Amad Diallo frees the Elephants at the very last minute

It took until the 90th minute and a flash of brilliance from Wilfried Singo to separate two sides who had spent the night battering the woodwork. In Philadelphia, reigning African champions Ivory Coast beat Ecuador 1-0 thanks to a goal from substitute Amad Diallo in the dying moments, at the end of a match as tight as it was maddening for the South Americans.

A wall of woodwork, then the dagger blow

For long stretches the script read like a cursed night for Ecuador. Inside the first half, La Tri hit the target twice: John Yeboah (24') and then Alan Minda (30') both smashed the crossbar without managing to open the scoring. For Ivory Coast, Bazoumana Touré had himself squandered the chance of the match in the 17th minute, one-on-one with the keeper, his effort sliding just wide.

After the break, the curse of the woodwork carried on: Enner Valencia struck the post (46'), then Elye Wahi saw his volley crash off the bar at the other end (52'). Hernán Galíndez kept Ecuador afloat, while at the other end the Ivorian keeper turned away a strike from Gonzalo Plata (69'). It took one final moment to tip everything over: in the 90th minute, Wilfried Singo burst down the right before pulling it back for Amad Diallo, whose shot found the bottom-left corner. 1-0, at the end of an agonising wait.

African champions against South American talent

On their return to the World Cup after twelve years away, the Elephants, crowned African champions on home soil, carried ambitions to match their recent qualifying campaign, completed without a single defeat or a single goal conceded. Across from them, the Ecuador of Sebastián Beccacece, rich in talent with the likes of Moisés Caicedo, Piero Hincapié and Willian Pacho, remained a stubborn opponent.

The two nations had never met in a competitive fixture, only once in a friendly back in 2006. And both already knew that Germany had hammered Curaçao earlier in the day: a win was imperative to stay in the hunt for qualification.

Deserved for the Elephants, cruel for La Tri

In the end, Ivory Coast will have earned their win: sharper, 15 shots to 12, 4 on target to 1, and far more present in the opposition box, 39 touches to 16. But Ecuador can harbour eternal regrets: three pieces of woodwork hit in a single match is the cruelty of football summed up in one number. Emerse Faé, the Ivorian head coach, will nonetheless need to address his side's indiscipline, booked on multiple occasions before the interval.

A two-speed Group E, before a top-of-the-table clash

With this win, Ivory Coast join Germany on three points at the top of Group E, the Germans holding the edge on goal difference after their demolition of Curaçao. Matchday 2 promises a showdown: Germany-Ivory Coast, on 20 June in Toronto, for top spot. The same day in Kansas City, Ecuador and Curaçao, both on zero, will already have plenty riding on it.

Ivory Coast leave with three points and a message: the African champions are very much here. Ecuador, for their part, leave with the nagging sense that fate had conspired against them. In football, you don't score off the posts.