South Africa World Cup 2010 Group G: Ivory Coast

GROUP G

Brazil North Korea Ivory Coast Portugal

Ivory Coast

Road to South Africa

The Ivorians' unbeaten road to the finals has pumped up the expectation.

The Elephants topped Group 7 of the African qualifiers with three wins and three draws, above Botswana, Madagascar and Mozambique.

In the subsequent third round, they qualified with ease for South Africa with two games to spare, topping Group E ahead of Burkina-Faso, Guinea and Malawi with five wins and a draw and an awesome goal difference of +15.

Fixtures

Ivory Coast Copyright © Soccerphile	Ivory Coast Copyright © Soccerphile

Ivory Coast v Portugal 15 June; Port Elizabeth
Ivory Coast v Brazil 20 June; Johannesburg
Ivory Coast v North Korea 25 June; Nelspruit

Analysis

Ivory Coast's trophy cabinet consists of a single African Nations Cup in 1992, but they enter the World Cup highly rated on the basis of a group of players employed at Europe's top clubs. Four years ago, their squad was employed wholly overseas, uniquely among the qualifiers.

The Spanish-based duo of Yaya Toure (Barcelona) and Didier Zokora (Sevilla) man the middle with Premier League support out wide - Salomon Kalou (Chelsea) cutting in from the left and Arsenal's Emmanuel Eboue working the right. Eboue can also play in defence and with Man City's Kolo Toure and Stuttgart's Artur Boka will form a fortress hard to breach.

Up front, the awesome Didier Drogba leads the line and carries his country's hopes, with the diminutive but speedy Marseille man Bakary Kone a useful foil.

Like many African teams, the Ivorians employ a 4-4-2 formation with skilful close-passing and powerful running, but have recently been experimenting with three up front. Physically strong and with sound technique, Cote d'Ivoire embody classic African footballing strengths.

Although deemed the strongest of the six African participants at the finals, Ivory Coast were ranked five places below Cameroon at the end of 2009, in 16th place. They are still relatively unknown on the global stage, with only one African Nations crown and a single World Cup finals appearance to their name (a first-round exit in Germany 2006).

The 2010 African Cup of Nations should tell us more about their potential to explode brilliantly or self-destruct dismally in the summer. In the 2008 edition, four straight wins was followed by a defensive collapse against Egypt, who thrashed them 4-1 in the semi-finals. Ghana then beat them 4-2 in the third-place play-off.

Key player: Didier Drogba

Drogba is the Elephants' man, make no mistake. He emerged as one of Europe's outstanding performers at Marseille in 2003, but after moving to West London five years ago, the 6' 3" forward has cemented his place as one of the world's top gunners with 85 goals in all competitions for Chelsea. His international strike rate is high too: 27 in 37. His champion performances on the field and impressive charity work off it have made Drogba an iconic ambassador for Africa on a par with George Weah.

Drogba's Stamford Bridge years, which include League, League Cup and FA Cup wins plus a Champions League final, mean he will have no opponents to fear in South Africa; indeed it is hard to think of another striker who will place such large butterflies in the stomachs of the defenders up against him. In qualifying, he bagged six goals in five games, including the strike against Malawi which sent the Ivory Coast back to the finals.

A well-documented admission to diving will mean he must be on his best behaviour with FIFA's notorious directives to World Cup referees to clamp down enthusiastically on all foul play.

At 21, Drogba was a late developer in the professional game and starting the tournament aged 32, he has intimated this could be his last chance of global glory for his country.

One to watch: Gervinho

The 22 year-old with the Brazilian nickname - his real name is Gervais Yao Kouassi, may not be a household name yet, but watch out for the Ivory Coast's latest hot-shot.

With his dreadlocks and hair band he could be mistaken for Drogba's younger brother, though stands a little shorter at 1.79m (5'11"). Currently plying his trade at Lille, he has been strongly linked with Arsenal and Tottenham after captaining his country's Olympic team in Beijing. He still has only a handful of national team caps to his name but a brace against Guinea in the final qualifier has pushed him into the first-team fold.

