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Philadelphia’s fourth FIFA World Cup game was its third-straight sellout, with the Ivory Coast cruising to a 2-0 win over Curaçao, moving the African nation into the knockout rounds for the first time in its three tournaments.
In the final game of the group stage games, both teams were trying to secure a spot in the round of 32. Ivory Coast coasted in with a win. Curaçao, the smallest nation to ever compete in the World Cup, had to win to pull off one of the biggest Cinderella stories in the tournament’s history.
The game was being played at the same time as the other Group E game between Germany and Ecuador in East Rutherford, N.J., where an underperforming Ecuador stunned the previously dominant Germans 2-1 to sneak into the next round.
Ahead of the games, a blue wave of a couple thousand Curaçao soccer fans marched down from Marconi Plaza to the Sports Complex, escorted by the Philadelphia Police officers and the team’s superfan, Captain “Blue Face.”
As the wave reached the corner of Pattinson Avenue and South Darien Street, the captain led the group in a couple prayers in Papiamentu, the predominant language of Curaçao.
Aboucar Siddy Diallo, Oumar Bayo and Mamady Dramé came in from Hackensack, N.J., and East Hartford, Conn., to support Les Éléphants, but they couldn’t miss a chance to take a photo next to some Eagles history: the statue of Doug Pederson and Nick Foles calling the “Philly Special.”
In the stadium were Henry and Dinaida Dossett, who travelled in from Amsterdam for the game.
The native Curaçaoans said they never imagined their home country in the World Cup, and couldn’t miss the chance to see them secure a spot in the knockout rounds.
“This is one big dream come true,” Henry said. “Once in a lifetime.”
Tickets for the Dossett’s cost around $270 each. In a tournament where fans have winced every time they were asked how much they paid for tickets, this turned out to be one of the more affordable games on the schedule. Beckham Sibiski (yes, he was named after David Beckham) managed to get his tickets early for $195 each, which is why he and his friends came down from Williamsport for this game.
“I’ll be for real with you, It was one of the cheaper ones to get and then prices have gone up ever since,” he admitted. “But I did always want to see the Ivory Coast play. Me and my friends played with them growing up on [the FIFA video game franchise]. And Didier Drogba, Chelsea. I’m a life-long Chelsea fan.”
Joy for Les Éléphants with an eye on New Jersey
The first highlight of the game came from about 100 miles away at New York/New Jersey Stadium (Metlife Stadium, when it’s not being used for the World Cup), when Germany opened the scoring against Ecuador.
Ivory Coast followed suit shortly after that back in Philly, with a goal by Nicolas Pépé, assisted by Yan Diomande after he capitalized on some lax passing
The jumbotron alerted the 68,324 in Philadelphia Stadium that Ecuador had leveled the score in the ninth minute through Nilson Angulo.
Back on the Philly field, Pépé doubled les Éléphants’ lead in the 64th minute, teed up by midfielder Ibrahim Sangaré’s pass.
Then something incredible happened in New Jersey. In the 77th, Ecuadorian forward Gonzalo Plata also found his scoring boots and Ecuador went 2-1 up over Germany.
The results put Germany and Ivory Coast tied at six points at the top of Group E, but Germany took pole position because they won the match between the two teams. Ecuador’s win helped the team to snatch a knockout round spot through a third place finish. Sadly for Curaçao, its historic World Cup debut ends with a draw and a goal against Ecuador.
Philly’s final group stage game is between Croatia and Ghana, on Saturday at 5 p.m.
