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Ivory Coast targeting World Cup last-four finish despite Germany defeat
21st June, 2026 07:33 AM
Despite suffering a heartbreaking 2-1 defeat to Germany in their second FIFA World Cup 2026 group match on Saturday, June 20, 2026, in Toronto, Ivory Coast head coach Emerse Faé remains convinced his team can produce a historic run similar to Morocco’s remarkable journey at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The Elephants had opened their campaign with a narrow 1-0 victory over Ecuador and remain in a strong position to advance to the knockout rounds. Their encounter with Germany in Toronto was closely contested, with the African champions pushing one of the tournament favourites all the way before substitute Deniz Undav struck deep into stoppage time to secure victory for the Europeans.
Although the loss delayed Ivory Coast’s qualification hopes, Faé remains optimistic that his youthful side can continue progressing and potentially challenge for a place among the tournament’s top four teams.
“We hope our journey can be the same as Morocco’s in 2022,” he told journalists. “We prepared for this competition, and we want to go as far as possible.
“We have a young squad who’s growing well together, growing quickly together, and it’s the first World Cup for all 26 players that I’ve called up.
“We’re going to continue and try to use this match as a lesson to fine tune the mistakes, the shortcomings that we still have. That will help us go as far as possible.” He added.
Ivory Coast impresses
Ivory Coast produced an impressive display against the four-time world champions and deservedly moved ahead midway through the opening half. Midfielder Franck Kessié finished from close range in the 30th minute to give his side the advantage and silence much of the German support.
However, Germany’s experience eventually proved decisive. Undav came off the bench to level matters in the 68th minute, heading home from a Nadiem Amiri delivery. The striker then completed the turnaround in added time with a composed finish that handed Germany all three points.
Even after the defeat, Faé stressed that qualification remains entirely in his team’s hands.
“We’ve still got everything to play for, and we don’t need to wait on the results of other games; we’ve got our destiny [at] our own feet to go through to the Round of 32,” Fae said. “First, we’ll rest and then we’ll look to see what Curacao are made of by looking at their game against Ecuador. Then we’ll put our strategy in place.
“We could have probably won today, but as well as frustration, there’s a lot of pride. We’re really happy with the behaviour of our players during these 90 minutes.
“It was a textbook performance, and I think we can use this for what’s coming next in the competition.”
The West Africans will conclude their Group E campaign against Curaçao in Philadelphia on Thursday. Avoiding defeat would guarantee them second place in the group and passage to the knockout stage.
Sportsmanship incident
Following the match, Faé also expressed disappointment with what he viewed as unsporting behavior from Germany during a controversial moment in the contest.
The incident occurred when defender Wilfried Singo put the ball out of play after sustaining an injury. Instead of immediately returning possession, German full-back Nathaniel Brown restarted play in a manner that launched an attacking move for his side.
With qualification still within reach, the Elephants will look to put the disappointment against Germany behind them and keep alive their hopes of creating a World Cup story reminiscent of Morocco’s historic achievement four years ago.
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