German had their backs to the wall for more than an hour into the game and coach Julian Nagelsmann needed something different. He decided to bring in three fresh players, one of whom was Deniz Undav.
“It’s important that everyone sees that even the players from the bench can decide games,. Now we have a really important signal to the team. I think that’s very important in a game like this,” said Undav, who also scored as a substitute in Germany’s 7-1 opening match rout of Curacao last week.
Deniz Undav has already matched Roger Milla’s 1990 record for the most goal involvements as a substitute at a single World Cup since 1966.
Four minutes into stoppage time, Undav got a wonderful ball from Felix Nmecha in front of the net and shot it past Ivory Coast goalkeeper Yahia Fofana to give the Germans a comeback win. It was the German national team’s 11th straight win – the streak stretching back to September 2025.
Undav’s first goal in the contest came after Nadiem Amiri sent in a long ball to him and he managed to drive it home in the 68th minute. Both Amiri and Undav had subbed on eight minutes earlier.
“Deniz is nobody who needs to be prepared. He can jump in right away,” German head coach Nagelsmann was quoted as saying by AP news agency.
Four-time World Cup winners Germany have come back from shocking Group Stage exits in 2018 and 2022, while Ivory Coast are still searching for their first knockout stage appearance and could still qualify. The last time Germany got past the Group Stages, they won the tournament in 2014.
“Think we showed great character today. We want to achieve the most,” Undav added.
Ivory Coast captain Franck Kessie had opened the scoring in the 30th minute after midfielder Yan Diomande sent pass to forward Amad Diallo. His shot was blocked by Germany’s Nathaniel Brown but the ball bounced back to Kessie, who shot into the wide-open left corner of the net.
Germany only had two goals waved off in a frustrating first half of the game. The first was in the 21st minute when Fofana hit into his own net, but Germany midfielder Aleksander Pavlovic made illegal contact with Fofana on the play.