Curacao trailing Ivory Coast at halftime; South Korea advances if neither Ecuador nor Curacao wins

Germany's Florian Wirtz (right) dribbles during the Group E third-round match against Ecuador at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Friday (Korea time). [Reuters]
Germany's Florian Wirtz (right) dribbles during the Group E third-round match against Ecuador at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Friday (Korea time). [Reuters]

Ecuador and Germany were level at 1-1 at halftime in their Group E match at the 2026 FIFA North America World Cup on Friday, while Curacao headed into the second half trailing Ivory Coast 0-1. If neither Ecuador nor Curacao wins, South Korea's chances of advancing to the round of 32 improve significantly.

Ecuador finished the first half level with Germany at 1-1 in the Group E third-round match at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Friday (Korea time).

Ecuador, considered a dark horse heading into the tournament, managed just one draw and one loss in their first two group-stage matches. Particularly damaging was a 0-0 draw against Curacao — a side regarded as the weaker team — which left Ecuador third in the group.

Desperate to keep their knockout-stage hopes alive, Ecuador deployed their key players in full, including Moises Caicedo (Chelsea), Willian Pacho (Paris Saint-Germain) and Piero Hincapie (Arsenal).

Germany, who had already secured a round-of-32 berth with two wins, also fielded their first-choice lineup to maintain momentum, with Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Florian Wirtz (Liverpool), Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich) and Kai Havertz (Chelsea) all starting.

The opening exchanges were tightly contested. In the second minute, Leroy Sane (Galatasaray SK) picked up a pass from Wirtz and fired a shot inside the box to put Germany ahead. Ecuador hit back quickly, with Nilson Angulo (Sunderland AFC) equalizing with a long-range strike in the ninth minute.

Both sides continued to press hard. Around the 24th minute, Havertz met a cross from David Raum (RB Leipzig) with a header, but the effort went straight at Ecuador goalkeeper Hernan Galindez (CA Huracan) and failed to find the net.

In the 34th minute, Musiala attempted a shot after receiving a pass from Wirtz but could not convert. Ecuador applied intense pressure on the German defense yet were unable to break through.

In the other Group E match played simultaneously, Curacao trailed Ivory Coast 0-1 at halftime. Heading into the match, Ivory Coast had one win and one loss, while Curacao had one draw and one loss.

If both results hold, South Korea's prospects of reaching the round of 32 would improve considerably. South Korea lost 0-1 to South Africa in their Group A third-round match on Thursday, a defeat that dropped them to third place in the group.

In this tournament, the top eight third-place finishers across all groups advance to the round of 32. If the third-place teams in Groups D, E and F finish with fewer points or a worse goal difference than South Korea, the Koreans advance directly to the knockout stage. For South Korea to clinch a round-of-32 spot on Friday, Ecuador and Curacao must both fail to win.


yeongdai@heraldcorp.com