Nicolas Pepe’s brace downed Curacao and fired Ivory Coast into the World Cup knockout stage for the first time ever.
The former Arsenal man has rebuilt his career at Villarreal and, having only had a late cameo in his country’s previous game against Germany, he now has his first World Cup goals.
Pepe gave Ivory Coast a dream start in Philadelphia when he tapped in from Yan Diomande’s cutback inside seven minutes.
The 31-year-old made it 2-0 shortly after the hour mark, beating goalkeeper Eloy Room one-on-one after latching onto Ibrahim Sangare’s pass.
Les Elephants’ second win of the tournament takes them into the Round of 32 as Group E runners-up.
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Pepe finished this match having found the net with both of his shots and completed 40 out of the 43 passes he attempted.
He’ll hope to have done enough to keep hold of a starting spot for his side’s maiden World Cup knockout tie.
The three-time Africa Cup of Nations winners will face the runners-up from Group I in Dallas next Tuesday.
As things stand, they would come against Norway – who take on France in a straight shootout for top spot in that group on Friday evening.
Victory over Curacao means Ivory Coast have also achieved another first: recording multiple wins at the same World Cup – after previously going out at the group stage in 2006, 2010 and 2014.
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