Ivory Coast reached the knockout stage of the men’s World Cup for the first time — with France or Norway lying in wait in the last 32.An early goal for Germany against Ecuador in the other Group E game briefly gave Curacao hope of securing a third-place spot, but Nicolas Pepe’s first goal for Ivory Coast in Philadelphia was quickly followed by an Ecuador equaliser at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey to dampen the dreams of the team ranked 82nd in the world.In truth, Ivory Coast barely had to find more than second or third gear in this comfortable 2-0 win, while Ecuador pulled off a shock 2-1 win against Germany to seal third place in the group.First, the dancing feet of Yan Diomande fed Pepe, who stroked the ball home in the seventh minute. Then the Villarreal forward added a deserved second in the 64th minute after a delightful defence-splitting pass from Ibrahim Sangare.Matt Slater, Rebecca Tauber and Anantaajith Raghuraman assess the key talking points — and what this result means for the World Cup bracket.Who do Ivory Coast play next?As the runner-up in Group E, Ivory Coast will face the runner-up in Group I in Dallas on June 30. This will either be France or Norway, who both have six points and play each other on Friday, June 26.The Athletic’s forecast gives Ivory Coast an 80 per cent chance of playing Norway.Beware Ivory Coast?Pepe’s early strike was another example of Ivory Coast’s most profitable route to goal at this World Cup: cutbacks.This one carried a bit of luck as Curacao’s struggles in playing out from the back led to Diomande winning possession on the left wing. He passed into the box for Pepe to arrive late and tuck the ball home.Ivory Coast had some luck with their goal against Germany too. Diomande was at the heart of that, dribbling past his man and sending a pass across the box to Amad. The Manchester United forward’s shot was blocked but Franck Kessie converted the rebound.Their late winner against Ecuador came from a cutback from the right to Amad waiting behind the penalty spot to finish first time.The pace and one-v-one quality Ivory Coast have on the wings and the number of bodies they are willing to push into the box makes this a dangerous strategy. Norway or France will need to be wary.Anantaajith RaghuramanDoes Amad Diallo deserve more minutes?When I told my son, a Manchester United fan, that the first two games I had been to at the World Cup were Ecuador vs Ivory Coast and Brazil vs Haiti, he wrote back: “So you’ve seen the United players cook, then.”