After a joyous start to the Socceroos’ 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign, the tournament continued with contenders in action including a blockbuster between the Netherlands and Japan.
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Live updates from Monday at the World Cup below!
FULL 2026 WORLD CUP SCHEDULE WITH AUSTRALIAN TIMES AND DATES
WORLD CUP MATCH CENTRE: Germany vs Curacao scores, updates and more
WORLD CUP MATCH CENTRE: Netherlands vs Japan scores, updates and more
WORLD CUP MATCH CENTRE: Cote d’Ivoire vs Ecuador scores, updates and more
WORLD CUP MATCH CENTRE: Sweden vs Tunisia scores, updates and more
World Cup results for Monday June 15
Match 10 – Group E – Germany defeat Curacao 7-1, NRG Stadium, Houston
Match 11 – Group F – Netherlands draw with Japan 2-2, AT&T Stadium, Arlington (Dallas)
Match 9 – Group E – Cote d’Ivoire defeat Ecuador 1-0, Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia
Match 12 – Group F – Sweden defeat Tunisia 5-1, Estadio BBVA, Monterrey
SWEDES MAKE POWERFUL RETURN
Sweden crushed Tunisia 5-1 on Sunday to leave the North African nation’s defensive reputation in tatters and seize control of World Cup Group F.
Graham Potter’s men took the lead in Guadalupe in the seventh minute courtesy of Brighton midfielder Yasin Ayari’s thunderbolt from outside the box, following a mix-up at the back.
The celebrations of Ayari, who is of Moroccan and Tunisian descent, were muted despite his fine finish.
Sweden doubled their lead on half an hour after a rapid break freed Alexander Isak on the left.
The Liverpool forward raced forward and cut inside before unleashing a shot, which goalkeeper Mouhib Chamakh failed to keep out, even though he got a hand to the ball.
Tunisia did not concede a single goal in qualifying, becoming the first side to achieve that feat, subsequently matched by Ivory Coast and England.
Sweden threatened to overwhelm their opponents but the match changed complexion minutes before half-time when Omar Rekik headed home Hannibal Mejbri’s teasing cross.
However, the Scandinavian nation restored their two-goal cushion in the 59th minute after another defensive calamity for Tunisia.
Midfielder Ellyes Skhiri was caught in possession on the edge of the box by Isak, who fed Viktor Gyokeres and the Arsenal man fired home.
Substitute Mattias Svanberg made it 4-1 late on after VAR ruled he was onside. And there was still time for another stunning goal from Ayari from outside the penalty box.
Sweden reached the quarter-finals of the 2018 World Cup in Russia but did not qualify for the tournament in Qatar four years later.
Tunisia were the first African team to win a World Cup match when they beat Mexico in 1978, but they have never progressed beyond the group stages.
Earlier in Group F, Japan scored late to draw 2-2 against the Netherlands.
RED DEVIL STRIKES LATE TO NAB WIN
Manchester United’s Amad Diallo struck in the 90th minute as Ivory Coast stunned Ecuador and their huge support to edge a tight affair 1-0 in their World Cup opener on Sunday.
The Group E encounter had looked set to finish 0-0, hardly a surprise given Ecuador’s incredible defensive record during qualifying, and that result may well have suited both teams.
But the 23-year-old Diallo, who had been introduced in place of Bazoumana Toure shortly before the hour mark, had other ideas as he finished first-time from a right-wing cross right just as the game was heading for injury time.
It is Ivory Coast’s first win at a World Cup in exactly 12 years, since they beat Japan in Brazil in 2014, and they can now be confident of making the knockout phase at the tournament for the first time.
It was a disappointing way to start for Ecuador, who had the majority of the 68,274 crowd at the packed Philadelphia stadium kitted out in yellow and backing them.
They hit the bar twice in the first half, through John Yeboah and Alan Minda, while Elye Wahi struck the same crossbar for the Ivorians after half-time.
Ivory Coast, African champions in 2024, will now hope to build on this when they play Germany in their next game in Group E in Toronto on Saturday.
The Ecuadorians will look to bounce back when they head to Kansas City the same day to play Curacao, the debutant minnows who were hammered 7-1 by Germany earlier in Houston.
Ecuador, coached by Argentinian Sebastian Beccacece, had a remarkable record in South American qualifying as they finished second behind Argentina.
With a defence marshalled by Paris Saint-Germain’s Willian Pacho and Chelsea’s Moises Caicedo patrolling the midfield, they conceded a miserly five goals in 18 qualifying games, but scored only 14.
Remarkably, eight of their 18 matches ended in 0-0 draws, and six featured a single goal.
– Jay-Z in attendance –
Ivory Coast were nevertheless confident of causing their opponents problems with exciting young RB Leipzig winger Yan Diomande a danger on the flanks and recent French-born recruit Wahi leading the line.
A match watched by US rap mogul Jay-Z was cagey at times but came to life midway through the first half as the frame of the goal was rattled for the first time.
Yeboah, the former German youth international who plays in Italy’s Serie B for Venezia, pounced on uncertain defending at the edge of the box and crashed a shot off Yahia Fofana’s bar.
The Ivory Coast goal was living a charmed life as Ecuador struck the woodwork again on the half-hour mark, Pedro Vite slipping in Minda to be denied this time.
Emerse Fae’s Ivorians looked dangerous intermittently, notably when Nicolas Pepe was denied by a last-ditch challenge after Diomande had raced away from Piero Hincapie.
