night will always be remembered for Comenencia’s historic strike, which gave the island nation its first World Cup goal and a special place in football history.

With a population of just 150,000, Curacao has smashed Iceland’s record as the country with the fewest inhabitants (350,000) to reach a World Cup.  Curacao covers an area of ​​roughly 440 square kilometers (171 square miles), making it about six times smaller than Rhode Island, the smallest US state.

Curacao is best known for its beaches and diving spots as well as a liqueur named after it. Baseball, not football, is the top sport on the island, which has sent around 15 players to the Major Leagues in the United States. Probably their most famous is Andruw Jones, who after spending 17 seasons in the majors was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York this year.

“Football used to be much bigger here. From the 1960s through the 80s, everyone watched it,” Curacao sports reporter Carl Ruiter told DW.

Ten teams compete in Curacao’s top football league, the Prome Divishon. A domestic cup competition was established last year.

Undefeated in qualifying

World Cup qualifying gave football on the island a major boost. The stadiums were packed for the final home games.

“It’s a sign that the whole nation was truly invested — desperate to reach the World Cup and eager to support our national team,” Ruiter said.

The World Cup’s expansion to 48 teams clearly made it much easier for footballing minnows like Curacao to qualify, but still, their campaign was remarkable as the team went unbeaten throughout.

They went into their final match in Jamaica needing just a draw to qualify. With the score level at 0-0 in stoppage time though, Jamaica were awarded a penalty. However, to the team’s and fan’s relief, the decision was over turned after a VAR review and Curacao were through. After the final whistle, the players shed tears of joy.

“We made the impossible possible,” striker Kenji Gorre shouted into the cameras. “I’m at a loss for words. A dream is coming true.”

Euphoria on the island

“I was in Kingston for the match,” Ruiter said. “We didn’t sleep.”

Back home, fans danced the night away, complete with fireworks and a parade of cars. The team was welcomed by fans the following day.

“World Cup qualifying has really united our country,” he said.

People are clearly proud of the national team and players like captain Leandro Bacuna have become role models for youngsters who now want to play football themselves.

Most players from the Netherlands

But where does the success of the team ranked 82nd in the FIFA world rankings come from? In fact, the national team has only existed since 2011. This is linked to the country’s history, as Curacao was once a Dutch colony. In 1954, it became a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands — alongside Aruba and Bonaire — as part of the Netherlands Antilles, complete with its own football team. In 2010, Curacao gained autonomy, with its own government, parliament and, ultimately, football team.

In January 2024, veteran Dutch coach Dick Advocaat took charge of the team and recruited players from his homeland. This was possible because everyone from Curacao holds Dutch passports by default. However, to be eligible to represent the country, a player’s parents or grandparents must have been born on the island.

Midfielder Tahith Chong is one of the few players actually born in Curacao. Most of the others hail from the Netherlands; many were trained in Europe and play there as well. 

Connection to the fans

However, the players are not viewed as mercenaries with no ties to Curacao, Ruiten said.

“Many vacation here regularly and have family here. Most, if not all, speak the local language, Papiamento.”

Fans are now preparing to travel to the United States for the historic first match against their biggest opponent to date: Germany. Ecuador and Ivory Coast are the other teams in Group E. Members of the diaspora in the Netherlands and the United States are also expected to turn out to cheer on their team.

Coaching changes just before the World Cup

However, a hitch emerged just weeks before the World Cup, when Advocaat resigned after his daughter had become seriously ill. He was succeeded by Fred Rutten, also an internationally experienced Dutch coach. But the team lost its first two matches under Rutten.

In May though, with the health situation of Advocaat’s daughter having improved, he again became available. Rutten quickly announced his resignation.

“An atmosphere must not be allowed to develop that undermines healthy professional relationships within the team and the coaching staff,” he explained in a statement issued by the Curacao FA. Media reports suggest that players and sponsors had been clamoring to get Advocaat back.

Advocaat, 78, is now set to become the oldest person ever to coach at a men’s World Cup. That record was broken twice on the tournament’s opening day, first by Hugo Broos of South Africa, who is 74, then later by Czechia coach Miroslav Koubek, who is also 74 but a few months older.

“We have proven that we are difficult to beat,” Advocaat recently told the Reuters news agency.

