A second-half double from substitute Deniz Undav fired Germany to a last-gasp 2-1 win over Ivory Coast to secure a place in the last 32 of the World Cup on Saturday night.
Julian Nagelsmann’s team had inflicted a 7-1 defeat on Curacao in their opening game of the tournament, but faced defeat at Toronto Stadium after Franck Kessie scored in the 30th minute.
Ivory Coast were good value for their advantage, but Nagelsmann’s mid-game tweaks turned the tide in Germany's favour after substitutes Nadiem Amiri and Undav combined for a 68th-minute leveller before the latter struck deep into stoppage time to claim the points.
Nagelsmann was thrilled by his side’s comeback, but stopped short of celebrating Germany advancing to the World Cup knockout stages for the first time since 2014.
“We have high ambitions,” Nagelsmann said when asked if booking a place in the next round was something to celebrate after group stage exits in 2018 and 2022. “The most important topic for us is to focus on the next step."
Undav, 29, is now the tournament's joint top-scorer with three, all from the bench. Asked if he will start the next game, Nagelsmann said: “I could have him in the starting line-up. I think that every player would love to be in the starting line-up, but I think he’s very happy as it is right now.”
“It's a great feeling,” said Undav after taking home the player-of-the-match award against the Ivorians. “It's wonderful, a fantastic feeling. For me to get the trophy is extraordinary, but the important thing is we won the game and go into the next round and see what happens.”
Who is Deniz Undav?
Only Harry Kane scored more goals in Germany last season than Stuttgart striker Undav, but such heights were a distant dream for a player who was a late bloomer in football.
Undav grew up in Achim, near Bremen, but his parents are Kurdish Yazidis from the village of Isikli in Viransehir, near the Turkish-Syrian border. He is the first footballer of Yazidi heritage to represent Germany at a major tournament.
Undav was rejected by Werder Bremen at 14, and at 17 he was earning Dh600 a week as a semi-professional in Germany's fourth division while working eight-hour shifts at a factory.
“When Werder told me at 14 that I didn't have a future with them because I was too small, it broke my heart,” Undav told Belgium's 7sur7.
“But I did not abandon hope. I left the family home at 17 to sign for Havelse in the fourth division in Germany where I combined playing and training with working full-time, eight-hour days operating a laser machine in a factory.
“I got up around 4am, went to the factory, then I went to training and got back home around 8pm … before doing it all again the next day. I had to do that job for the money to live because I couldn't survive on the money from the football alone.”
Undav joined Belgian second-division side Union Saint-Gilloise in 2020, helping them earn promotion and scoring 25 goals in the top flight.
That earned him a move to Brighton, but after just five goals in 22 Premier League appearances, he was sent on loan to Stuttgart, who signed him permanently in 2024.
Undav scored 19 league goals in 2025/26 to seal Champions League football and his World Cup spot.
Netherlands thrash Sweden
Meanwhile, Brian Brobbey and Cody Gakpo scored two each as the Netherlands cruised to a 5-1 victory over Sweden to go top of World Cup Group F.
Oranje boss Ronald Koeman sprang a surprise by selecting Brobbey ahead of Crysencio Summerville, a goalscorer in their opening 2-2 draw with Japan, but the decision was quickly vindicated as the Sunderland striker scored twice in the opening 17 minutes.
After Sweden had a goal ruled out at the end of the first half, Gakpo hit two in the first 10 minutes of the second half, and although Anthony Elanga pulled one back for Graham Potter’s Sweden just before the hour, substitute Summerville had the final say in the 90th minute.
Curacao seal first point
Elsewhere on Saturday night, a heroic performance from goalkeeper Eloy Room created history for Curacao as they earned their first World Cup point by holding Ecuador to a 0-0 draw in Kansas City.
Room made 15 saves – the most by any goalkeeper in 90 minutes of a World Cup match since records began in 1966 – acting as a one-man barrier, with Dick Advocaat’s brave side bouncing back from their 7-1 thrashing by Germany in their opening game.
The point, a historic result for a tiny nation with just 158,000 people, keeps their unlikely hopes of advancing through Group E alive, and they will progress to the knockout stages if they can somehow beat Ivory Coast in their final match.
