Ivory Coast advanced to the World Cup knockout stage for the first time after Nicolas Pepe scored twice in a 2-0 victory over Curacao in Philadelphia. The result placed the Elephants second in Group E and extended their tournament into a knockout match in Dallas against either France or Norway.

Pepe opened the scoring during the first half after work by teenage winger Yan Diomande and a failure by Curacao to clear the danger. The forward added his second midway through the second half, combining with Ibrahim Sangare before finishing the move. His goals provided the difference in a match in which Ivory Coast controlled more of the possession and territory, even though Curacao recorded more total attempts.

The brace placed Pepe in a small group in his country’s World Cup history. He became the second Ivorian to score at least twice in a match at the tournament, following Aruna Dindane against Serbia in 2006. At 31 years and 27 days, Pepe was also the second-oldest African player to record a World Cup brace. Cameroon’s Roger Milla was 38 years and 34 days old when he set the benchmark in a 1990 match against Colombia.

Ivory Coast finished behind Germany in the group and ahead of Ecuador, which also progressed as one of the eight best third-place teams. Ecuador overturned a deficit and beat Germany 2-1 in the other final Group E fixture. That outcome left Germany first, Ivory Coast second and Ecuador third, with all three moving into the next phase.

For coach Emerse Fae, qualification added another milestone after he guided Ivory Coast to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations title, having taken charge partway through that campaign. Players celebrated the World Cup breakthrough on the field and lifted their federation president after the final whistle. Supporters maintained chants of “Elephants” as the match neared its conclusion.

Curacao ended the group at the bottom in its first World Cup appearance. The team had earlier earned a historic draw with Ecuador and responded competitively after a 7-1 loss to Germany. Across its three matches, Curacao faced 30 shots on target, one fewer than the group-stage tournament record attributed to DPR Korea in 2010.

Curacao coach Dick Advocaat said his players had worked hard against stronger opposition and argued that they created enough chances to merit more from the game. He identified finishing quality as the difference while expressing satisfaction with his squad’s tournament. After the match, the two teams gathered in a shared huddle before walking around the field to acknowledge their supporters, closing Curacao’s debut and marking the start of Ivory Coast’s first knockout campaign.