TORONTO (AP) 鈥� If Ivory Coast wins its next match, Saturday’s loss won鈥檛 matter.
After surrendering and missing the chance to clinch a knockout stage berth for the first time in its four appearances, Ivory Coast turns its attention to its last group stage match against Curacao on Thursday.
Win, and the Elephants are in.
Forward Amad Diallo said he and his teammates will get over the Germany loss. They have to.
鈥淲e (have) respect for ourselves, but we want to make history for C么te d鈥橧voire, and we (are) going to go there with good mentality and try to live again,鈥� he said.
Ivory Coast seemed one step ahead of Germany throughout the first half Saturday and a chunk of the second, with midfielder Franck Kessi茅鈥檚 first-half goal silencing German fans for a long stretch.
But the German side of the sold-out crowd erupted when Deniz Undav scored the winning goal, his second of the match, leaving Ivory Coast fans hanging their heads.
The team seemed a little shocked as well, and players spoke about the pain of losing a match they felt they should have won.
Still, the good news for Ivory Coast is that its next opponent, Curacao, is No. 83 in FIFA鈥檚 international team rankings, well down the list from the 31st-ranked Ivory Coast. The Caribbean nation also lost its
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be a big moment for everyone, for this new generation, because we know we have quality in the team,鈥� Diallo said. 鈥淏ut the priority now is we are really focused on ourselves. It鈥檚 going to be a very hard game.鈥�
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Alexandria Smith is a student in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.
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