<p>Côte d’Ivoire surviving the World Cup group stage for the first time, in the year of our football gods 2026, is one of those titbits that sounds like it shouldn’t be true, and yet here we are. An underwhelming <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2026/jun/25/curacao-v-cote-divoire-world-cup-2026-live">2-0 victory over Curaçao</a>, courtesy of Nicolas Pépé’s double, put the Ivorian
In the meantime, you can read the original report from The Guardian.