14/06/2026

theSun on Sunday JUNE 14, 2026

2026 WORLD CUP

SPORTS 13

Oranje ready to deliver Keeper Verbruggen confident Netherlands can win it this time N ETHERLANDS are ranked only eighth favourites to win the 2026 World Cup, below “And I’ve got the big privilege to be able to play with a defensive line that I think is up there with the best in the world.” It is a cliche that attack wins

Confident Germany not underestimating Curacao

CURACAO should not be under estimated when Germany take on the Caribbean islanders in their World Cup Group E opener tomorrow (1am Malaysian time), but the four times champions will make a winning start to the tourna ment, Germany defender Nico Schlotterbeck said yesterday. Only a convincing win will do against Curacao with Germany eager to start the tournament strongly after shock first-round exits in 2018 and 2022. Curacao is a self-governing part of the Netherlands, with a population of just over 150,000 and a land area of 443sq km. All their players are Dutch nationals as is their coach Dick Advocaat and it is the smallest country to qualify for the World Cup. “We had a team discussion yesterday on Curacao and it is a good team with players who have been trained in the Netherlands,” Schlotterbeck told a press conference. “But we are the favourites and I am confident we will win the match.” The Germans also play Ivory Coast on June 21 and Ecuador in Group E. “I see in the Germany team many players with a lot of quality, a lot of players at their peak and a few playing their last World Cup,” Schlotterbeck said. “You have a mix that is really good. Everyone is just looking forward to it.” The Germans will be playing in hot weather in Houston with temperatures expected around 30°C but the players said their focus was only on the first match. They also said they have been feeling no pressure whatsoever going into their opening game. “There is no pressure. We are going into this with confi dence and on Sunday we want to show how good we are,” Schlotterbeck said. “There is no motivation to show everyone what we can do (after the two World Cup first-round exits,” Schlotterbeck added. “We should not be hid ing from anyone.

Spain, France, Argentina, Brazil, England, Portugal and Germany. Depending where you draw the line, they are either the worst of the realistic contenders or the best of the rest. Yet there is plenty of evidence to suggest that is a pessimistic view of one of the best squads in North America this year. Netherlands have one of Europe’s form strikers in Donyell Malen, who scored 14 goals in 18 Serie A games since joining Roma in January, much to the surprise of Aston Villa fans. They have Frenkie de Jong, Ryan Gravenberch and Tijjani Reijnders in midfield. And the defence is like something from a Premier League fantasy team. Virgil van Dijk, Micky van de Ven, Nathan Ake and Jurrien Timber are an elite quartet, and that is before you get to the power of right-back Denzel Dumfries – about to join Real Madrid from Inter as Jose Mourinho’s first mar quee signing since returning to the Bernabeu. Chelsea’s Jorrel Hato and Brighton’s Jan Paul van Hecke add strength in depth. Goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen is developing into a hugely talented player in his own right, but he feels more secure knowing who will be standing in front of him when the Netherlands begin their World Cup campaign, against Japan tomorrow (4am Malaysian time). “It makes my life a bit easier, that’s for sure,” Verbruggen says. “As a competitor, you always want to play against the best play ers but you also want to beat them, and in order to beat them you need the best players on your side as well.

games and defence wins tourna ments, but World Cup history suggests there is some truth to it. Between 1990 and 2014, no World Cup winner conceded more than four goals in the entire tournament. So are the Dutch, who appear stronger at the back than in attack, being overlooked? “I don’t really pay attention to what other people say about the team, about us, about me, about my teammates,” says Verbruggen. “I don’t really care, to be honest. “I know the quality that we have, and I know that the people who will underestimate us will be surprised in the tournament.” This may be Verbruggen’s first World Cup of many, but it is likely the last for Van Dijk, the Dutch captain, who will turn 35 during the tournament. Van Dijk has only appeared in one before, four years ago in Qatar, when the Netherlands were knocked out on penalties in a fiery game with Argentina. “I don’t know if it’s his last chance, but all I know for sure is that he is a massive personality, he’s a massive winner, he’s a leader,” says Verbruggen. “His mentality will be to do everything as good as we can in every single moment that goes into all the small details. It’s not just on the pitch, it’s also our behaviour off the pitch. “It’s the way we show our selves to the world… we all will try to be the very best we can be in every single little detail, and he will drive that. “I don’t know if it’s his last chance, you have to ask him. But I know for sure that he will want to win it.” – The Independent

Germany’s Nico Schlotterbeck (top) and Curacao’s Leandro Bacuna – REUTERSPIC

“We have discipline, passion and ability to resist and if we show our German virtues then we are well placed.” – Reuters

“We are a top, top, top team and we have been showing the German virtues on the pitch once again after a very long time.

BY LAWRENCE OSTLERE Striker Undav wants to crown unusual career

from the bench or not,” Undav said. “If I play from the start or not, I have to give it 100% and score goals. That is the only thing. The rest you cannot influence.” His goals will be needed as Germany eye an opening victory over the World Cup newcomers to set a marker follow ing two first-round exits in the last two World Cups. “It would be very important (to start with a win) after the last two failed starts (in the 2018 and 2022 World Cups). We want to win,” Undav said. “If you start with a win in the first match then you put down a marker for the team and that’s very important for us and the fans.” – Reuters

from Brighton & Hove Albion. As recently as March, however, his place in the Germany team looked to be in doubt. After scoring a last-gasp winner as a substitute against Ghana, instead of earning praise from Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann, he was given almost no option of a starting spot in the future when his coach suggested the striker would not have scored had he played from the start. Nagelsmann apologised and Undav kept up his scoring form with two more goals in a 4-0 win against Finland in May. “Scoring goals is my job, whether

World Cup participation looked a distant prospect. “When I think about where I was just four years ago I could not have imag ined I would be here,” Undav said dur ing a press conference on Friday. “Now it comes very quickly and in two days we have the first game and we want a win and have success with the national team.” Undav, a versatile striker, enjoyed a superb Bundesliga season with VfB Stuttgart to earn back his Germany spot, scoring 19 times in the league to finish second in the scorers’ list behind England’s Harry Kane. The forward had joined Stuttgart in 2023, initially on loan

GERMANY forward Deniz Undav’s immi nent World Cup debut tomorrow was not even a distant dream four years ago but the 29-year-old is now ready to crown his unusual career with a pres ence on the biggest football stage of all. Undav, who looked to have dropped out of contention for a Germany spot when he was not called up for matches in 2025, is now the team’s most in-form striker and looks set for a starting spot in the Group E opener against Curacao tomorrow. Four years ago he was plying his trade in the Belgian second division and