Predominantly a striker, he can also operate as an attacking midfielder or on the right flank and could form a lethal partnership with Drogba up front in South Africa.

Coach: Sven-Goran Eriksson

Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic was replaced by the much traveled Sven-Goran Eriksson in March after a perceived failure at the African Cup of Nations where the Elephants failed to reach the semi-finals.

Eriksson's record is impressive, twice taking England to the quarter-finals of the World Cup in 2002 and 2006. Since leaving the England job after the 2006 World Cup in Germany, the easy-going Sven has managed Manchester City, had a largely uninspired stint with Mexico and was director of football at Notts County.

Record

2006 First Round

FIFA Ranking

Predictions & Latest Odds

We think they'll beat Portugal to advance.
World Cup Betting

How they qualified

Won group E in the African qualifying zone.

On the sidelines

Côte d'Ivoire played their first international match in 1960.
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Soccerphile says

Never before has an African team entered the World Cup with such high expectations. Blessed with a galaxy of stars and playing on their home continent's grass, the Ivorians will be monitored closely from the off in the hope an African team can at last pull off the big one. Ivory Coast and South Africa might be 5000km (3000miles) apart, but the soccer world expects the Elephants to feel somewhat at home in June.

The furthest an African team has gone in the World Cup remains Cameroon's heroic charge to the quarter-finals in 1990 and Senegal's last-eight finish in 2002. Four years ago the Elephants were tipped for great things but were drawn into a difficult first round group. A 3-2 win over Serbia proved they were no minnows but one-goal losses to Argentina and the Netherlands sent them home early. Can they become the first Africans in the last four this time?

Once more a 'group of death' or at least a very tricky one to navigate remains the biggest obstacle to the Ivorians advancing. The opening clash with Portugal in Port Elizabeth looks crucial, assuming Brazil will make it safely out of the group and North Korea will not trouble the Ivorians.

Should they escape Group G, Spain or Chile are their likely second-round opponents, providing an interesting clash of styles. At the quarter-final stage, the remaining big fish in their half of the draw are the Dutch and the Italians; Cameroon are the only African nation they could meet before the semi-finals.

Halilhodzic admits reaching the last four would satisfy him, but should they achieve the milestone of being the most successful African nation at a World Cup, a tidal wave of that continent's hopes and global underdog euphoria could conceivably sweep them all the way.

The Ivory Coast embody the best virtues of their continent's football and are unlikely to succumb to the infamous Achilles' heel that dogs African teams - losing their discipline when losing on the field. What they are in greater danger of is having a fragile dressing room when things are not going well. Well-paid African Euro stars often find disciplinarian African coaches a headache, so Halilhodzic's headmaster approach to his men will be interesting as their tournament unfolds.

If the Elephants are to make the dreams come true, they would do well to remember their country's motto, which could have been penned by any number of coaches: "Unity, Discipline and Labour."

The Squad

Goalkeepers Boubacar Barry (Lokeren), Aristides Zogbo (Maccabi Netanya), Daniel Yeboah (ASEC Abidjan)
Defenders: Souleymane Bamba (Hibernian), Arthur Boka (VfB Stuttgart), Guy Demel (Hamburg SV), Emmanuel Eboue (Arsenal), Steve Gohouri (Wigan Athletic), Siaka Tiene (Valenciennes), Kolo Toure (Manchester City), Benjamin Brou Angoua (Valenciennes)
Midfielders: Jean-Jacques Gosso Gosso (Monaco), Abdelkader Keita (Galatasaray), Emmanuel Kone (International Curtea Arges), Gervais Yao Kouassi (Lille), Christian Koffi Ndri (Sevilla), Cheik Ismael Tiote (Twente Enschede), Yaya Toure (Barcelona), Didier Zokora (Sevilla)
Forwards: Aruna Dindane (Lekhwiya), Seydou Doumbia (Young Boys Berne), Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Salomon Kalou (Chelsea)

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