Germany opened the scoring in the 6th minute with Lukas Nmecha's powerful shot from outside the penalty area after a beautiful combination with Florian Wirtz. However, Curacao pulled off a surprise in the 21st minute. Comenencia capitalized on a rebound in the penalty area to score Curacao's first historic goal at a World Cup.
The equalizer didn't faze the German players, instead, they increased the pressure. In the 38th minute, center-back Nico Schlotterbeck headed in to restore Germany's lead. Before the end of the first half, Kai Havertz successfully converted a penalty in injury time, giving Germany a 3-1 lead going into halftime.
In the second half, the game was completely dominated by the European team, who scored four more goals.
After South Korea, Australia, and Qatar, Japan became the next Asian representative to earn points in their opening match. Japan played on equal terms with the Netherlands, despite missing several key players.
After a closely contested first half, the Netherlands finally broke the deadlock in the 51st minute. From a free kick by Tijjani Reijnders, Ryan Gravenberch delivered an accurate pass to Virgil van Dijk, who rose high to head the ball, which hit the post and went into the net. Just six minutes later, Takefusa Kubo assisted Keito Nakamura, who unleashed a powerful shot to equalize 1-1.
The second half kept exciting as Crysencio Summerville marked his World Cup debut with a brilliant left-footed finish, giving the Netherlands the lead once again. In the 89th minute, Koki Ogawa headed the ball from Junya Ito's corner kick; it deflected off Daichi Kamada and went into the net, securing a valuable draw for Japan.
