Germany gives Curaçao a rude World Cup welcome
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José de Jesus Ortiz, Founder & Editor in Chief
- June 14, 2026
Despite rout, Curaçao appreciates historic World Cup debut
HOUSTON – Leandro Bacuna stepped on to the pitch Sunday afternoon and looked into the crowd with a sense of amazement and pride. The Curaçao midfielder appreciated the loud and raucous, blue-clad fans behind Curaçao’s bench amid a sea of fans waving German flags.
With his younger brother Juninho starting in the same midfield for the World Cup debutants, Leandro Bacuna loved the sight of a large section of Blue Wave fans behind the goal on the south side of Houston Stadium.
“It was an incredible feeling the first time on this big stage,” Leandro Bacuna said after Curaçao lost to Germany 7-1 in the 2026 FIFA World Cup opener for both teams. “It’s what you dream of from (the time you’re) a little kid. You can do it for your national team, for your parents’ island.
“It’s an amazing feeling when I was there on the pitch. I stood there and I was thinking by myself like, ‘Guys, we made it. We cannot get on a bigger stage than this. We made it.’ Now we just have to show what we can do, why we’re here.”
Most of the crowd of 68,021 cheered for Germany, the four-time World Cup champion. Only Brazil, which has five World Cup titles, has more titles than Germany. Italy has also won four titles.
Tall task for tiny island
Conversely, Curaçao made its World Cup debut on Sunday. Curaçao, which has a population of 158,000, is the smallest country to ever compete in the FIFA World Cup. The duel was literally between a giant of international soccer and the ultimate soccer minnow.
As should have been expected, Germany took the lead right away. Felix Nmecha scored in the sixth minute with a clinical finish into the right corner. Yet, the Blue Wave delivered some early drama when Livano Comenencia tied the score at 1 in the 21st minute with a strike he described as a “dream goal.”
As Germany’s defense tried to clear the ball inside the 18-yard box, a sliding clearance sent the ball back. Comenencia delivered a powerful left-footed strike from just inside the 18-yard box to tie the score.
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As their small contingent of fans went crazy behind the opposite goal, Comenencia ran toward the corner flag for a celebratory dog pile.
“I think it was great,” Juninho Bacuna said. “The team actually got something to smile for as well. We scored a goal. It was our first goal ever, and we qualified for the first time ever.
“I think the people will still be happy. They will cheer us on ‘til the last game. No matter what we do, I think we are heroes, you know? We have to see where we can get some points to actually make them more happy than they are.”
‘Unexpected’ equalizer
The Blue Wave kept the score tied until the 38th minute. After Nathaniel Brown sent a corner kick toward the front corner of the six-yard box, Nico Schlotterbeck broke free without much resistance to head the ball back into the net to give Germany a 2-1. The 6-foot-3 Borussia Dortmund defender’s first international goal was beautiful.
The rest of the game belonged to Germany, which made it look easy while combining at will as they held possession and mounted consistent attacks.
“The first equalizing goal was unexpected,” Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann said. “Then it was fascinating to see how the team was reacting to the equalizer. And five-six minutes suddenly the opponent was a little bit too strong, and then we scored a lot of goals.
“We shot a lot of goals, and the opponent played better than many would have expected in Germany.”
Germany added a third goal after Nmecha was taken down in the box in the final seconds of the first half. Referee Jalal Jayed didn’t hesitate to call a penalty kick. Kai Havertz calmly slotted the subsequent penalty kick into the left corner to give Germany a 3-1 lead right before forward.
More to prove
Germany added four goals in the second half, capped by Havertz’s second goal of the match. Long after the final whistle, the Blue Wave’s fans were still cheering for behind the goal on the south end and behind the Curaçao’s bench.
“We want to show everybody why we’re here, why we qualified,” Leandro Bacuna said. “We want to make Curaçao as big as possible for the world. I think since we qualified in the last few months (we’ve seen) how big of an impact this is on the world and the support from everywhere that we’re getting.
“Now it’s on the players. We have to do a little bit more to show we are talented players, that we can do it, that we are a country that can play on the big stage.”
José de Jesus Ortiz
Founder & Editor in Chief
Award-winning writer Jose de Jesus Ortiz, a former lead sports columnist at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, has covered Major League Baseball since 1997 in Los Angeles, St. Petersburg, New York and Houston. He was the first Latino to serve as president of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
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