Nicolas Pépé Shines with Two Goals and a Trophy
Nicolas Pépé walked off the pitch with a trophy in his hands and two goals to his name, but his first instinct was to point elsewhere.
“Of course! I know I’ve got what it takes,” he told FIFA, the adrenaline still fresh in his voice. “This is the reward for all my hard work, and I hope it will continue in the upcoming matches too. My brace was down to the team as well.”
It was a landmark night for the veteran forward, the kind that folds neatly into a career highlights reel. Yet he broke it down as if it were routine. The first goal? A formality, in his eyes.
“For the first goal, I just had to tap the ball in after some brilliant work from Yan,” he said. A striker’s finish, yes, but born from collective effort.
The second came from another moment of quality in behind. “For the second, Ibra [Sangare] played a superb ball, and all I had to do was stay focused and score.”
He could have lingered on the precision of his movement, the composure in front of goal, the stage. Instead, he turned back to the dressing room.
“I’d like to dedicate this trophy to the lads. It was one of the best nights of my career.”
On the touchline, Emerse Faé watched his forward deliver exactly what he has long believed Pépé can still produce at the highest level. The coach did not hide his satisfaction.
“Nico knows it, and so do we: he’s a top-class player,” Faé said. “He’s one of the players who need to help us win matches in these competitions. He has the ability and the experience to do so. Today, he scored two brilliant goals. It’s good for the team, and it’s good for him too.”
That blend of experience and efficiency is precisely what this squad leans on. Around Pépé, a younger generation is beginning to write its own story, feeding off nights like this and the calm authority of those who have been there before.
Midfielder Christ Inao Oulai, one of the emerging faces of this campaign, spoke with the kind of wide-eyed conviction that tells you something is changing inside a camp.
“Nico, everyone loves him!” he said, almost laughing at how obvious that felt. “Together, we’re writing a new chapter in our country’s football story, and we’re truly proud to be joining the big boys.”
For the youngsters, this is more than a single win or a veteran’s brace. It is validation that they belong on this stage, that their names can sit alongside the established ones without feeling out of place.
Now comes the real test.
The squad must quickly pivot from celebration to calculation, with a demanding knockout tie looming against either France or Norway. No easy route. No hiding place.
Oulai, though, sounded ready for the step up.
“Personally, I’m excited because they’re both great footballing nations,” he said.
The respect is clear. So is the ambition. With Pépé in this kind of form and a fearless new generation at his back, they are not just turning up to admire the opposition’s pedigree. They are arriving to see how far this new chapter can really go.
