'We respect Germany but we believe we can beat them' - Ivorian forward Oumar Diakité

Ivory Coast forward Oumar Diakité believes the Elephants have what it takes to shock Germany at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Twenty years after Ivory Coast made their World Cup debut on German soil in 2006, the two nations are set to meet in Group E of the 2026 tournament.

Speaking exclusively to EOS Official, Diakité admitted he has no memory of Ivory Coast’s first World Cup because of his age at the time.

“I was three years old, so I don’t really remember what happened at that World Cup,” he said.

But now, the 22-year-old says the focus is firmly on creating a new chapter in Ivorian football history.

“Now the goal is to try to beat Germany because we feel this is not the German team we were used to some years ago,” Diakité stated.

“We respect them but we think we can do something.”

Ivory Coast have never progressed beyond the group stage despite producing legendary generations featuring Didier Drogba, Yaya Touré, Gervinho and Salomon Kalou.

Diakité believes the current generation has a genuine opportunity to finally break that barrier.

“We’ve never gone past the group stage and I think this is our moment,” he added.

“With all the quality players we have, we can stage an upset.”

“It would be very special to beat Germany - once a monster of football.We believe and we’ll give everything.”

Germany head into the tournament under increasing pressure after disappointing recent World Cup campaigns.

Since winning the FIFA World Cup in 2014, the Germans have suffered consecutive group-stage eliminations in both 2018 and 2022.

There are also growing expectations on young manager Julian Nagelsmann to restore Germany’s dominance on the world stage.

Diakité believes Germany’s recent decisions show they understand the importance of the upcoming tournament.

“You’ve seen Manuel Neuer returning to the German national team.It means they know what’s at stake. It means they want to do better than their last performance”, he noted.

Ivory Coast will face Germany in their final group-stage game of the tournament as the Elephants attempt to qualify for the knockout stages of the World Cup for the first time in their history.