Emerse Fae remains confident despite Ivory Coast’s defeat to Germany

The Ivorian manager believes his team showed some promising moments and still have a chance of qualifying for the next round.

Ivory Coast came very close to pulling off a shock result against Germany on Saturday 20 June during the second matchday of the group stage of the 2026 World Cup. The Elephants took the lead before eventually conceding in the dying moments of the match to lose 2–1. But despite this defeat, Emerse Fae refuses to give in to pessimism.

“It was a top-class match. We opened the scoring and had our moments. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to score a second goal. This great footballing nation came back to win the match in the dying moments. We lost with honour and put in a fine performance. Against a team like Germany, you’re never safe. That’s football. We’re now looking ahead to the third match and we’ll do everything we can to secure qualification.”

Ivory Coast will face Curaçao on 25 June in their third and final group stage match.