Full Time
Germany beat Ivory Coast 2-1 in a Group E thriller on June 20, sealing their place in the round of 32. Franck Kessié put the Ivorians ahead after half an hour, and it looked like Germany might be heading for a nervy wait — until Deniz Undav came off the bench to level things up and then, deep into stoppage time, winner in the 94th minute. A dramatic late turnaround. Germany are through; Ivory Coast's hopes now depend on results elsewhere.
Pre-match Talking Points
-
1Both teams won their openers, so whoever wins this one goes top of Group E with a foot firmly in the knockouts. Germany hammered Curaçao 7-1 in their first game; Ivory Coast nicked a 1-0 win over Ecuador with a late Amad Diallo goal. Win here and you're basically through. Even a draw might be enough for Ivory Coast given the expanded format — which tells you something about how this tournament works now.
-
2These two have only ever met once before — a friendly in November 2009 that ended 2-2 and meant absolutely nothing. So this is effectively their first proper encounter, with all the drama of a World Cup knockout race attached. No grudge match, no history, no psychological baggage. Just two teams who've never really had to think about each other until right now.
-
3Keep an eye on Kai Havertz for Germany — not because he's flashy, but because he's remarkably consistent in major tournaments. He's the only player to have scored for Germany at each of the last four major tournaments: Euro 2020, the 2022 World Cup, Euro 2024, and now this one. That's the kind of quiet reliability that tends to matter when the game is tight and someone needs to step up.
-
4Ivory Coast's Elye Wahi almost missed the entire tournament — he was denied entry into Canada due to visa complications and only received travel authorisation at the last minute. Whether he features here is unclear, but the whole saga has given the Ivory Coast camp an interesting build-up. Wahi joining after the opening game also means Germany's scouts haven't had a full look at how Fae uses him. Small thing, but these are the margins.
-
5Ivory Coast beat France 2-1 in a friendly just two weeks before this tournament. France, ranked among the world's best. Germany, meanwhile, are bringing Jamal Musiala — who only returned from a broken leg suffered at the Club World Cup last summer. Nagelsmann says he's back to 95%, and that even at 95% he's 'one of the outstanding players in world football.' If you're going to watch one player in this game who might genuinely make your jaw drop, it's him.
Team Talking Points
-
1Germany's World Cup ended in the Round of 32, and it was arguably the biggest shock of the entire tournament: a 1-1 draw with Paraguay, ranked 41st in the world to Germany's 10th, before Paraguay won 4-3 on penalties. It's the first time in World Cup history Germany have lost a shootout.
-
2Kai Havertz equalised early in the second half after Paraguay had led at the break through Julio Enciso — for a while it looked like normal service. Then Havertz, Jonathan Tah and Nick Woltemade all missed in the shootout, and Paraguay's goalkeeper made the saves that mattered.
-
3There was also a Jonathan Tah goal ruled out by VAR in extra time, which will get replayed in Germany for a while as the moment that might have changed everything — though Paraguay deserved plenty of credit regardless of that call.
-
4Group stage-wise, Germany had looked fine: a 7-1 win over Curaçao and a 2-1 win over Ivory Coast, before a loss to Ecuador in their final game — with qualification already sewn up — turned out to foreshadow the bigger upset to come.
-
5Four-time champions going out in the Round of 32 to the 41st-ranked team in the world is the kind of result German football will be picking over for years. For everyone else, it's a reminder that World Cups are unusually good at humbling the favourites — no team, however decorated, gets to skip that lesson forever.
🍺
Top thing to say down the pub
Germany lost their first ever World Cup penalty shootout — to Paraguay, ranked 41st in the world, in the Round of 32. Four-time champions. Genuinely one of the biggest shocks in the tournament's history.
🚫
Avoid saying
"Germany always find a way in the end" — not this time. They lost on penalties to a team ranked 31 places below them, and it wasn't some fluke smash-and-grab — Paraguay were the better side on the day. Read the room.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
🍺
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.
🚫
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.