{"id":14531,"date":"2026-06-15T10:06:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T10:06:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=14531"},"modified":"2026-06-15T10:06:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T10:06:59","slug":"havertz-and-gyokeres-score-in-big-world-cup-wins-international-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=14531","title":{"rendered":"Havertz and Gyokeres score in big World Cup wins | International | News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>Kai Havertz was in the goals for Germany as they opened up their World Cup campaign with a huge 7-1 victory over Curacao in Houston on a busy night for our Gunners.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Dortmund&#8217;s Felix Nmecha opened the scoring for the Germans before Curacao, making their World Cup debut, equalised through Livano Comenencia.<\/p>\n<p>But the four-time World Cup winners flexed their muscles as Nico Schlotterbeck restored their lead before Kai slotted home his first of the afternoon from the penalty spot.<\/p>\n<p>Julian Nagelsmann&#8217;s side went through the gears in the second half as Jamal Musiala, Nathan Brown and Deniz Undav all scored before Kai notched his second and Germany&#8217;s seventh with a composed finish over goalkeeper Eloy Room.<\/p>\n<p>It means that Kai is the joint top scorer at the games along with former Gunner Folarin Balogun of the USA and Yasin Ayari of Sweden.<\/p>\n<p>Die Mannschaft take on Ivory Coast in their next fixture on June 20, in Toronto, knowing victory will take them through to the next round.<\/p>\n<article data-entity-type=\"node\" data-entity-uuid=\"2acd1238-a932-480d-80b4-cc01bf86e50b\" data-embed-button=\"article_embed\" data-entity-embed-display=\"view_mode:node.tiny\" data-langcode=\"en\" data-entity-embed-display-settings=\"()\" class=\"embedded-entity u-spacing-down--xxl\">\n<article data-article-id=\"128900\" about=\"\/news\/when-will-our-stars-be-world-cup-action\">\n<div class=\"article-card article-card--tiny card\" data-eq-pts=\"xsmall: 200, small: 550, medium: 640, large: 768\">\n<div class=\"card__content\">\n<p>\n         <span class=\"h6 article-card__subhead\">Read more<\/span>                             <\/p>\n<h3 class=\"article-card__title\" title=\"When will our stars be in World Cup action?\"><span class=\"article-card__title-words\">  When will our stars be in World Cup action? <\/span><br \/>\n          <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>VIKTOR OFF THE MARK<\/h2>\n<article data-entity-type=\"media\" data-entity-uuid=\"6908fb00-cce2-44c4-bd24-5dae9e20f00c\" data-embed-button=\"image_embed\" data-entity-embed-display=\"view_mode:media.card\" data-entity-embed-display-settings=\"()\" data-langcode=\"en\" class=\"embedded-entity u-spacing-down--xxl\">\n<article>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n<p>As Kai was getting his golden boot quest off the perfect start, Viktor Gyokeres was doing the same in the early hours of Monday morning as he netted in Sweden&#8217;s huge win over Tunisia.<\/p>\n<p>Starting alongside Liverpool forward Alexander Isak, our top scorer from last season continued to find the net, slotting home from close range after being found by his striking partner.<\/p>\n<p>Isak also found the net, along with a double from Yasin Ayari and Mattias Svanberg, who netted the fastest goal by a substitute in World Cup history, scoring just 12 seconds after entering the field of play.<\/p>\n<p>Viktor&#8217;s Sweden are now top of their group after the Netherlands and Japan played out an entertaining 2-2 draw in Dallas. Sweden will face fellow European side the Netherlands on Saturday, June 20, at 6pm UK time.<\/p>\n<article data-entity-type=\"block_content\" data-entity-uuid=\"1626f34e-9ca6-465e-9e51-f4936e8ab96c\" data-embed-button=\"javascript_embed\" data-entity-embed-display=\"view_mode:block_content.full\" data-langcode=\"en\" data-entity-embed-display-settings=\"()\" class=\"embedded-entity u-spacing-down--xxl\">\n<\/article>\n<article data-entity-type=\"node\" data-entity-uuid=\"da5c9511-75b3-4691-a7ca-a2b3da593b9b\" data-embed-button=\"article_embed\" data-entity-embed-display=\"view_mode:node.tiny\" data-langcode=\"en\" data-entity-embed-display-settings=\"()\" class=\"embedded-entity u-spacing-down--xxl\">\n<article data-article-id=\"128969\" about=\"\/news\/viktor-gyokeres-swedens-star-man\">\n<div class=\"article-card article-card--tiny card\" data-eq-pts=\"xsmall: 200, small: 550, medium: 640, large: 768\">\n<div class=\"card__content\">\n<p>\n         <span class=\"h6 article-card__subhead\">Read more<\/span>                             <\/p>\n<h3 class=\"article-card__title\" title=\"Viktor Gyokeres: Sweden's star man\"><span class=\"article-card__title-words\">  Viktor Gyokeres: Sweden&#8217;s star man <\/span><br \/>\n          <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>PIERO LOSES OUT<\/h2>\n<article data-entity-type=\"media\" data-entity-uuid=\"80348b21-9eed-4571-a470-50c0d1d9cb05\" data-embed-button=\"image_embed\" data-entity-embed-display=\"view_mode:media.card\" data-entity-embed-display-settings=\"()\" data-langcode=\"en\" class=\"embedded-entity u-spacing-down--xxl\">\n<article>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n<p>While it was victories for Kai and Viktor, it wasn&#8217;t to be for Piero Hincapie and Ecuador as they were edged out by the Ivory Coast in Philadelphia. <\/p>\n<p>Piero started the match as chances came at both ends, with Ecuador hitting the woodwork twice in a busy first half.<\/p>\n<p>Both sides continued to search for a winner, and it was the African side who found in with a minute of normal time to spare.<\/p>\n<p>On the counter, Wilfried Singo&#8217;s marauding run then found Amad Diallo, who tucked the ball into the corner to snap Ecuador&#8217;s 19-match unbeaten run.<\/p>\n<p>It was the first time El Tri have lost in almost two years, but they&#8217;ll have the chance to make up for the defeat in their next match against Curacao on Sunday, June 21, at 1am UK time.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=arsenal.com\" target=\"_blank\">Want your Arsenal news first? Click here to make us your preferred source on Google.<\/a><\/p>\n<article data-entity-type=\"node\" data-entity-uuid=\"a6ed1346-1539-4299-a644-22eead174744\" data-embed-button=\"article_embed\" data-entity-embed-display=\"view_mode:node.tiny\" data-langcode=\"en\" data-entity-embed-display-settings=\"()\" class=\"embedded-entity u-spacing-down--xxl\">\n<article data-article-id=\"128990\" about=\"\/news\/piero-hincapie-building-ecuadorian-legacy\">\n<div class=\"article-card article-card--tiny card\" data-eq-pts=\"xsmall: 200, small: 550, medium: 640, large: 768\">\n<div class=\"card__content\">\n<p>\n         <span class=\"h6 article-card__subhead\">Read more<\/span>                             <\/p>\n<h3 class=\"article-card__title\" title=\"Piero Hincapie: Building an Ecuadorian legacy\"><span class=\"article-card__title-words\">  Piero Hincapie: Building an Ecuadorian legacy <\/span><br \/>\n          <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kai Havertz was in the goals for Germany as they opened up their World Cup&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}