“But the opponents in this group are of a different quality, of course. We know it will be very difficult, but nothing is impossible.”

This article was originally published in German. 

Remember the guy last month who suggested that Mark and Zygi Wilf could sell the Minnesota Vikings because the franchise did not spend big in free agency? He’s Pioneer Press’s Charley Walters, and after that theory was instantly and utterly debunked, Walters now believes Minnesota could trade quarterback J.J. McCarthy this summer.

All signs point to McCarthy remaining in Minnesota this season, but Walters isn’t buying it.

Vikings’ QB Takes Keep Getting Stranger

Walters: Vikings Could Trade McCarthy

Walters, no stranger to stirring the pot, got in his bag this weekend, writing about McCarthy and the Vikings’ quarterback situation, “It seems unlikely that Carson Wentz re-signed with the Vikings to be the third-string quarterback this season, or that Kyler Murray signed with the Vikings to be the second-string QB.”

“Curiously, a few weeks ago, during the rookie mini-camp, the Vikings brought in former Dallas-Baltimore QB Cooper Rush for a tryout. Remember, it was Rush who five years ago — subbing for injured Cowboys starter Dak Prescott in a Sunday night game in Minneapolis — passed for 325 yards and two second-half TDs to lead Dallas to a 20-16 victory.”

The Vikings often have veteran quarterbacks on speed dial — like Rush — with Desmond Ridder and John Wolford as examples in 2025.

“Depending on training camp performances, if the Vikings were to get a decent offer — say a third-round draft pick — for QB J.J. McCarthy, it wouldn’t be surprising if Minnesota starts the season with Murray, Wentz and perhaps Rush as its top three QBs,” Walters continued.

“Rush, now a free agent, played for $4 million for the Ravens last season.”

One Battle after Another

Walter always has something new and spicy to insert into his weekend column; the McCarthy trade proposition is merely the latest chapter.

He recently claimed the Wilfs could sell the team, as mentioned above, because after two years of heavy spending in 2024 and 2025, Minnesota put the clamps on the salary cap credit card, resetting the finances so that 2027 doesn’t look like a financial nightmare next March.

Walters also infamously claimed in September 2024 that the Vikings might move on from McCarthy six months after drafting him because Sam Darnold could blossom. Darnold later blossomed, and rather than keeping him around, the Vikings stayed loyal to McCarthy — to a fault — and did the opposite of Walters’ hot take.

Vikings Need QB Depth and Insurance

Would it be intriguing to explore a 3rd-Round pick for McCarthy’s services via trade if the club realized that Murray was its meal ticket for 2026 and beyond? Absolutely.

The problem? No one has a crystal ball, and Murray’s takeoff in Minnesota is not guaranteed. And even if Murray plays wonderfully under center, the fact remains that the man misses about one-quarter of all starts due to injury. If Murray gets hurt in 2026, the Vikings will need a Plan B. McCarthy, hungry to disprove the meme caricature of himself, is a fantastic Plan B, given his upside.

What’s more, two of the last three Vikings seasons have been gutted by quarterback injuries: 2023, when Kirk Cousins tore his Achilles tendon, and 2025, when McCarthy encountered a high ankle sprain, concussion, and a broken hand. Minnesota should not be in the business this summer of subtracting QB1 options; it has been hoarding them all offseason to avoid re-runs of the 2023 and 2025 campaigns.

Our Steve Hoikkala noted this week, “McCarthy has been polarizing, especially in Vikings fandom. Fans are choosing sides, and I just prefer to root for all of our players wearing purple.”

“Yes that means I can root for Kyler Murray a Vikings fan growing up like Carson Wentz getting to live out a dream as a kid playing quarterback for their favorite team while still rooting for a 23 year old kid in J.J. McCarthy who is a 1st Round Pick that has only played 10 games while showing ‘some’ upside and development to go with an injury riddled season that didn’t meet expectations as well in terms of production.”

Trading McCarthy Feels like a 2027 Talker

Of course, if the Vikings fire up a 2026 season similar to 2024 — finishing 14-3 and reaching the postseason — with Murray fully thriving in the offense, trading McCarthy in 2027 is a different story. By that time, he’d have one year left on his rookie contract, two if Minnesota or a different team opted into his expensive fifth-year option.

