For the first time in their history, Ivory Coast are into the World Cup knockout stages. An underwhelming 2-0 victory over Curaçao, courtesy of a Nicolas Pépé brace, secured their place in the last 32 as Group E runners-up.
“Celebrate this historic qualification, like we should,” the Ivorian manager, Emerse Faé, told his compatriots afterwards. “Once we’re done celebrating, we want to go as far as possible in this competition. This is a young group. They’re all at their first ever World Cup. They’re playing well. There is a lot of solidarity in this group.”
“Ivory Coast reach World Cup knockouts for first time; Scotland's chances plummet to 5.26% after Brazil defeat.”
Curaçao, meanwhile, leave their first World Cup after giving good sport. The Blue Wave equalised against Germany in their opener before being hammered 7-1, and played out a spirited 0-0 with Ecuador where goalkeeper Eloy Room made 15 saves – the most at a World Cup since 2014, and the most on record in a game without extra time.
While Ivory Coast celebrate, Scotland face the very likely prospect of going home early. After a 3-0 defeat by Brazil, Steve Clarke’s side saw their chances of progression collapse from 42% to just 5.26% – roughly one in 20. They finished Group C with three points and a -3 goal difference, relying on four of the six third-placed teams in other groups having a worse record.
A glum Clarke gave a searingly honest verdict. “We made it difficult for ourselves, that’s it,” he told BBC Sport. “We gave them the goals, we gave them the game they wanted. Disappointing. … For sure I think we’re going home.”
If Scotland do go out in the group stage, it will maintain their record of having never made it past the first round of any major tournament in history.