The substitute Amad Diallo struck in the 90th minute to give Côte d’Ivoire a 1-0 win over Ecuador in their Group E opener.
Diallo’s first-time strike of Wilfried Singo’s cross gave the Ivorians their first World Cup victory over South American opposition and halted Ecuador’s unbeaten run at 19 matches.
It also put a bow on a 19-year-old Yan Diomande’s dazzling performance as the Elephants pulled level on points with a Germany side that thumped Curacao 7-1 in their opener earlier in the day.
The promising Ivorians – who have the youngest squad at this World Cup – looked to be running out of ideas before Singo found space surging up the right from his defensive post. His cross reached Diallo in stride, with the 23-year-old Manchester United player deftly guiding it into the bottom left corner to give the West Africans a dream start to their first World Cup finals appearance since 2014.
Ecuador’s best first-half chances came from Côte d’Ivoire’s casual defending. John Yeboah and Alan Minda struck the bar in the 23rd and 30th minutes, respectively.
But it was Côte d’Ivoire who looked better in possession, with Diomande terrorizing Ecuador’s left side. In the 35th minute, he picked up the ball at midfield, beat Piero Hincapié down the line and dragged a cross into the path of Nicolas Pépé’s late run to the penalty spot. Pépé tried to sneak a second touch to get on his favoured left foot, seeing his effort ultimately blocked.
In first-half stoppage time, Singo nearly turned a spectacular bicycle kick on frame from Guéla Doué’s cross.
Côte d’Ivoire started well after the break, but in the 68th minute, a well-struck effort from Ecuador’s Gonzalo Plata forced Yahia Fofana into a comfortable save.
Before that, it was more of Diomande. In the 52nd minute, his cross met Elye Wahi’s angling run, but Wahi’s first-time strike skimmed the crossbar. And moments after switching to the left flank following two Côte d’Ivoire changes in the 56th minute, he dribbled between Yeboah, Alan Franco and Moises Caicedo on his way into the box before firing high.
In a match played within driving distance of more than 600,000 Ecuadorian Americans estimated to live in New York and New Jersey, La Tricolor fans dominated the atmosphere but left disappointed.