Amad Diallo's 90th-minute winner secured a 1-0 victory for Ivory Coast over Ecuador, demonstrating the team's genuine World Cup ambitions, manager Emerse Fae said. The substitute's strike at Philadelphia Stadium gave the Ivorians a winning start to their campaign on Sunday.
Impressive Form Continues
Ivory Coast have impressed since booking their place at the finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico, following comfortable warm-up wins over South Korea and Scotland in March and a 2-1 victory away to France last week. Fae's youthful attack, including highly rated 19-year-old winger Yan Diomande, was tested by an experienced Ecuadorean defence featuring Paris St Germain's Willian Pacho and Arsenal's Piero Hincapie, shielded by Chelsea midfielder Moises Caicedo.
"We came to the US for this, and we came here with ambitions, with high hopes," Fae told reporters. "We don't want to just have visited the U.S. and have to go back, so everything is going well for now. We've beaten France. We are starting this competition well against Ecuador, a very tough team, but we managed to come into our own and won the match. This shows that our team has acquitted itself well."
Group Stage Implications
With four-times champions Germany favourites in the group, this match could prove decisive in the battle for second place. Germany thrashed debutants Curacao 7-1 in the other group game in Houston and will face Ivory Coast next in Toronto on Saturday. "It will be a difficult match again," Fae added. "It's Germany. They have lots and lots of experience. World Cup, they won it a few times. They have players playing in the greatest European clubs. They have a very striking power. We'll go eyeball to eyeball with them and we'll try to give it our all. We have our own qualities. We'll lean on our own strength and we'll try to bring down the German wall."
Historic Victory
Ivory Coast, appearing at the World Cup for the first time since 2014, have never reached the knockout stages. Diallo's first-time strike of Wilfried Singo's cross gave the Ivorians their first World Cup victory over South American opposition and halted Ecuador's unbeaten run at 19 matches. It also capped a dazzling performance from 19-year-old Yan Diomande as the Elephants pulled level on points with Germany. The Ivorians, who have the youngest squad at this World Cup, looked to be running out of ideas before Singo found space surging up the right from his defensive post. His cross reached Diallo in stride, with the 23-year-old Manchester United player deftly guiding it into the bottom left corner to give the West Africans a dream start to their first World Cup finals appearance since 2014.
Match Action
Ecuador's best first-half chances came from Ivory Coast's casual defending. John Yeboah and Alan Minda struck the bar in the 23rd and 30th minutes, respectively. But it was Ivory Coast who looked better in possession, with Diomande terrorising Ecuador's left side. In the 35th minute, he picked up the ball in midfield, beat Piero Hincapie down the line and dragged a cross into the path of Nicolas Pepe's late run to the penalty spot. Pepe tried to sneak a second touch to get on his favoured left foot but saw his effort ultimately blocked. In a match played within driving distance of more than 600,000 Ecuadorian Americans estimated to live in New York and New Jersey, La Tricolor fans dominated the atmosphere but left disappointed.
