{"id":219348,"date":"2026-06-15T03:32:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T03:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/219348\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T03:32:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T03:32:27","slug":"phillys-first-world-cup-game-didnt-disappoint-cote-divoire-v-ecuador","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/219348\/","title":{"rendered":"Philly’s first World Cup game didn’t disappoint: C\u00f4te d’Ivoire v. Ecuador"},"content":{"rendered":"

Love Philly? So do we. Let\u2019s be friends. Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia can now officially call itself a FIFA World Cup<\/a> city, after the first of its six games of the 2026 tournament played out on Sunday night, with a late win 1-0 by the Ivory Coast over\u00a0Group E opponents Ecuador.<\/p>\n

The packed stadium of 68,274 fans \u2014 shy of the venue\u2019s record attendance for a soccer game<\/a> \u2014 was filled mostly with the yellow jerseys of Ecuador, with small pockets of C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire orange in places.<\/p>\n

Fans of both national teams had made their presence felt in the region. Ecuador supporters took over the \u201cRocky steps\u201d at the Philadelphia Museum of Art<\/a> on Saturday night, while the Ivory Coast team\u2019s base camp at Chester\u2019s Subaru Park and their hotel in Wilmington had fan events since the squad arrived in the U.S.<\/a><\/p>\n

In the stadium concourse before the game, 13-year-old New Yorker Ethan Warner-Ruf walked around in his Ecuadorian traditional Aya Huma mask that he got when he visited his mother\u2019s hometown of Quito about three or four years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew now was the perfect chance to use it,\u201d he said. \u201cI also had a poncho, authentic from Ecuador, handmade. Although it\u2019s way too hot to wear that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Ethan Warner-Ruf and Marco Flores show off their traditional Ecuadorian masks in the concourse. (Nick Kariuki\/Billy Penn)<\/p>\n

Considering the sweltering heat of the day, it seemed like even the mask might eventually become unbearable to wear. Warner-Ruf said he was dedicated to keep it on as long as he could to support his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great thing to have the entire world come together for one sport,\u201d he said. \u201cThe best sport in the world, football.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sisters Fanta and Rokya Sylla came to support the Ivory Coast, from Montreal and Sharon Hill respectively. Rokya bought the tickets for the both of them, for a total of around $2,600.<\/p>\n

Their friend, Harleysville resident Mafi Soumahoro didn\u2019t want to say how much she spent on her ticket.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, listen, it was very hard, but we here. Bottom line, we here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Although outnumbered in the stands, pockets of orange-wearing fans supporting C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire could be found including (from left) Koura Souma, Rokya Sylla, Mafi Soumahoro and Fanta Silla. (Nick Kariuki\/Billy Penn)<\/p>\n

Soumahoro was also undaunted by there being way more Ecuador fans at the game, which she said may have partially due to the partial travel ban that the U.S. has imposed<\/a> on Ivorian citizens travelling into the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter that we\u2019re not here in masses, like the Ecuadorians. Few but mighty, right? Very few, but mighty,\u201d she said .\u201dWe\u2019ll give everything we have. It\u2019s going to be amazing. It\u2019s going to be beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honduran brothers Fredy and Omar Ramos got their tickets from Fredy\u2019s son as a Christmas present. Fredy is based in Trenton, but Omar had to fly in from Siguatepeque, Honduras.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They came to support Ecuador, despite the painful memory of Ecuador defeating Honduras in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe lost 2-1, but we still support Ecuador. You know, Latin America,\u201d Fredy said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

\"\"Brothers Omar (left) and Fredy Ramos came from Honduras and Trenton, respectively, to see the match in Philly. (Nick Kariuki\/Billy Penn)<\/p>\n

Ramos said he never expected to have the World Cup so close to his home, and he hopes go to another game before his brother returns to Honduras.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know the ticket is expensive, but hey, it happens only one time in your life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Victory for Les \u00c9l\u00e9phants<\/p>\n

The heat advisory in the region may have ended but the temperatures soared in the hours leading up to the game. Thankfully, the thunderstorms that threatened to delay the evening\u2019s proceedings stayed away.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite being touted as the more defensive of the two teams, Ecuador started out with the first scoring chances of the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Forward John Yeboah hit the crossbar with his left-footed shot from outside of the box. Ecuador were denied by the bar again in the 30th minute, this time by midfielder Alan Minda.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After half time, the Ivory Coast came closest to breaking the deadlock, but Elye Wahi\u2019s shot hit the cross bar in nearly the same spot the Minda\u2019s shot struck.<\/p>\n

Manchester United\u2019s Amad Diallo found the winning goal for Les \u00c9l\u00e9phants right before the end of regular time, slotting a one-time left-footed shot from Ghislain Konan\u2019s pass into the bottom corner past goalkeeper Hern\u00e1n Gal\u00edndez.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ivory Coast now stand second in Group E, behind Germany after the European side\u2019s 7-1 thumping of Cura\u00e7ao earlier Sunday.<\/p>\n

Philly\u2019s next game is between five-time champions Brazil and Haiti, which returns to the World Cup for the first time since its debut in 1974. That game will be held Friday, June 19 at 8:30 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Love Philly? So do we. Let\u2019s be friends. Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today. Philadelphia can…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[564,2233,95388,2013,43313,69,71,70,10227,11868,726,2236,2237],"class_list":["post-219348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-featured","tag-fifa","tag-fifa-club-world-cup","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-ivory-coast","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-philadelphia-union","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-world-cup","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}