Deniz Undav’s double earns Germany dramatic late win against Côte d’Ivoire

For the first time in more than a decade, Germany will play in the World Cup knockout stages. Their 2-1 victory at the death over Côte d’Ivoire in a lively tie here on Saturday saw to that. Franck Kessié’s 30th-minute goal for Les Éléphants was cancelled out by Deniz Undav’s 68th-minute equaliser and 94th-minute winner for Die Mannschaft.

The victory put the four-time world champions on six points, although the youngest team at this tournament gave the Germans a far tougher test than in the 7-1 crunching of Curaçao six days ago.

Before 2018, Germany had never been eliminated in a World Cup group stage. No other nation has reached as many semi-finals as them, with 13 – only Brazil are close at 11.

And yet, in Russia, a pair of losses condemned the Germans to their worst World Cup performance ever. In Qatar, four years later, they failed again, going out in the group.

An edition expanded to 48 teams, with 32 going through to the knockout stages, never seemed likely to trip Julian Nagelsmann and his men up for a third time running. But then there were also plenty of concerns around this non-vintage edition of this accomplished side.

Among the issues the Germans fretted about before travelling to the United States were the absence of an obvious choice for striker; the form of Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz; injuries to two other creative players in Serge Gnabry and Lennart Karl; a 40-year-old Manuel Neuer, who had to be coaxed back from almost two years of international retirement in order solve the goalkeeper problem; and Nagelsmann, who has never entirely convinced the critics as Germany manager, or indeed as the Bayern Munich head coach before that.

Then there was the concern that Germany have not produced the sort of world-class player who will take a game by the scruff of the neck and bend it to his nation’s will. Oh, and also: the German people just don’t seem terribly bothered about this team or this tournament.

Plainly, an entirely unchanged Germany team had quite enjoyed the sensation of putting seven past an opponent and very nearly got another one just 15 seconds in, when Kai Havertz had a pop that whizzed high. More would follow as Joshua Kimmich swung in a cross for Havertz, whose well-placed header was majestically saved by Yahia Fofana. Musiala, meanwhile, found a crack of space in the tightly packed Ivorian lines at the edge of the box but curled his effort wide.

In the 21st minute, the outstanding Felix Nmecha’s shot from outside the box was deflected over the Côte d’Ivoire goal. On the ensuing corner to the back post, Aleksandar Pavlović beat Fofana and nodded in to the net to put Germany ahead. But he was adjudged to have fouled the goalkeeper while they were airborne. During the long wait while Fofana received treatment for the damage inflicted, the players wandered over to their benches for a drink.

But no, protested the Paraguayan referee Juan Gabriel Benítez, this was not the appropriate moment for hydration. That would come just a minute or so later when he whistled for the drinks break and the sellout-ish crowd showered the proceedings in well-deserved jeers. This was, after all, a farcical sight on a pleasant lakeside afternoon that was, if anything, a tad brisk – absolutely optimal soccer weather, in other words – screaming at any rate that no special accommodations need be made for player wellbeing.

Once more, the break tilted the momentum of the game. And in the 30th minute, Yan Diomande, the 19-year-old breakout Ivorian star received the ball up the left. He had been involved frequently to that point, but little had come off. This time, he got himself clear of Kimmich and found Amad Diallo with his low cross. But the Manchester United man struggled to get the ball out of his feet and, when he finally did, saw his effort blocked by the lunging Nathaniel Brown. But Kessié was right there to sweep the rebound home.

If Germany had looked stunned after conceding, a second disallowed goal injected them with urgency. In the 39th minute, Musiala was found guilty of bundling over Odilon Kossounou before Havertz set off with the ball and beat Fofana. Côte d’Ivoire invited pressure, luring 10 Germans into their third and Neuer almost halfway up the field. When, inevitably, Die Mannschaft coughed up the ball in an inopportune spot, the Ivorians would scamper away on the break. The imprecision of those forays kept the match close.

Germany’s fitful attempts at a breakthrough seemed to be embodied by a hopeless long shot by Antonio Rüdiger that sailed into the sea of Germany fans behind Fofana’s goal. But Nagelsmann found solutions through a triple-substitution at the hour, which gave the Germans more thrust and bite.

Pressure on the Ivorian goal ratcheted up and by the 69th minute, the dam finally broke when one substitute, Nadiem Amiri, found another in the box in Undav, who volleyed home from close range. It was mostly one-way traffic from there on, as Emerse Faé’s men in their luminous orange no longer looked so fit or frightful in the press.

In a frantic, wide-open ending, Côte d’Ivoire very nearly had the final say on a late break when Simon Adingra took a touch when he should have put his finish away first time. At the other end, Brown was denied by Fofana and Amiri slid a wide-open finish right at the goalkeeper. At long last, Undav spun and fired the winner past Fofana to bring visible relief to his team and to the overwhelmingly pro-German masses.

The Germans pride themselves on being a “turniermannschaft.” A team that specialises in tournament football. It’s just as well, then, that they have reached the tournament stage of this event for the first time since winning it in 2014.