Curaçao receives a valuable lesson from Germany: 'If you are negligent, you will be punished immediately'
Curaçao's debut match at the 2026 World Cup ended with a heavy 1-7 defeat to Germany, although they were able to equalize. Captain Leandro Bacuna reflected on the lessons the team learned.
Curaçao hoped to create a surprise in their opening match at the 2026 World Cup when facing the German team, but this did not happen. Even though after only a short period of time, they were 1-0 down, coach Dick Advocaat's team successfully equalized 1-1. However, after that, things went quite badly and they had to suffer a devastating 1-7 defeat to Germany.
Captain Leandro Bacuna shared about the lessons the team has received. Bacuna said: "Before the match, I knew that we would have a lot of difficulties against Germany. And it was proven. You can see the qualities they have. If you let your guard down a little, they will immediately punish you. I think that is an accurate summary of this match."
Before the first half ended, Germany increased the score to 3-1; After the break, they continued to score four more goals. Bacuna admitted that it was too many goals: "When the score is 3-1 or 4-1, you have to be mature enough to say: okay, we need to hold tight and look to the next match. But we were too open, gave them too much space, which made it easy for them to penetrate our defense. We lost the ball too easily."
Despite the heavy loss, Bacuna still maintains faith in a brighter World Cup: "If we can score against Germany, why not do it against Ecuador or Ivory Coast?"
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