The Elephants had never reached the World Cup knockout phase in their three previous appearances but surely knew a win here would practically secure their passage to the next round.
Wahi, who finished the club season at Nice in France, turned a Diomande cross from the right onto the bar shortly after the restart.
Seko Fofana forced a save from Hernan Galindez in the Ecuador goal, but the match seemed to be petering out to a goalless conclusion until the late drama.
Wilfried Singo went on a rampaging run from defence down the Ivorian right, before delivering a low centre for Diallo to score with a sidefoot finish, and silence the Ecuador support.
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LATE EQUALISER CAPS OFF THRILLER
Japan scored an 88th-minute equaliser as they twice fought back to rescue a 2-2 draw with the Netherlands in front of 69,285 in Texas on Sunday to open their World Cup campaigns.
A match that had bubbled away in the first period sparked into life in the second half.
Netherlands skipper Virgil van Dijk scored with a fine header, only for Keito Nakamura to quickly level, before winger Crysencio Summerville’s delicious curled finish into the bottom corner just after the hour.
The Dutch looked like they would hold on, but Japan levelled at the death with Crystal Palace midfielder Daichi Kamada credited with the goal after a deflection.
Sweden face Tunisia in a competitive-looking Group F later Sunday. Japan and the Netherlands are in North America missing key players through injury, but on paper this was still one of the more attractive fixtures in the group stage.
Both have been touted as dark horses capable of going far at the tournament — the Dutch have been runners-up three times whereas Japan have never gone beyond the last 16.
The Netherlands made a confident start and nearly took the lead after three minutes, Donyell Malen allowed to swivel inside the box and forcing a smart save from Zion Suzuki.
The impressive air-conditioned arena is usually home to the Dallas Cowboys, and at the hydration break the NFL team’s cheerleaders were shown on the massive screen hanging over the pitch performing one of their routines.
The stoppage seemed to help Ronald Koeman’s side and Roma forward Malen again worked Suzuki with a header from a corner, then Cody Gakpo fired wildly over the bar.
Japan’s fans, who had hardly stopped singing and outnumbered the Dutch contingent, were briefly silenced.
The first real chance for Hajime Moriyasu’s team came a few minutes before the break when a cross evaded the backtracking Summerville but Nakamura pulled his low effort wide.
The Dutch had looked most threatening in the air, so it was no surprise when Liverpool talisman Van Dijk rose to plant a well-placed header into the bottom corner after a pinpoint cross from club team-mate Ryan Gravenberch on 51 minutes.
The lead lasted just six minutes, Nakamura wriggling free and firing low past goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, the ball taking a small deflection off Jan Paul van Hecke.
In a madcap period of play, the Dutch forged ahead once more on 64 minutes when West Ham’s Summerville beat his man on the right wing and curled into Suzuki’s bottom-right corner with his left foot.
Both teams rang the changes and had chances to score again, before Kamada’s chaotic leveller from a corner.
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GERMANY HAMMER WORLD CUP DEBUTANTS
Germany won their first opening match at a World Cup since lifting the trophy in 2014 as they eased to a 7-1 win against debutants Curacao, with a population of about 158,000 people, in their opening Group E match in Houston on Sunday.
The Germans will face stiffer tests against group rivals Ecuador and Ivory Coast but the win against the tiny Caribbean nation puts them in a good position to progress to the knockout stages for the first time since 2014.
An early German goal by Felix Nmecha was cancelled out by a deflected strike from Livano Comenencia which had the Curacao fans, known as the Blue Wave, out of their seats in Houston.
However, Nico Schlotterbeck, Kai Havertz with a double, Jamal Musiala, Nathaniel Brown and Deniz Undav scored to put to bed any possibility of one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history.
Germany settled early, Nmecha scoring a beauty in the sixth minute, receiving the ball from Florian Wirtz and curling the ball round a Curacao defender and past goalkeeper Eloy Room.
The goal had coach Julian Nagelsmann letting out a huge roar. Nmecha, who like Musiala played for England at junior level before choosing Germany, went close minutes later with a rasping effort from outside the box.
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German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who at 40 is the oldest German player ever to appear at a World Cup and is playing in his fifth global tournament, had had little to do until Comenencia struck with a shot which took a deflection.
While Germany’s senior citizen shook his head ruefully, the oldest coach to ever appear at the finals, 78-year-old Dick Advocaat, was up out of his seat arms raised.
The drinks break allowed the Germans to regroup.
Soon after the restart Schlotterbeck’s header was brilliantly turned over the bar by Room.
The four-time world champions huffed and puffed round the Curacao goal, but time and again desperate defending frustrated their Germans.
However, the Curacao defence cracked in the 38th minute when an unmarked Schlotterbeck headed home from a corner for his first goal for his country.
The Germans went into the break with a two-goal advantage as Havertz stroked home a penalty after Nmecha had been brought down by Riechedly Bazoer.
Germany struck 69 seconds into the second half, Musiala running on to Joshua Kimmich’s pass and scoring from a tight angle.
It should have been 5-1 just after the hour mark but Leroy Sane sent his effort wide with only Room to beat.
Where Sane came up short Brown did not as the fullback fired home just before the second hydration break.
Substitute Undav made it six with his seventh goal in his last seven international appearances.
Havertz rounded it off with his 24th goal for Germany to replicate the same scoreline as they famously recorded against hosts Brazil in the 2014 semi-finals.
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