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Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast national team) lost to Norway, 2-1, in the round of 32, while Team USA defeated Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2-0, to advance on to the round of 16 in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
A little over three weeks into the FIFA World Cup, Delaware is saying goodbye to its adopted team.
The Ivory Coast national team made Wilmington their home during their participation in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the first World Cup held in the United States since 1994. The team nicknamed, Les Éléphants, stayed at the Hotel du Pont and traveled a short distance to the Philadelphia Union’s stadium in Chester, Pennsylvania, for training.
Ivory Coast qualified for the World Cup after defeating Kenya in the Confederation of African Football qualifiers in October of 2025. Les Éléphants’ last World Cup appearance came in 2014 when the tournament was held in Brazil, and the team failed to exit the group stage. This year was different.
The welcoming of the Côte d’Ivoire Football Club to Delaware by a delegation of elected officials. Photo Credit: George Rotsch
Côte d’Ivoire won their first group stage match against Ecuador on a goal by Amad Diallo in the 90th minute. The team traveled to Toronto Stadium for their second group stage match, a 2-1 loss to Germany. They returned to the site of their prior group stage win — Philadelphia Stadium — for a matchup against Curaçao which they won, 2-0, behind a two goal performance from forward Nicolas Pepe.
The win secured their advancement to the round of 32 for the first time in the team’s history. They completed the group stage as the runner-up in Group E behind Germany.
Ivory Coast faced a strong Norway team in the round of 32, but performed well. Norway forward Antonio Nusa scored the game’s first goal in the 39th minute, but it was answered by Diallo in the 74th minute. The teams’ played to a stalemate until an Erling Haaland goal in the 86th minute provided the game winning score and ended Ivory Coast’s historic World Cup journey.
Team USA advances to the Round of 16:
While Delaware’s adopted team is out of the competition, Team USA is back in familiar territory entering the round of 16 for the second straight World Cup.
During the 2022 World Cup, Team USA advanced to the round of 16 where they lost, 3-1, to the Netherlands. This year they’ll face Belgium in the round of 16 on July 6 at Seattle Stadium.
Team USA was an automatic qualifier for this year’s World Cup as one of three host countries (including Canada and Mexico). Placed in Group D, Team USA won its first two group stage matches against Paraguay and Australia. Team USA lost their final group stage match to Türkiye, 3-2.
Despite the loss, the United States finished atop the Group D standings and matched up with Bosnia-Herzegovina in the round of 32. USA forward Folarin Balogun got the scoring started with a goal in the 45th minute and a goal from midfielder Malik Tillman in the 82nd minute secured the United States victory.
But, the victory wasn’t the most impactful storyline from the game.
Balogun was penalized with a red card in the 64th minute after a VAR review, forcing the US team to play the rest of the game a man down. The card also means Balogun will be ineligible to play in Team USA’s round of 16 game against Belgium. Balogun has three goals thus far in World Cup play.
Where to Watch:
There are no scheduled watch parties for the round of 16 games, but there is one more Delaware watch party scheduled for the World Cup Final on July 19. The watch party will be held at the Bob Carpenter Center at the University of Delaware.
Ryan Colasanti joins Delaware Live following four years at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism, earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism. There he covered multiple sports for the school’s radio station as both a reporter and editor. Ryan is excited to return back to the state and cover all things Delaware sports.
