Ecuador v Curaçao: World Cup 2026 – live

⚽️ World Cup kick-off: 8pm EDT/1am BST/10am AEST ⚽️ Player guide | Bracketology | Golden Boot | Mail Alex Hello folks! Alexander Abnos here, and I’m thrilled to be able to follow this match along with all of you. Curaçao enters the game on the back of a 7-1 drubbing by Germany.

The lopsided scoreline was perhaps expected, what with Germany’s status as a world power and Curaçao being the smallest country ever to qualify for a World Cup. But then there were those 17 minutes. Those glorious, glorious 17 minutes.

That was the amount of time between Liviano Comenencia’s equalizer and Nico Schlotterbeck’s goal to make it 2-1. In that period, Curaçao allowed their fans to party and to dream. If you love football and aren’t an Ecuador fan, you’ll be hoping for similar tonight.

If you’re an Ecuador fan, though, you’re probably feeling pretty confident, despite a World Cup-opening loss to Côte d’Ivoire. La Tricolor hit the bar twice in that match and only lost due to a last-gasp finish from Amad Diallo. They have one of the strongest spines in the tournament and can get a dark horse campaign underway with a solid result today.

The setting: Kansas City, the home of the four-time Super Bowl champion Chiefs and the best barbecue in all the land. Kansas City Stadium was rocking for its first game, hosting Argentina v Algeria. I’m excited to see how it looks today.