Havertz brace powers Germany to 7-1 win over Curaçao
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- Kai Havertz scored a first-half penalty and added a second in the 88th minute, leading Germany's 7-1 Group E rout of Curaçao in Houston on Sunday.
- Livano Comenencia struck in the 21st minute to tie it 1-1, scoring Curaçao's first-ever World Cup goal and sending the crowd's Curaçao contingent into a frenzy before Germany scored five straight.
- Nico Schlotterbeck, Jamal Musiala, Nathaniel Brown, and Deniz Undav each found the net, with Schlotterbeck's 38th-minute header off Brown's corner kick restoring Germany's lead it never relinquished.
- Curaçao became the smallest country ever to appear in a World Cup, and the match featured the largest age gap between coaches in tournament history — 78-year-old Dick Advocaat versus 38-year-old Julian Nagelsmann.
- Manuel Neuer, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who came out of international retirement, made one save in his first Germany appearance in almost two years before a crowd of 68,021.
- Germany is seeking redemption after failing to escape the group stage at the 2018 Russia and 2022 Qatar World Cups following its 2014 title.
- Germany next faces Ivory Coast in Toronto on Saturday, while Curaçao meets Ecuador in Kansas City.
Why it matters: Germany's seven-goal output sends an early statement in its quest to end a streak of two consecutive group-stage exits, while Curaçao's historic goal — scored by the tournament's smallest-ever nation — validates the expanded format's promise of giving minnows a real stage.
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