FIFA World Cup 2026: Germany thrash Curacao 7-1, but debutants make history

Havertz brace and late surge give Germany emphatic start to redemption bid

The Caribbean island of about 156,000 people built its squad by recruiting players with Curaçaoan roots from the Dutch diaspora.

Off the pitch, controversy has raged after a goal was allowed during Qatar and Switzerland's 1-1 draw after an apparent offside with FIFA forced to release a statement to clarifying that a technical outage hindered efforts to display the graphic needed.

One of those came more than a decade ago when the Curacao manager, the great Dutch forward Patrick Kluivert, called goalkeeper Eloy Room and persuaded him to commit his allegiance to the Caribbean island.