World Cup Sunday: Wins for Côte d'Ivoire, Sweden
Sunday's final two matches saw Côte d'Ivoire take on Ecuador and Sweden face Tunisia -- get the latest from Ligue 1 McDonald's with our World Cup recaps.
Côte d'Ivoire 1-0 Ecuador
In Philadelphia, Côte d'Ivoire opened their World Cup campaign with a 1-0 win over Ecuador in Group E. RC Strasbourg's Guéla Doué was in the eleven, as was OGC Nice forward Elye Wahi. Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain was in defence for La Tri, but the South Americans struggled to get to grips with the match as they failed to build on what had been a mightily impressive run through qualifying. That's not to say, however, that Ecuador were toothless -- they hit the bar twice from range in the first half, but the match would be scoreless at the break. As the game wore on though, Les Éléphants' teenage winger, Yan Diomandé began to exert more of an influence on the match, and as full time approached, Emerse Faé's changed paid off as Amad Diallo struck a winner, prodding home former AS Monaco defender Wilfried Singo's cross to allow his side to make a big move towards qualification ahead of facing Germany on Saturday.
A perfect debut for Ivory Coast ✅🇨🇮 pic.twitter.com/FFJDuTIltM
— Ligue 1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) June 15, 2026
Sweden 5-1 Tunisia
As impressive as Côte d'Ivoire had been defending, their African counterparts Tunisia were equally slack in a Group F match played in Monterrey, Mexico, with OGC Nice's Ali Abdi and FC Lorient's Montassar Talbi coming under plenty of pressure. Under former Rennes manager Sabri Lamouchi, Tunisia lined up in a three-man defence, but it was to no avail as Sweden opened the scoring with just seven minutes gone, and added a second on the half hour. Omar Rekik would pull a goal back before the break, but the Swedes ran riot in the second half, netting three more times to secure the final margin, with Yasin Ayari netting a brace and Alexander Isak recording a goal and two assists. Tunisia next face Japan next Sunday, and will need a result to preserve their hopes of progression.
