The China Mail - Germany crush Curacao, Japan thwart Dutch at World Cup as Iran arrive

Curacao, the smallest nation by population ever to qualify for the tournament, came face-to-face with the four-time winners.

Livano Comenencia scored an early equalizer to give the Caribbean nation of 160,000 people a historic first World Cup goal, but they soon found the going tough.

Felix Nmecha opened the scoring for the Germans and despite the equalizer, they soon overran Curacao, with Kai Havertz grabbing a double.

Despite their proud record in the competition, Germany have struggled in recent tournaments and this was the first time they had won their first opening match at a World Cup since they lifted the trophy in 2014.

"It took us a few minutes to get back into the game after they equalized. Curacao can play football too, as we saw, and I'm curious to see how they'll fare in the group going forward," said Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann.

"I'm very satisfied with us scoring seven goals and our performance for the most part. A winning start is always important and we're glad we managed it," he added.

Curacao will hope they can get more out of their remaining Group E games against Ecuador and Ivory Coast.

"It is not embarrassing to lose like that against such a team," said their 78-year-old Dutch coach Dick Advocaat.

- Iran touch down in US -

Iran's participation in the World Cup has been shrouded in doubt for months after the United States and Israel launched an aerial assault on the Islamic Republic that became a wider Middle East war.

But on Sunday the plane carrying the team from its base camp in Mexico touched down in Los Angeles on the eve of their first game.

The Iranian delegation passed through immigration and headed to their hotel, team sources told AFP.

Iran take on New Zealand in the city on Monday, marking the first time that a World Cup host has hosted a country it is at war with.

The Iran team has had to leave some of its support team in Tijuana after the US refused to grant visas to 15 administrative and management staff.

In other games on Sunday, Japan fought back twice to seal a 2-2 draw with the Netherlands thanks to an 89th-minute deflected equalizer attributed to Daichi Kamada.

Skipper Virgil van Dijk had put the Dutch ahead with a fine header at the home of the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas, only for Keito Nakamura to quickly level, before winger Crysencio Summerville's delicious curled finish into the bottom corner just after the hour.

Ivory Coast face Ecuador in Philadelphia later and Sweden take on Tunisia in the final match of the day.

Sweden had a curious route to the tournament, having failed to win a single match in the qualifying group phase.

They only obtained a ticket thanks to their UEFA Nations League performance.

Sweden do though boast a strikeforce featuring Premier League stars Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres.

A.Kwok--ThChM