Germany lose to Ecuador but still top Group E; Ivory Coast reach the knockouts for the first time

Germany beaten in the finale

On opening day Germany had thrashed Curaçao 7-1, and a comfortable group win looked routine. Twelve days later, in their last group game in New Jersey, they lost. Leroy Sané put them ahead inside two minutes, but Nilson Angulo levelled in the ninth and Gonzalo Plata won it for Ecuador in the 77th. Ecuador needed the result — only a win kept them in the tournament — and they got it, beating one of the pre-tournament favorites to stay alive. The defeat stung, but it did not cost Germany anything that mattered.

First place held all the same

Germany finished first in Group E on six points, ahead of Ivory Coast on goal difference, with both sides level on points. The 48-team format helps explain why the loss was survivable for everyone involved: the top two from each of the twelve groups advance, along with the eight best third-placed teams — 32 sides into the first knockout round. As group winners, Germany move into the Round of 32 against a third-placed team. Ivory Coast took second. Ecuador, third on four points, advanced as one of those eight best third-placed sides and, for now, sit at the head of the third-place table — which makes them a candidate to meet Germany in the last 32, depending on how the remaining groups finish.

Ivory Coast's first knockout stage

The story below Germany belonged to Ivory Coast. Nicolas Pepe scored twice in a 2-0 win over Curaçao in Philadelphia — the opener inside seven minutes, set up by Yan Diomande, and a second midway through the second half — to send the Elephants into a World Cup knockout round for the first time ever. The weight of that is easy to miss. Ivory Coast have won two Africa Cup of Nations titles and sent a celebrated Didier Drogba generation to three straight World Cups in 2006, 2010 and 2014, yet every one of those campaigns ended in the group stage. This squad has now gone where those did not.

Curaçao bow out

The win ended Curaçao's tournament. With a population of roughly 156,000, the Caribbean side under veteran Dutch coach Dick Advocaat was the smallest nation by population ever to reach a men's World Cup, surpassing Iceland in 2018. Most of the squad was born in the Netherlands. They were competitive in patches — a 0-0 draw with Ecuador in the second round had kept them in contention — but the loss to Ivory Coast confirmed their exit after three games.

The far side of Japan's morning

This is the knockout field filling in while Japan play their own final group game against Sweden this morning. Germany, the team Japan beat at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, are through as group winners and now wait for an opponent. Whether Ecuador stay top of the third-place table — and so in line to face Germany — will be settled by the final round in the remaining groups.