You should absolutely expect the McCarthy trade rumor mill to heat up in 2027 if Murray propels the Vikings to the playoffs and posts 25-40 touchdowns.

Until then, McCarthy-themed trade takes are just silly — unless he demands a ticket out of town. McCarthy requesting a trade would be a whole new ball of wax, but so far this summer, he has claimed that Minnesota is where he wants to be.

Vikings training camp is less than seven weeks away.

Dustin Baker is a novelist and political scientist. His second novel, The Invaders , is out now. So is … More about Dustin Baker

Now that the 2026 World Cup has started, the show of the games is hard to escape. Big stadiums, big screens, big food — this is America and there was no doubt about it in Houston. And Germany did their part by delivering a big scoreline.

The 7-1 win over Curacao was a little short of their highest World Cup win (8-0 against Saudi Arabia in 2002), but matching the famous scoreline of that 2014 World Cup semifinal is a boost to a side that has endured rather than enjoyed recent editions of this tournament.

After weeks of talk about the health of Manuel Neuer’s calf, the woes of Qatar and Russia, and Julian Nagelsmann’s communication, it was finally time for football.

In the cooled, closed stadium in Houston, Germany cut through the lines faster, found that extra touch sooner and just looked like a team ranked 72 places above their opponents.

“You’ve got to score seven goals first,” Nagelsmann said afterwards, praising his side for matching expectation.

Felix Nmecha impressed in midfield, busying himself all over the pitch. His smartly-taken opener after just five minutes set the tone for Germany. Jürgen Klopp had suggested that maybe Jamal Musiala shouldn’t start, but the Bayern Munich player looked extremely lively. There was little sign of rust. His agility on the ball was on another level and his goal after Joshua Kimmich’s excellent pass was the perfect accompaniment to an impressive performance.

An equalizer for the ages

Manuel Neuer, who became Germany’s oldest ever player at a World Cup by starting this game, was set for a fairly pedestrian afternoon. Until Livano Comenencia’s shot hit Kimmich’s knee and flew past him. It was a goal for Curacao, but it also felt like a goal for all small nations. The entire Curacao bench was on their feet. Their fans were delirious. Even though the team eventually wilted, their first ever World Cup goal was a moment of history they would remember forever.

Curacao’s equalizer came just before the drink’s break, which itself felt needless given how cool the inside of Houston’s stadium was. For Germany though, it came at a perfect time. There is talk of the game feeling more like four quarters than two halves now and if these breaks are here to stay, this was an example of the impact they can have.

Nagelsmann said afterwards that the break came at a good time for them, and that he was in fact keen to see how the team would respond from the shock given the trauma of previous tournaments.

“You need to take a moment to collect yourself,” said Nagelsmann. “I think it’s important to see how the team would handle things after the last two tournaments.”

“The water break actually helped us show the players on the board what we had already prepared for beforehand. We encouraged the team to keep playing the way they did in the first 20 minutes.”

Germany pull away in the second half

It didn’t take Germany long to find that rhythm again, and eventually Nico Schlotterbeck’s header found its way past Curacao’s 37-year-old goalkeeper Eloy Room. Kai Havertz’s penalty before the break extended their lead and then Musiala’s excellent finish soon after the restart saw Germany’s dominance start to appear on the scoreboard.

Maybe the best news of the day for Nagelsmann was Nathaniel Brown’s performance. In very little time at all the Frankfurt defender has made the Germany left back spot — a position that has long been an issue for Germany — his own.

“To score in my first World Cup game is indescribable,” Brown told ARD afterwards.

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He assisted Schlotterbeck’s goal and then added Germany’s fifth with a fine volley of his own. This performance explains why Bayern Munich are reportedly keen on Brown. His emergence at this tournament would complete a fairly rapid rise, and would be a huge boost for Julian Nagelsmann.

Substitute Deniz Undav and Kai Havertz added two more as Germany score every ten minutes three straight times. Seven goals, three points and the job done was done.

And yet so much about this team remains unknown. Victory over Curacao, however comprehensive, does not make the identity or future of this Germany team any clearer.

“In German, we have a song, the train has no brakes and we try to do that,” Nagelsmann said afterwards.

