Emerse Fae has urged Ivory Coast to quickly move on from their painful defeat to Germany, insisting the Elephants remain firmly in control of their World Cup destiny ahead of a decisive final group match against Curacao.
The African champions looked on course for a famous result after leading one of the tournament favourites, only to concede twice late on and suffer a heartbreaking 2-1 defeat.
While the manner of the loss left obvious disappointment, Fae was keen to focus on the bigger picture, stressing that qualification for the knockout stage remains entirely within his team’s grasp.
“We still have our fate in our hands,” the Ivory Coast coach told reporters after the match.
“If we win on Thursday, we’ll be qualified. Then we’ll see if it’s as first, second or third.”
The result leaves the Elephants facing a high-stakes encounter with Curacao, but unlike many teams entering the final round of group fixtures, they do not need to rely on favours elsewhere.
That reality provided one of the few positives Fae could take from a difficult evening against Germany.
“The positive point is that we still have our fate in our hands,” he said.
“We’re going to look for our qualification on Thursday.”
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Fae acknowledged that the emotional toll of losing so late against Germany would require careful management over the coming days.
Ivory Coast matched the European giants for long periods and created opportunities that could have changed the outcome before eventually being punished by Germany’s experience.
With little recovery time before the final group fixture, the coach revealed that both physical and mental regeneration would be crucial.
“First of all, we’re going to recover physically,” Fae explained.
“We’re also going to recover mentally because we lost the match after a fight in the last minutes.”
The coach expects Curacao to provide a stern challenge regardless of their own situation in the group and warned his players against expecting an easy route to qualification.
“We know it’s going to be a fight,” he said.
“They’re going to play to win and cause us as many problems as possible.”
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Despite the setback, Fae expressed satisfaction with much of what he has seen from his young squad during the opening phase of the tournament.
Ivory Coast began their campaign with victory over Ecuador before producing a spirited display against Germany, one of the leading contenders for the title.
The coach believes those performances show a team moving in the right direction.
“I’m happy with the start of the World Cup for my players,” Fae said.
“We won against Ecuador, which wasn’t an easy match, and today we put in a good performance against one of the favourites of the competition.”
That belief now shifts to Thursday’s showdown, where a victory would secure the first objective set before the tournament began.
“We’ll be able to qualify for the second round ourselves,” Fae added.
The disappointment of Germany must now be replaced by determination, with their World Cup future still firmly in their own hands.
