World Cup 2026: Nicolas Pépé leads Ivory Coast to the round of 16

25.06.26 FT World Cup

Curacao

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Ivory Coast

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It finally happened. Ivory Coast clinched a well-deserved 2-0 victory over Curaçao to secure a spot in the round of 16 of the World Cup, marking an unprecedented historic achievement. Nicolas Pépé was the man of the match with a historic brace.

Facing Curaçao at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Ivory Coast started the encounter with pace and determination. In the seventh minute, Yan Diomande delivered a superb pass to Nicolas Pépé, who converted it into the opening goal. After scoring in the first half, the Villarreal striker struck again, netting his second. Early in the second half, he found the net once more in the 64th minute after a dazzling assist from Ibrahim Sangaré.

This victory hands Ivory Coast a ticket to the World Cup knockout stage for the first time in their history. In their previous four appearances, the Elephants had never progressed past the group stage.

With these two goals, Nicolas Pépé becomes only the second Ivorian player to score a brace at the World Cup, following Aruna Dindane’s feat against Serbia (3-2) on June 21, 2006.
The Elephants finished the group stage in second place in Group E with 6 points, just behind Germany.

Nafongo TRAORE |

News Editorfr, ar, en

Nafongon Moussa TRAORE, Burkinabè de 25 ans, est passionné de football, est rédacteur pour Foot Africa et commentateur pour BurkiFoot.

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