Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) is out of the 2026 World Cup after suffering a 2-1 defeat to Norway in the Round of 16.
The late loss to the Norwegians—fueled by a late goal from Erling Haaland—ended the Elephants' run in the tournament.
Haaland’s fifth goal of the tournament sealed Norway’s progression after Amad Diallo had cancelled out Antonio Nusa’s 39th-minute opener on Tuesday.
It sets up a mouth-watering clash with Brazil in New York on Sunday.
The African side had shaded the opening exchanges, with Nicolas Pepe threatening down the right, while Ghislain Konan went closest to putting his team ahead, bursting into the area to drag a shot into the side-netting.
Yan Diomande picked out Pepe with a searching ball from the right, only for the Villarreal man to mis-hit his shot, allowing the Norwegian defence to hack clear.
Haaland had been peripheral to that point, but as the end of the half drew near, Norway took control.
The Manchester City striker miscued a downward header from Alexander Sorloth’s cross from the right, but the move sparked Stale Solbakken’s side into life as they upped the tempo and dominated possession.
Their growing superiority paid off when Martin Odegaard fed the ball out to the left to Nusa, who stepped onto his right foot to arc the sweetest of finishes around the flying Yahia Fofana and into the top corner.
Haaland was denied soon after by a last-ditch block, while Sorloth glanced his header across the face of goal from the resulting corner.
Emmanuel Agbadou nodded wide at the other end as the half drew to a close, while Pepe was denied by Orjan Nyland 10 minutes after the restart, having seen Guela Doue’s initial effort blocked by Torbjorn Heggem.
