In a surprising turn of events, Manchester United forward Amad clinched a late victory for Ivory Coast, sealing a 2-1 win against a revamped France in their World Cup warmup match held in Nantes.
Manchester City midfielder Rayan Cherki had given France an early lead just before halftime.
After a series of substitutions by Les Bleus coach Didier Deschamps at the start of the second half, French-born Guela Doué quickly equalized for the Elephants, before Amad completed the comeback for Ivory Coast with only six minutes remaining.
France, who will kick off their World Cup campaign against Senegal in New Jersey on June 16, started with a promising attack. Michael Olise connected with Kylian Mbappé on the left, but his low shot was parried by Ivory Coast goalkeeper Yahia Fofana.
Despite remaining unbeaten in their 10 World Cup qualifiers, where they did not concede a goal, Ivory Coast remained defensive as Adrien Rabiot shot over the bar while Olise’s angled attempt was saved just before the hydration break.
Les Éléphants, returning to the finals for the first time since 2014 and set to clash with Germany in Group E, finally sprung into action when Simon Adingra headed over a corner.
Adingra, who was on loan at Monaco last season, then got the better of France’s Aurélien Tchouaméni to break into the box, but his shot was saved by Mike Maignan.
France ultimately broke the stalemate in stoppage time before halftime.
Cherki’s first shot from outside the box was saved, but he regained possession on the right side of the penalty area, executed a clever step-over, and slotted the ball into the far corner past Fofana.
Deschamps employed five substitutions at halftime, including replacing Mbappé with Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta and introducing Aston Villa defender Lucas Digne in place of Theo Hernández.
However, it was Ivory Coast who found the equalizer in the 53rd minute.
Nicolas Pépé played a through ball behind the France defense for the advancing Doué, who capitalized with a right-footed shot past Maignan.
France, who will next face Northern Ireland in Lille on Monday, attempted to respond as Mateta found Marcus Thuram on the left, but his shot went just wide of the far post.
After further substitutions from Deschamps, Ivory Coast secured the late winner when Doué delivered a cross from the right, which Amad connected with to send the ball into the far corner.
Information from PA was used in this recap.