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Ivory Coast beat Curaçao 2–0 to reach the World Cup knockout stage for the first time in their history, and all it took was Nicolas Pépé remembering he's actually quite good at football. The former Arsenal winger — yes, the £72m one — opened the scoring in the 7th minute after a defensive mix-up and then curled a left-footed beauty into the top corner in the 65th to seal it. It was a comfortable win that also meant Pépé drew level with Didier Drogba as Ivory Coast's all-time top World Cup scorer, which is either a great story or a gentle reminder that Drogba never got out of the group stage either. Curaçao, who made their World Cup debut at this tournament and are the smallest nation ever to qualify, go home having given it a go — no disgrace in that. Ivory Coast advance as runners-up in Group E; they'll find out their round-of-32 opponent shortly.
Pre-match Talking Points
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1Curaçao need a win to keep any hope alive of advancing as one of the best third-placed teams. Ivory Coast just need a draw to confirm second place. So one team will be playing with everything on the line and the other will be quietly trying not to do anything stupid. That combination tends to produce exactly the kind of match you're nervous about watching.
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2These two have never met at a World Cup before, which makes sense given Curaçao are at their first-ever tournament. Every single thing they do in this match is a first. First time facing Ivory Coast, first time playing a must-win group game, first time having anything to lose. It's history either way, even if it doesn't feel like it from the outside.
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3Eloy Room, Curaçao's goalkeeper, made 15 saves against Ecuador in their last game — jointly the most in a single World Cup match since records began in 1966, matching Tim Howard's legendary performance against Belgium in 2014. He's essentially been playing 11 versus 11 on his own. If Curaçao get a result today, he's the reason.
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4Ivory Coast haven't been at a World Cup for 12 years, and the comeback has been bumpier than they'd like. They were beating Germany 1-0 and somehow ended up losing 2-1, with the winner coming in the 94th minute from a substitute. A draw is all they need today, but a team that just threw away a lead against Germany is not exactly a team dripping with composure.
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5Curaçao are ranked 83rd in the world. If they win today and the results elsewhere go their way, they would become the lowest-ranked team ever to advance from a World Cup group stage. It almost certainly won't happen. But the maths is there, which is exactly the kind of thing that keeps you checking your phone at full time somewhere you definitely shouldn't be checking your phone.
Team Talking Points
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1Curaçao's first ever World Cup ended in the group stage, as expected, but the story was never really about winning it — this is a nation of about 156,000 people, smaller than Iceland was when they famously qualified in 2018, and they were there at all.
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2Their signature moment was a 0-0 draw with Ecuador, secured almost single-handedly by 37-year-old goalkeeper Eloy Room, who made a stack of saves to hold out for Curaçao's first ever World Cup point. Ecuador went on to beat Germany in their next game, which tells you how good that Curaçao defensive display actually was.
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3The low point, scoreline-wise, was a 7-1 opening defeat to Germany — but even that had a silver lining. Manager Dick Advocaat, 78 years old and a fixture of Dutch football for decades, said afterwards he was moved to see people back home still celebrating in the streets, 7-1 loss and all.
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4Curaçao's tournament ended with a 2-0 defeat to Ivory Coast, finishing bottom of a group that also contained Germany and Ecuador — a tough draw for a debutant by any measure.
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5Nobody expects Curaçao back at a World Cup any time soon — qualifying at all was closer to a miracle than a trend. But they've now got the record for smallest nation ever to play at one, and a night when the whole island partied after a 7-1 loss because they were finally there. That's worth more than three points.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Curaçao is smaller than Iceland was when they made a World Cup — and their goalkeeper nearly held Ecuador, who then went and beat Germany, to nothing. Not bad for a country of 156,000 people.
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Avoid saying
"Who?" — don't. This is the smallest nation ever to qualify for a World Cup, and their fans partied in the streets after losing 7-1. Show some respect.
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1Ivory Coast's World Cup ended in the Round of 32, beaten 2-1 by Norway on June 30th when Erling Haaland scored the winner with four minutes to go. It's a painful way to exit, but the defeat came after Ivory Coast had already made history — this was the first time in the country's history they'd reached a World Cup knockout stage at all.
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2The high point was getting there in the first place. Wins over Ecuador and Curaçao either side of a narrow loss to Germany saw them finish second in their group, and the Curaçao win was the one that actually sealed a first-ever trip to the knockouts — a genuine landmark for a football nation that's produced serious talent for decades without this exact box being ticked.
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3Against Norway, Ivory Coast were behind with 20 minutes left, then substitute Amad Diallo dragged them level — clearing a Norwegian effort off the line at one end before scoring at the other. It's the kind of twenty-minute cameo that should have won the game and instead just delayed the ending.
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4Amad Diallo was the impact story: on for the second half, decisive at both ends, and unlucky to finish on the losing side after doing more in thirty-odd minutes than most players manage in ninety.
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5Ivory Coast go home from their first-ever World Cup knockout appearance having lost it late to one of the tournament's biggest stars. That's a genuinely good problem to have — the ceiling just got higher than it's ever been for this team.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Ivory Coast reached a World Cup knockout stage for the first time in their history, then lost it to an Erling Haaland winner with four minutes left — heartbreaking, but also the best World Cup the country's ever had.
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Avoid saying
Don't say "Ivory Coast always underachieve at World Cups" — that line belongs to the Drogba generation; this team just did something none of those sides managed, so the joke's out of date.