🤩 Historic Ivory Coast! Beat Curaçao 2-0, through groups for 1st time 👏 | OneFootball

Mission accomplished. Ivory Coast beat Curaçao a clear 2-0 in their final group match and book their place in the knockout stage of the World Cup. It is a historic result for the Elephants: they had never before managed to get past the first round of a World Cup.

In Philadelphia, Faé’s side took just seven minutes to seize control of the match: a lapse in concentration from the Caribbean back line opened the way for Diomandé, who squared it for Nicolas Pepé. The Villarreal forward arrived from deep like a train and side-footed home for 1-0.

Curaçao’s response was not long in coming, with Chong testing Fofana for the first time, and the goalkeeper was equal to it. At the other end, Ivory Coast came close to doubling their lead several times through Diallo, who first missed narrowly and was then denied by a crucial intervention from the opposition defence.

✌️ Pepé seals it again

As the minutes passed, Advocaat’s men grew in confidence and threatened through efforts from Gaari, Chong and Bacuna, but they could not find an equaliser. After the break, Ivory Coast raised the tempo again and—after Kessié had come close—found the goal for the final 2-0 in the 64th minute: Sangaré produced a brilliant through ball and Pepé grabbed his personal brace, virtually putting the game to bed.

It was a fine goal from the former Arsenal man, confirming that he has real talent when he is on form. 

Late on, Curaçao tried to make the scoreline less harsh through Floranus, Noslin—who came close to a spectacular long-range goal—and Chong, but Fofana kept his clean sheet intact. The Ivorians saw out the final minutes without any trouble and claimed a valuable win that secures qualification for the round of 32, behind group winners Germany. There they will face either France or Norway.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.

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