Another late kick-off, by the way. Only two minutes but they all count!

Anyway, Joshua Kimmich wins an early free-kick but Curacao win one of their own.

Away we go as Germany and Curacao get their World Cup campaigns under way.

Raphael Honigstein
German football journalist on BBC Radio 5 Live

The interesting question that everyone's asking themselves, and I think even the German FA are not quite sure, is what does success look like for this team?

It used to be the case that we'd go to the Word Cup thinking unless we win it this is a disappointment. We have this saying, a good Germany team wins the World Cup, a bad one goes to the final but that's no longer the case.

We've had two group stage exits back-to-back, now I think people are trying to figure out, is a quarter-final enough? Is that progress? Is that keeping the level of the Euros where we got knocked out by Spain?

This time time we could play France if we both win our groups. Is that a realistic target? Or do Germany, even when we're not quite at our best and we don't have the strongest team, can we be so satisfied, so humble in the sense that we say 'this is good enough for us'. That is the question that is being asked.

For Germany, 1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014 bring back incredible memories.

Will 2026 bring the same?

Image source, Getty Images

First time I've listened to Curacao's anthem.

Lovely little tune.

Like me, I'm sure many of you won't be overly familiar with Curacao so here are their strengths...

Known as the Blue Family, Curacao benefits from a tight-knit team spirit and a popular coaching set-up.

When Advocaat was unavailable for the final qualifier against Jamaica due to family reasons, assistant coach Dean Gorre stepped in seamlessly to oversee the goalless draw in Kingston, which clinched qualification.

On the pitch, Curacao are hard to break down and dangerous in transition.

I am a fan of the whole squad arm in arm for the anthems.

A real feeling of togetherness.

Here come the teams and this 72,000-seater stadium in Houston is packed!

It's largely white but there are pockets of Curacao blue ready to watch their side create history.

Only one of their World Cup squad, Tahith Chong, was born on the island - with the other 25 players all hailing from the mainland Netherlands.

Some 18 players in the squad have represented the Netherlands at youth levels, with two - Riechedly Bazoer and Joshua Brenet - winning senior caps.

"We've got a lot of players that have been playing in Holland that never thought about playing for Curacao," continued Juninho Bacuna.

"But you can see the heart, the belief and the connection they have with Curacao.

"They feel the love from the people, they feel everything from the island, so the connection got stronger and stronger for them."

To put this into perspective, Germany are ranked 10th in the world and Curacao are ranked 82.

Phil Jones
Former England defender on BBC Radio 5 Live

On how Curacao should approach it

I think you've got to be solid obviously defensively and try and frustrate Germany as much as you can but I think you have to offer something on the break as well.

You can't just sit there for 90 minutes and expect to get a 0-0 draw because that just won't happen.

I'm not saying this is going to happen today but just for reference, Hungary's 10-1 win over El Salvador in 1982 is the largest winning margin in World Cup history...

Germany are blessed in the creative midfield department with Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz.

If those two are at their best, then Germany will cause problems for anyone in this World Cup.

Image source, Getty Images

Noel Sliney
BBC Sport

This is a fixture for the ages – with records broken for both the oldest coach in World Cup history and oldest Germany player of all time.

Dick Advocaat, who led the Netherlands at the 1994 World Cup and South Korea in 2006, will take charge of debutants Curacao at the age of 78 years and 260 days – eclipsing the record set by the Czech Republic’s Miroslav Koubek, 74, just three days ago.

Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, 40, is at his fifth World Cup and his inclusion in the starting eleven means he eclipses Lothar Matthaus as Germany’s oldest ever player.

Neither man was expected to be involved at this summer’s tournament but Neuer came out of international retirement in May, around the same time Advocaat returned to his post less than three months after stepping down to help care for his sick daughter.

With her health improving, Advocaat is back in charge of the tiny Caribbean island he successfully guided through the qualifying campaign. However, the scale of Curacao’s task is laid bare by the fact the country has a land mass 807 times smaller than Germany, whose national team have won nine consecutive matches for the first time since a record run of 12 between May 1979 and June 1980.

Image source, Getty Images

We all remember this, don't we?

Mario Gotze came on to the pitch with Germany and Argentina locked at 0-0 in the World Cup final in 2014.

You know the rest.

Amazing to think that was 12 years ago.

Image source, Getty Images

Tom McCoy
BBC Sport journalist

This is game one of seven World Cup matches to be played at the home of the Houston Texans, an air-conditioned venue which became the first NFL stadium with a retractable roof when it opened in 2002.

It has been used for football on numerous occasions before, including Mexico's win against the USA in last year’s Gold Cup final and Copa America matches in both 2016 and 2024.

It normally has artificial turf but a grass surface has been installed for the duration of the World Cup. Work to install the temporary pitch began after the stadium hosted Houston's annual livestock and rodeo show in March. The three-week event was attended by approximately 2.6m people this year and is the largest of its kind in the world.

Image source, Getty Images

Curacao

Image source, Getty Images

You may have heard the term "watch party" creeping into the footballing vernacular during the opening days of this World Cup.

If you can't afford to go to a match, then where would you rather be than celebrating with an entire nation, on the Caribbean island of Curacao?

Boudino de Jong called their qualification "one of the biggest deals ever for the island" - adding they expect it to bring more tourism and investment.

"I've seen the impact of the final match where we qualified for the World Cup," he said.

"The traffic just stopped. All cars basically parked on the street and everybody got out of their car. And I've never seen such a massive united celebration on a national scale.

"And I think that was just the start of what we're going to see in the coming matches. I know of a lot of people are coming to the island because they want to experience the games together with all the Curacaoans here on the island."