Ivory Coast 1-0 Ecuador: Super sub Amad snatches late winner in Group E showdown

Amad Diallo climbed off the bench to score a late winner, as Ivory Coast snatched a dramatic 1-0 victory over Ecuador in their World Cup opener.

The two sides had generally lacked a cutting edge in the Group E clash at Philadelphia Stadium, though both had been denied by the woodwork, with John Yeboah, Alan Minda and Elye Wahi all striking the crossbar.

But in the 90th minute, Amad brilliantly steered home Wilfried Singo's square pass with a first-time finish to inflict Ecuador's first defeat in 20 matches.

La Tri made the brighter start of the two teams, but it was Ivory Coast who had the first decent opportunities to break the deadlock.

Bazoumana Toure saw a low cross-come-shot tipped around the post by Hernan Galindez, who then easily gathered Wahi's tame effort soon after.

Yet the Ivorians were saved by the crossbar twice in the space of seven minutes at the other end, with Yeboah's sweeping left-footed strike and a first-time Minda shot both rattling the woodwork.

Alan Franco made a superb sliding intervention to thwart Nicolas Pepe in the 35th minute, before the same crossbar was struck seven minutes into the second half, with Wahi denied from Yan Diomande's inviting centre.

Ecuador had to wait until midway through the second half for their first attempt on target, as Gonzalo Plata stung Yahia Fofana's palms with a fierce 20-yard drive.

However, with the contest seemingly petering out towards a stalemate, Singo drove towards the area in the dying moments of regulation time, before his pass was superbly guided into the far corner by Amad.

Ecuador denied by the woodwork as Amad comes up with the goods

The two teams' respective qualifying campaigns suggested it was unlikely the Philadelphia Stadium would witness the sort of goal-fest Germany treated the Houston crowd to in the other Group E clash earlier on Sunday.

Ivory Coast went through the CAF section without conceding a single goal, while Ecuador only let in a CONMEBOL-best tally of five and played out eight goalless draws.

La Tri – fielding a starting XI without any Ecuadorian-based players for the first time in a World Cup match – had Moises Caicedo available after his proposed one-game suspension was overruled.

The Chelsea man was an imposing figure in the middle of the park as Ecuador looked the more in control, and created three chances as Ecuador generated 1.03 expected goals, becoming the fourth team to hit the woodwork three times and lose in a FIFA WC match (since 1966), after the United States v Iran (1998), Brazil vs Argentina (1990) and Italy vs Brazil (1978).

But Ivory Coast, who named their youngest starting XI for a World Cup match since their encounter with Serbia in 2006, stuck in it.

Diomande was a constant threat and created five chances; only two Ivory Coast players have crafted more in a World Cup match: Arthur Boka in 2010 against DPR Korea (six) and Didier Zokora against Serbia in 2006 (seven).

Amad was the difference-maker, however. He was the player with the most successful dribbles in the match, with five, despite playing only 34 minutes.