Ivory Coast have some unfinished business at the FIFA World Cup, having been dumped out at the group stage on the two occasions they have qualified. In 2006, defeats to Argentina and Netherlands in their opening two fixtures spelled the end of their debut tournament, while in 2010 they were once again unfortunate to be drawn alongside two global heavyweights in the form of Brazil and Portugal, who ultimately progressed from a group also including North Korea. The going should be substantially more comfortable for Ivory Coast this time round, given they have been placed in Group C alongside Colombia, Greece and Japan, a trio who pose much less of a threat than in their two previous World Cup groups. Arguably aside from Colombia, who with the presence of Radamel Falcaowill be seen as a dark horse, there is nobody who Ivory Coast should find particularly dangerous, and they should be confident that they can make it third time lucky in progressing through to the knockout stages. Much of the expectation lies heavily on the shoulders of former Chelseasuperstar Didier Drogba. He is his country’s all-time record goalscorer and somebody whom his teammates will look upon to lead the way into the second round. Aside from Drogba, Ivory Coast harbor some extremely talented players, such as Manchester City’s battering ram Yaya Touré, and ex-Arsenal winger Gervinho, who has set Serie A alight with Roma this season. Possible 23-man Ivory Coast 2014 World Cup Squad: Goalkeepers: Boubacar Barry (Lokeren), Daniel Yeboah (Dijon), Badra Ali Sangare (SéwéSport) Defenders: Kolo Touré (Liverpool), Sol Bamba (Trabzonspor), Benjamin Angoua (Valenciennes), Serge Aurier (Toulouse), Arthur Boka (Stuttgart), Siaka Tiéné (Montpellier), Emmanuel Eboué (Galatasaray), Igor Lolo (Kuban Krasnodar) Midfielders: Didier Zokora (Trabzonspor), Yaya Touré (Manchester City), Romaric (Bastia), Max Gradel (Saint-Étienne), Jean-Jacques Gosso (Gençlerbirliği), Cheick Tioté (Newcastle United), Didier Ya Konan (Hannover 96) Forwards: Didier Drogba (Galatasaray), Salomon Kalou (Lille), Gervinho (Roma), Wilfried Bony (Swansea City), Seydou Doumbia (CSKA Moscow) The Coach: Sabri Lamouchi Player to Watch: Didier Drogba It is always a shame when the public don’t get to watch players of Didier Drogba’s quality perform at a World Cup. Ivory Coast’s poor showing in the previous two editions means we haven’t seen Drogba at his best in the finals, but having been handed a relatively straight forward group this time round, it is expected that Drogba will be around for longer. One of the strongest, most aggressive strikers in the game, Drogba is a joy to watch when at his brutal best, brushing off defenders, powering his way through tackles and finding the net with aplomb. So, it will be fantastic if we could see an African Nation doing great in the WC, 2014, and the farewell world cup of one of the world greatest strikers, Didier Drogba.
Posted on: Fri, 02 May 2014 15:20:56 +0000
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