Germany begins its World Cup on Sunday, June 14, 2026, against Curaçao in Houston, and Manuel Neuer will be in goal for the opening whistle. The match is set for 17H00 GMT, a meeting that pits the four-time world champion against a side that has never played in a World Cup.
That is why this game is drawing attention now. Germany won its fourth world title in Brazil in 2014, then fell out in the group stage in the next two tournaments, in Russia and Qatar. Now it starts again under Julian Nagelsmann, who said Neuer will be fit for the debut and who has handed the veteran the task of bringing calm back to a team that has looked shaky at the biggest stage.
Neuer returned from international retirement to strengthen Germany’s goal and give the side a familiar voice at a moment when history weighs on every touch. At 38, Nagelsmann is younger than the goalkeeper he is trusting on the opening day, but the message from the camp is clear: the first line of defense is not a question mark. Deniz Undav went further on Friday, calling Neuer the best goalkeeper of all time, or at least one of the best, a view that underlines how central the keeper remains to Germany’s plans.
The contrast with Curaçao is stark. Dick Advocaat, 78, is preparing a team from a territory of 444 square kilometers and 185,000 people for a match that will be unlike anything in its history. Curaçao has never played a World Cup, and Advocaat has already said he has a plan to make life difficult for Germany. That is the only practical route for the underdog: slow the game, deny space, and make the champion work for every chance.
Germany’s problem is less about pedigree than memory. A side that once treated group-stage advancement as routine now has to prove it can survive the pressure of a tournament that has already punished it twice in a row. The opening day also sits in the shadow of Brazil’s 1-1 draw with Morocco, where Vinícius Jr equalized after Ismael Saibari’s opener, a reminder that no favorite is entitled to an easy start. Carlo Ancelotti said after that game that the World Cup is not won in the first match, and Germany enters its own opener with that warning hanging over it.
What comes next is simple and unforgiving: Germany and Curaçao meet in Houston at 17H00 GMT, and for Germany the first real answer of this World Cup will not be whether it can dominate, but whether it can look like itself again from the very beginning.
