With an amazing performance, Ecuador beat Germany 2-1 in New Jersey and qualified for the World Cup round of 32.
“La Tricolor” only wanted to win and they got it, pulling off the biggest surprise – so far – at the 2026 World Cup. The Germans kept the first place in Group 5 with 6 points, with a better goal difference than the second-placed Ivory Coast.
Just in the 2nd minute, Leroy Sane opened the scoring leaving… promises of an easy night for the Germans. But Sebastian Bekasese’s players were determined to exhaust any chance of qualification. They immediately equalized (9′) with an excellent goal by Angulo from a pass by Vite and dominated the entire first half, limiting “Manshaft” to a passive role.
With Ta, Rudiger on a bad day and Neuer again not inspiring confidence, Ecuador fought for the surprise, missed a great chance with Plata in the 74th minute and in the 78th minute the same player took advantage of another Neuer inactivity to make it 2-1. Thus, Ecuador, which in the previous match failed to beat Curaçao, was imposed 100% fairly by Germany and reached 4 points, which essentially secure a place in the next phase, as one of the 8 best thirds.
EQUATOR (Sebastian Bekasese): Galindes, Incapier (71′ Estupinian), Ordoñez, Pacho, Vite, Franco (64′ Presiado), M. Caicedo, Jeboa (85′ Torres), Valencia (64′ Rodrigues), Plata, Angulo (85′ Z. Caicedo).
GERMANY (Julian Nagelsmann): Neuer, Rudiger, Ta, Kimmich (60′ Tio), Raum, Pavlovic, Musiala, Wirtz (73′ Gross), Sane, Nmetsa (64′ Bayer), Havertz (60′ Udav)
Pepe shone
With Villarreal’s centre-forward Nicolas Pepe as the absolute star, Ivory Coast beat Curaçao 2-0 in Philadelphia and with 6 points in the 5th group took 2nd place (Germany first) and the “ticket” for the knockouts of the World Cup. In the round of 32, Emers’ team will clearly have a much more difficult task, as they will be asked to face the first of the 9th group, that is, either France or Norway.
Curaçao exit the competition with one point from three games in their maiden appearance at the world’s premier football event. Akti took the lead very quickly. After Diomande’s assist, Pepe opened the scoring in the 7th minute and at the same time the road to the “32” of the World Cup. Although the match… opened quickly and from both teams the 1-0 did not change until the end of the half.
Playing very smartly in the second half and giving space to the Curaçao players, the “Elephants” found a way to “lock” the match and the qualification to the next stage of the competition in the 64th minute. Nicolas Pepe “struck” for the second time, after a pass from Sangare and with an ideal finish “wrote” the 2-0, essentially giving a procedural character to the rest of the match.
CURAçao (Dick Advocaat): Rum, Brenet, Gaari (77′ Castaneer), Obispo, Floranus, Fonville (77′ Noslin), Chong, Comenencia (61′ Antonise), L. Bacuna, Z. Bacuna, Locadia
IVORY COAST (Fae Emers): Fofana, Duet, Kosunu, Ousmane Diomande, Operi, Shangare, Kessier (77′ Seri), Diallo (46′ Oulai), Gian Diomande (67′ Toure), Pepe (67′ Wahi), Bony