Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Germany thrashed World Cup debutants Curacao 7-1 on Sunday while Japan fought back to grab a 2-2 draw with the Netherlands as Iran made their long-awaited arrival in the United States with a call for unity.
Curacao, the smallest nation by population ever to qualify for the tournament, made a bright start against four-time winners Germany in Houston when Livano Comenencia scored an early equalizer to give the Caribbean nation of 160,000 people a historic first World Cup goal. But they were soon outclassed as Felix Nmecha opened the scoring for the Germans and Kai Havertz grabbed a goal in each half, including a penalty.
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Despite their proud record in the competition, Germany have struggled in recent editions and this was the first time they had won their first opening match at a World Cup since they lifted the trophy in 2014. “It took us a few minutes to get back into the game after they equalized. Curacao can play football too, as we saw, and I’m curious to see how they’ll fare in the group going forward,” said Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann. “I’m very satisfied with us scoring seven goals and our performance for the most part. A winning start is always important and we’re glad we managed it,” he added.
Curacao will hope they can get more out of their remaining Group E games against Ecuador and Ivory Coast. “It is not embarrassing to lose like that against such a team,” said their 78-year-old Dutch coach Dick Advocaat.
In other games on Sunday, Japan came from behind twice to earn a 2-2 draw with the Netherlands. Skipper Virgil van Dijk had put the Dutch ahead with a fine header at the home of the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas, only for Keito Nakamura to quickly level, before winger Crysencio Summerville’s sumptuous curled finish into the bottom corner just after the hour. Japan earned a point with an 89th-minute deflected equalizer attributed to Daichi Kamada.
In Philadelphia, a last-gasp 90th-minute goal from Manchester United’s Amad Diallo gave Ivory Coast a precious 1-0 victory over Ecuador in Group E. In the late game on Sunday, Sweden opened their campaign in Group F with a swashbuckling 5-1 rout of Tunisia in Monterrey, Mexico. Sweden, who only squeezed into the World Cup via the playoffs thanks to their performances in the Nations League, ran the north Africans ragged and romped to an impressive victory thanks to two goals from Yasin Ayari and one apiece from Alexander Isak, Viktor Gyokeres, and Mattias Svanberg. “Great goals, five goals, solid and we could have scored more,” Sweden’s English coach Graham Potter said. “Full credit to the players. They were fantastic.”
– Iran touch down in US –
Off the field, all eyes turned to Los Angeles where Iran’s footballers finally arrived on US soil after months of uncertainty in the build-up to the tournament following the United States and Israel’s military assault on the Islamic Republic. Iran, who relocated their team training camp to Tijuana in Mexico from Arizona due to diplomatic wrangling, take on New Zealand in Group G on Monday.
The Iran team has had to leave some of its support staff in Tijuana after the US refused to grant visas to administrative and management personnel. At an eve-of-game press conference just over an hour after Tehran and Washington announced a peace deal to end the conflict, Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei said political tensions and visa issues had hampered his team’s World Cup preparations. But Ghalenoei insisted his players would not “pay attention to any of the hype.”
Protests are planned outside the SoFi Stadium on Monday by members of the Iranian diaspora opposed to the nation’s hardline regime, and there have been threats that the Iran team could walk off the pitch if anti-government banners are displayed. “We are here to perform a good match, a high-quality match. We don’t pay attention to any of the hype and anything that goes on around us,” Ghalenoei said in a press conference in response to a question from AFP.
The coach said his team are simply at the World Cup to “represent the respectful people of Iran, be it the Iranians inside Iran or the Iranian diaspora.” “We are not political people…football is separate from politics,” said Ghalenoei.
© 2024 AFP
