Amad Diallo star in the last minute: Côte d'Ivoire beats Ecuador, 1-0, in debut at World Cup 2026
Amad Diallo's last-minute goal gave Côte d'Ivoire a 1-0 win over Ecuador in the Elephants' first match at the 2026 World Cup.
Côte d'Ivoire had a dream and Amad Diallo made sure that it started to come true. In the Elephants' debut at the 2026 World Cup, the Manchester United winger scored the winning goal in the 90th minute for a 1-0 result against Ecuador.
Growing up in the Atalanta system before moving to England, Diallo once again proved his reputation as a man of big moments. After leaving his mark at the Africa Cup of Nations—where he led the way in scoring for Emerse Faé's side—and also scoring a goal in a prestigious friendly against France, he further wrote his own chapter in the history of the national team in his first game at a World Cup.
<figure style="margin:2rem 0;overflow:hidden;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;background:#f9f9f9"><img src="https://tmw-storage.tcccdn.com/storage/tuttomercatoweb.com/img_notizie/thumb3/f7/f7bf3b1d5cbdd0d85ed54cb9abb45fb1-54591-oooz0000.jpeg" alt="Image" style="width:100%;height:auto;object-fit:contain" loading="lazy" /></figure>"We came here to write history. For many of us, this is the first big competition and from the match against France we understood that we are mentally prepared," said Diallo after the match. He added that the team needs to stay focused: "We are very happy with this win, but we have two more matches. Our journey does not end here."
Diallo stepped up again at the last moment—a scene not new to him even at club level—to get Côte d'Ivoire off to the perfect start to their World Cup 2026 campaign.
