Group E: Germany hit seven past Curacao, Ivory Coast with late winner against Ecuador
No let up for Curacao as Germany dominate
Germany put the World Cup’s smallest nation ever to the sword to move to the top of Group E after their 7-1 win over Curacao in their opening game.
Felix Nmecha struck past Curacao goalkeeper Eloy Room early on to open the scoring, but Curacao had their moment to remember when Livano Comenencia’s powerful shot deflected off a defender to wrongfoot Manuel Neuer.
Curacao defended well for most of the first half, and even had a few opportunities on the counter to take the lead, but Nico Schlotterbeck’s 38th-minute header from Nathaniel Brown’s corner gave Germany the lead once again.
Things got worse for Dick Advocaat’s side in first-half stoppage time when Riechedly Bazoer fouled Nmecha in the box and Kai Havertz converted from 12 yards.
In the second half, Jamal Musiala found the bottom corner from a tight angle, and Brown netted his first World Cup goal. Deniz Undav scored tapped in Joshua Kimmich’s cross before setting up Havertz for the final Germany goal.
Late Diallo strike gives Ivory Coast win
In the second game in the group, Ivory Coast needed a 90th-minute winner from Manchester United’s Amad Diallo to down Ecuador.
It was Ecuador’s first defeat since September 2024, and La Tri had finished second in South American qualifying. They are a team built on defence though, and the question coming into the tournament was whether they had enough firepower up front. On this occasions, they didn’t.
They did strike the post either side of half time, but were only able to test Ivory Coast goalkeeper Yahia Fofana with one shot on target.
Ivory Coast nearly broke the deadlock early through Bazoumana Toure, before John Yeboah hit the crossbar. Elye Wahl also struck the bar for Ivory Coast.
Just as the game looked set to become the tournaments first goalless draw, Wilfried Singo powered into the box before finding Diallo in space to sweep home the winner.
Cover Photo: FIFA World Cup 2014 by Mariya Butd used under license by CC BY 2.0.
