Curacao face the Ivory Coast in their final World Cup group stage game tonight.
The island nation can finish ahead of their opponents with a win, taking them to four points. But the African side will have other ideas, and are looking to keep momentum going after a strong win over Ecuador in the opening game.
A loss to Germany followed, but winning tonight will guarantee them second spot, and a place in the knockout stages.
Catch up with all the team news right here on 101GreatGoals.
Curacao team news
Dick Advocaat names an unchanged side for Curacao. All eyes will again be on goalkeeper Eloy Room.
Curacao starting XI: Eloy Room, Sherel Floranus, Armando Obispo, Juriën Gaari, Deveron Fonville, Joshua Brenet, Juninho Bacuna, Leandro Bacuna, Livano Comenencia, Tahith Chong, Jürgen Locadia
Ivory Coast team news
Interestingly there are four changes for the Ivory Coast. Guéla Doué, Christopher Opéri, Ousmane Diomande and Nicolas Pépé come in. Wilfried Singo is injured, Christ Inao Oulaï, Emmanuel Agbadou and Ghislain Konan drop out.
Ivory Coast starting XI: Yahia Fofana, Christopher Opéri, Odilon Kossounou, Ousmane Diomande, Guéla Doué, Yan Diomande, Ibrahim Sangaré, Franck Kessie, Amad Diallo, Ange-Yoan Bonny, Nicolas Pépé
Where to watch Curacao v Ivory Coast: TV channel, live online streams
Kick-off on Thursday is at 21:00 BST (18:00 ET / 15:00 PT). In the UK, live coverage is on BBC Two.
Streaming on a vast range of devices is available through the BBC iPlayer app and BBC Sport website.
World Cup 2026: Curacao v Ivory Coast stats
- Curacao are World Cup debutants alongside Cape Verde, Jordan and Uzbekistan, representing the most newcomers since the 2006 edition, when six teams made their bow at the tournament. The last debutants to reach the knockout stage were Slovakia in 2010
- They are the first CONCACAF debutants at the World Cup since Panama in 2018 and could become the first side from that confederation to progress from the group stage on their debut since Costa Rica in 1990 (round of 16).
- As well as scoring the most goals in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying (28), Curacao also led the way for expected goals (22.7), with their four goals from high turnovers only bettered by Costa Rica (6)
- In CONCACAF qualifying, no player created more chances from open play than Curacao’s Juninho Bacuna (20)
- Kastaneer scored two more goals than any of his teammates in qualifying
- In their fourth appearance at the World Cup and their first since 2014, Ivory Coast could progress past the group stage for the first time
- Ivory Coast did not concede a single goal in their 10 qualifying matches for the FIFA World Cup; they were one of two teams in the CAF qualifiers to achieve that feat, alongside Tunisia
- Fifteen different players scored for Ivory Coast in qualifying, which is more than any other nation (Tunisia next, on 14)
- Simon Adingra was involved in more goals than any other Ivory Coast player in qualifying (5 – 2 goals, 3 assists) and was also one of only two players to feature in every single qualifier
- Fae is managing at his first World Cup and was part of Ivory Coast’s squad for the country’s World Cup debut in 2006, although he did not feature at that tournament
World Cup 2026: Curacao v Ivory Coast prediction
Curacao 0-3 Ivory Coast
Room will be hoping for more heroics and history, but Ivory Coast have won 10 and drawn two of their last 12 matches against teams currently ranked below them and can be backed to go through comfortably.