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Well, Germany’s World Cup train has left the station on time. In Toronto, against the Ivory Coast, we will likely have a much better idea of how long and how far this train will go.

Edited by: Wesley Dockery

Rising staying talent Thebudgiesmugla has justified the decision to bypass the Brisbane Cup in preference for a Listed assignment at Rosehill, maintaining its perfect 2400-metre record.

Trainer Bjorn Baker, currently in England to oversee the Royal Ascot bid of gun sprinter Overpass, opted for Saturday’s The Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2400m) in Sydney, feeling it would provide a better progression towards the Caloundra Cup (2400m) at the Sunshine Coast on July 4.

Last year’s Caloundra feature was won by Half Yours before he went on to Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup success in the spring, and the Baker stable feels Thebudgiesmugla is showing enough promise to entertain similarly lofty goals next season.

“We needed to see him win it, and we needed to see him do it on top of the ground if he’s going to be competitive in better races,” Baker’s racing manager, Luke Hilton said.

“We’d like to go to the Caloundra Cup with him. It’s in three weeks, 2400, good prizemoney race. It’s also a good form race for a few other races later in the year. Half Yours won that race, so we’ll head the same way.”

Starting his career in New Zealand, Thebudgiesmugla has posted four wins in Australia, all of them over 2400m.

Settling on the heels of the leaders for Dylan Gibbons on Saturday, the even-money favourite relaxed beautifully in the run and finished resolutely down the outside to defeat Black Run ($7.50) by three-quarters of a length, with another half-head to So You Are ($8.50).

Hilton admitted to getting antsy on the point of the corner when the field quickened, but said Gibbons knew what he had up his sleeve.

“I was getting itchy feet coming to the corner and willing Dylan to get going on him, because we know he takes time to wind up,” Hilton said. “But he really fights when he gets there. He doesn’t really dash but he keeps grinding. He’s still really raw, and I think there is plenty to come.”

Gibbons has ridden Thebudgiesmugla to three of its four Australian wins and like Hilton, believes the five-year-old can continue to raise the bar.

“He is built so athletic, he’s got the best attitude. He saves every penny, and he can be tough and outstay them all day,” Gibbons said.

With Baker showcasing Australian racing in London, Sky Racing’s Greg Radley suggested to Hilton that his laconic boss might seize the moment for a photo opportunity sporting a pair of budgie smugglers in front of Buckingham Palace.

“Don’t joke about it. You know he’ll do it,” Hilton quipped.

The Caloundra Cup is the next logical target, and Australian betting sites are already buzzing with anticipation for this exciting race.

Japan showed why many fans see them as one of the dark horses of the 2026 FIFA World Cup after battling back twice to earn a 2-2 draw against the Netherlands in Dallas.

The Samurai Blue refused to give up and left the match with a valuable point. Here are three things we learnt from the game.

1. Japan Have the Character to Go Far

Japan fell behind twice but never lost belief.

After Virgil van Dijk opened the scoring for the Netherlands, Keito Nakamura quickly levelled the match. When Crysencio Summerville restored the Dutch lead, Japan continued to attack and were rewarded with a late equaliser from Daichi Kamada.

Their determination, energy and fighting spirit suggest they could be a difficult team for any opponent in this tournament.

2. The Netherlands Have Defensive Questions to Answer

The Dutch created chances and scored two good goals, but they struggled to keep Japan under control.

Coach Ronald Koeman will be concerned that his side failed to protect a lead on two occasions. Even after going 2-1 ahead, the Netherlands looked uncomfortable as Japan continued to push forward.

If they want to challenge for the World Cup, they will need to become more solid at the back.

3. Kamada Can Be Japan’s Big-Game Player

Kamada delivered when his country needed him most.

The Crystal Palace midfielder stayed alert in the closing stages to guide Koki Ogawa’s effort into the net and rescue a point. Beyond the goal, he was one of Japan’s most influential players in attack.

If Kamada continues to produce moments like this, he could become one of the key players for Japan during the tournament.

A Point That Could Prove Crucial

While the Netherlands will feel they dropped two points, Japan will leave Dallas with confidence. Coming back twice against one of Europe’s strongest teams has sent a clear message to the rest of Group F: Japan are not in the World Cup just to compete — they are here to challenge.