Côte d’Ivoire surviving the World Cup group stage for the first time, in the year of our football gods 2026, is one of those tidbits that sounds like it shouldn’t be true, and yet here we are.
An underwhelming 2-0 victory over Curaçao, courtesy of Nicolas Pépé’s double, put the Ivorians through to the last 32 as Group E runners-up.
“Celebrate this historic qualification, like we should,” the Ivorian manager, Emerse Faé, told his compatriots afterwards. “Once we’re done celebrating, we want to go as far as possible in this competition. This is a young group. They’re all at their first ever World Cup. They’re playing well. There is a lot of solidarity in this group.”
It was an imprecise contest here in Philadelphia, the cradle of American democracy – such as it is. All the same, the spirited Curaçaoans leave their first World Cup.
There was always going to be a trade-off in expanding the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams. Too many teams to fully appreciate the complexities and curiosities of each one; certainly too many matches to track with any kind of deep attention; the possibility of uncompetitive games, of slightly hard-to-watch walkovers.
But then it also opened up the possibility of the kind of underdog drama that is all too rare in modern football, with the sides usually separated surgically into ability-appropriate competitions like the various continental Nations Leagues.
Curaçao proved surprisingly competitive with a squad made up mostly of Dutch-born journeymen. They gave good sport in five of the six halves they played at this tournament. The Blue Wave managed an equaliser against Germany in their opener, before getting hammered 7-1. And they played out a spirited 0-0 stalemate with Ecuador, wherein the Curaçao goalkeeper Eloy Room recorded 15 saves: the most at a World Cup since 2014.
Certainly, Curaçao and the World Cup’s three other newcomers have benefited from the tournament’s expansion. Less fanfare has been made about the impact on nations like Côte d’Ivoire, who have quietly profited from the newly bloated format.
They were a team stuck in the sort of upper-middle class of the global football firmament. One of the most populous nations in West Africa, they have produced excellent players for decades. Household names: Didier Drogba, Yaya and Kolo Touré, Salomon Kalou and Gervinho too. Yet they reached just three World Cups, in 2006, 2010 and 2014 – in spite of reaching the final four of the Africa Cup of Nations five times in the last two decades, winning the competition twice in that time – owing to the proportional pittance of places at the World Cup reserved for African sides up until now.
Africa’s delegation has swollen from five sides in 2022 to 10 this time; while the tournament grew by 50%, the African contingent did so by 100%. In qualifying Côte d’Ivoire went undefeated in 10 matches, winning eight and never once conceding a goal.
Until this match, Côte d’Ivoire’s tournament had teetered on a knife’s edge. Amad Diallo’s 90th-minute winner earned them three points in a tight affair against Ecuador. Deniz Undav’s 94th-minute winner for Germany cost Les Éléphants a point six days later.
But just seven minutes in here, a disastrous giveaway between Juriën Gaari and Joshua Brenet outside their own box gifted the ball to Yan Diomandé. He hurtled at goal and cut back for Pépé, who beat Room with the simplest of finishes.
If there was little the Curaçao defence could do against the artistry of Diallo and the speed of Diomandé, the Ivorians nevertheless declined to engage their wingers in order to put the game away. But for Diallo’s shot that smashed into Gaari’s face, Curaçao may have edged the opening act in chances on just 26% possession. Tahith Chong threatened several times, as did Leandro Bacuna. But, in truth, the first half counted more completed rounds of the wave rippling through the stadium than clearcut scoring chances.
Such was Côte d’Ivoire’s initial indifference to filling the scoresheet in the second half that it fell to Curaçao to take the initiative. Dick Advocaat’s men moved their block upfield and grew more daring in pressing and taking on their opponents. It’s just that they lacked the quality to really threaten much, lacking as they were an effective striker or indeed any lively forwards not named Chong. “We have to keep looking for players who are allowed to represent Curaçao,” Advocaat said. “A few positions have to get better.”
In the 64th minute, the Ivorians finally secured the three points. Ibrahim Sangaré played Pépé through a rare crack in the defence and the former Arsenal man gratefully took the pass from his teammate and curled his finish past Room.
Commendably, Curaçao kept on pushing, kept on attacking as Room prevented the Ivorians from scoring more goals. It should be noted that Curaçao conceded twice in their final two matches. It’s just that they scored only once in three.
“This team has outdone itself against world-class sides,” Advocaat said. “[Côte d’Ivoire’s] wingers are worth 50m each … the most important thing when we set out was qualifying for the Gold Cup. And only once we’d done that, qualifying for the World Cup.”
The Curaçaoans lingered on the field after the final whistle. They hugged and took it all in. Who knew when they might make it back to this stage? Advocaat was optimistic. “When you see how we played the second and third game,” he said, “that’s very promising.”
