Côte d’Ivoire into World Cup knockouts for first time as Pépé finishes off Curaçao

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 2-0 victory over Curaçao, courtesy of Nicolas Pépé’s double, put the Ivorians through to the last 32 as Group