World Cup: Iranian national team arrives in US as Germany crushes Curaçao and Japan thwarts Dutch
Houston, Texas - Germany crushed Curaçao 7–1 on Sunday and Japan tied with the Netherlands in a tight 2–2 game an hour later, as Iran's World Cup team finally made their long-awaited arrival in the US.
Curaçao, the smallest nation to ever qualify for the tournament, made a bright start against four-time winners Germany when Livano Comenencia scored an early equalizer to give the Caribbean nation a historic first World Cup goal.
They were soon outclassed, however, as Felix Nmecha opened the scoring for the Germans and Kai Havertz grabbed a goal in each half, including a penalty.
"It took us a few minutes to get back into the game after they equalized," said Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann. "Curaçao can play football too, as we saw, and I'm curious to see how they'll fare in the group going forward."
"I'm very satisfied with us scoring seven goals and our performance for the most part," he added. "A winning start is always important and we're glad we managed it."
Meanwhile, 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 in Arlington, Texas, only for Keito Nakamura to quickly level, before winger Crysencio Summerville's scored a second Dutch goal just after the hour. Japan leveled things out with an 89th-minute equalizer by Daichi Kamada.
In Philadelphia, a last-gasp 90th-minute goal from Manchester United's Amad Diallo gave Côte d'Ivoire a precious 1–0 victory over Ecuador in Group E.
Sweden opened their campaign in Group F with a swashbuckling 5–1 rout of Tunisia in Monterrey, Mexico.
Iranian team finally touches down in the US
Sunday also saw Iran's footballers finally arrive in the US after months of uncertainty in the build-up to the tournament, driven by the US and Israel's war of aggression against Tehran.
Iran, who relocated their team training camp to Tijuana in Mexico from Arizona due to diplomatic wrangling, will take on New Zealand in Group G on Monday.
The Iran national team had to leave some of its support team behind in Tijuana after the US refused to grant visas to administrative and management staff.
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.
Ghalenoei insisted his players would not "pay attention to any of the hype."
"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.
Cover photo: AFP/Ronaldo Schemidt