The Elephants had to bridge a nine-goal gap with Portugal to stand a chance of reaching the next round, which was evidently a long shot.

Brazil, who had qualified for the round of 16 on Sunday, became Group G winners on seven points, while Portugal secured second place with five.

Ivory Coast are one point behind Portugal. North Korea are languishing at the bottom of the group with no points.

Group H matches take place later on Friday. The top two teams will face Brazil and Portugal in the round of 16.

European champions Spain will face top of the group Chile whereas Switzerland take on lowly side Honduras.

Slim Qualification Hopes

Ivory Coast tightened their grip on the game right after the kickoff, looking for a goal galore to revive their slim qualification hopes.

Didier Drogba had a headed goal rightfully disallowed through offside after 11 minutes.

Yaya Toure opened the scoring with a tame curling shot from outside the area three minutes later.

Koffi Romaric doubled Ivory Coast's lead on 20 minutes with a headed follow-up effort, after a Drogba close-range drive was denied by the crossbar.

Salomon Kalou added the third eight minutes from time when he connected with an Arthur Boka cross; a goal that was followed by flamboyant celebration.