Pepe steers Ivory Coast into World Cup last 32 as Curacao go home

Nicolas Pepe scored twice as Ivory Coast beat Curacao 2-0 on Thursday to reach the 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.

Ivory Coast finish with six points in Group E with this victory following their opening 1-0 win over Ecuador and a 2-1 loss to Germany.

They therefore go through in second place behind Germany on head-to-head — the Germans lost 2-1 to Ecuador in New Jersey at the same time.

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.

That will be against the runners-up in Group I, which means a very tough test against either France — the country where Pepe and several other Ivorian players were born — or Norway.

Curacao, with its population of barely 160,000, had already made history just by being at the World Cup, but the smallest nation ever to reach the finals go home after finishing bottom of the section without a win.

Dick Advocaat’s team were thrashed 7-1 by Germany on their tournament debut, but the high point came in their next game as they withstood a barrage to hold Ecuador to a 0-0 draw.

They couldn’t repeat that performance here, but still did their fans proud in a game watched by a sell-out crowd of 68,324 at Lincoln Financial Field — such an attendance on a Thursday afternoon is proof that the World Cup has definitely made its mark on the United States.

Orange Ivory Coast shirts were visible all around the ground and their fans were soon celebrating as the opening goal arrived early.

Yan Diomande, one of the most exciting young talents at the tournament, was the provider as the RB Leipzig winger proved too sharp for his marker and cut the ball back for Pepe to turn it in.

Ten of the Curacao starting line-up were born in the Netherlands and many of their players have previously worn the orange of the Dutch national team at different levels, right up to the senior side.

They are certainly no mugs, and they did have chances here, like when Jurien Gaari sent a shot just past the post from range, and Leandro Bacuna dribbled into the box only to shoot wide late in the first half.

Sherel Floranus flashed an effort narrowly over not long after the restart, but Curacao could not recover after falling further behind in the 64th minute.

Ibrahim Sangare of Nottingham Forest made the goal with an excellent through ball for Pepe, who controlled inside the area before slotting beyond Eloy Room and into the far corner.