Germany vs Ivory Coast 2:1 — A Substitute Undav's Brace Completed the Comeback

Deniz Undav needed twenty-two minutes on the pitch to score twice and turn a match Ivory Coast led for nearly forty minutes into a 2-1 German win, completing his brace in the very last minute of normal time.

Franck Kessie put Ivory Coast ahead in the 30th minute against the run of play, catching a German side that had already generated more shots and more territory. The lead held until the 68th, when Undav, on for Jamal Musiala at the hour mark, leveled things, and he struck again in the 90th to complete the turnaround.

Germany Out-Shot Ivory Coast Sixteen To Nine Before The Comeback Even Started

Germany's expected-goals total of 1.89 against Ivory Coast's 1.22 shows the hosts were the better side by underlying numbers for most of the match, even while trailing on the scoreboard for nearly forty minutes. Seven of Germany's sixteen shots found the target, against just two of Ivory Coast's nine.

Julian Nagelsmann's Triple Change At The Hour Mark Won The Match

Sending on Nadiem Amiri, Jonathan Leweling and Deniz Undav together in the 60th minute is the kind of coordinated substitution that either fixes a game or does nothing — this time it fixed it completely, with the third of the three subs scoring twice in the final half hour.

Ivory Coast's Goalkeeper Made Five Saves To Germany's One

The save count reflects who was actually under pressure for most of the ninety minutes — Ivory Coast's keeper worked far harder than his German counterpart, facing a steady stream of German shots even while his own side held a 1-0 lead deep into the second half.

Sixty Percent Possession And 624 Passes Show Where The Game Was Actually Played

Germany's territorial dominance — 624 passes to Ivory Coast's 431, 60 percent possession — never wavered even while behind on the scoreboard. It's a reminder that leading a match and controlling it are not always the same thing, and Ivory Coast found that out in the final half hour.

A Clean Match On Discipline, Decided Entirely By Substitutions

Neither side picked up a single card across the full ninety minutes — a rarity for a match with this much on the line. Instead, the result turned entirely on coaching decisions: Germany's triple change in the 60th minute against Ivory Coast's own reshuffle in the 75th, which came too late to answer Undav's impact.

For Ivory Coast, leading a heavily favored opponent for almost forty minutes before conceding twice late is a result to build confidence from despite the loss. For Germany, a substitute scoring twice in the final half hour after trailing is exactly the kind of resilience a knockout run tends to require.

A Clean Match On Discipline, Decided Entirely By Substitutions

Neither side picked up a single card across the full ninety minutes — a rarity for a match with this much on the line. Instead, the result turned entirely on coaching decisions: Germany's triple change in the 60th minute against Ivory Coast's own reshuffle in the 75th, which came too late to answer Undav's impact on the match. Ivory Coast's own response, a triple substitution in the 75th minute bringing on Seko Fofana, Evann Guessand and Simon Adingra together, arrived too late to stop the German fightback already in motion. Nine of Germany's sixteen shots across the match came from inside the penalty area, a share that only grew once Undav entered and the front line reshaped itself around him for the closing half hour. Eight corners for Germany against three for Ivory Coast is one more small marker of territorial control that never quite closed the game out before Undav's introduction changed the equation.