Nicolas Pepe scored twice as Côte d’Ivoire beat Curacao 2-0 last night to reach the 2026 World Cup knockout rounds for the first time ever and bring the tiny Caribbean country’s run at the tournament to an end.
Former Arsenal forward Pepe, now playing in Spain for Villarreal, opened the scoring for the Elephants after just seven minutes in Philadelphia and netted again just after the hour mark.
Côte d’Ivoire finished on same six points as Group E leaders Germany who lost 2-1 to Ecuador last night also. The Elephants had earlier beaten Ecuador 1-0 in their opening game before losing 2-1 to Germany.
They therefore go through in second place behind Germany on head-to-head.
The 2024 African champions had never previously got out of their group in three previous appearances at the World Cup, and their reward for this historic performance is a last-32 tie next Tuesday in Dallas.
