Overview
Germany and Ivory Coast both started the 2026 World Cup with victories, but the confrontation in Toronto will be a real test for the ambitions of both teams in Group E.
Germany entered the match with great confidence after the 7-1 destruction of Curacao in the opening match. That was the 10th consecutive victory of Julian Nagelsmann's team in all competitions, their longest winning streak since 1979-1980.
In that jubilant victory, Felix Nmecha, Nico Schlotterbeck, Jamal Musiala, Nathaniel Brown and Deniz Undav all got on the scoreboard, while Kai Havertz scored twice.
The Arsenal star continues to show his scoring talent in major tournaments when he became the only German player to score at EURO 2020, World Cup 2022, EURO 2024 and World Cup 2026. Since EURO 2020, Havertz has scored 8 goals in major tournaments, twice as many as any other teammate.
However, the defense is still a point that Nagelsmann cannot completely rest assured about. Germany has gone through 7 consecutive World Cup matches without keeping a clean sheet, the second longest streak in the national team's history at the tournament.
On the other side, Ivory Coast had an emotional start when they defeated Ecuador 1-0 thanks to Amad Diallo's late goal.
The African representative had to resist great pressure with 12 shots from Ecuador but still maintained the net before launching the decisive blow at the end of the match.
Their hero is Amad Diallo. The Manchester United midfielder came on as a substitute and scored with a header in the 89th minute. This goal was also one of the latest goals scored by a reserve player at the World Cup during official playing time.
After that impressive performance, Amad is likely to be given the opportunity to start against Germany. If he continues to score, he could become the second Ivory Coast player in history to score in 2 consecutive World Cup matches after Gervinho in 2014.
With their current destructive form, Germany is still rated significantly higher. However, Ivory Coast has shown that they possess resilience and the ability to create breakthroughs, promising to bring many difficulties to one of the championship candidates of the tournament.
Head-to-head record
This is only the second time Germany and Ivory Coast have faced each other, and also the first official confrontation between the two teams.
The only previous meeting took place in a friendly match in November 2009 at Gelsenkirchen, closing with a dramatic 2-2 draw. Lukas Podolski put Germany ahead, before Emmanuel Eboue and Seydou Doumbia scored 2 consecutive goals to help Ivory Coast reverse the situation. However, Podolski completed a double with an equalizer in the last minutes of injury time.
World Cup history is also leaning towards European teams. Germany has only lost one of eight encounters with African representatives at the biggest football festival on the planet (5 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss).
Score prediction: Germany 3-1 Ivory Coast
The match between Germany and Ivory Coast takes place at 3:00 AM on June 21 (Vietnam time).
