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Côte D'Ivoire vs Portugal Match Preview

Among those is Cristiano Ronaldo’s obsession to take the headlines by storm and Cote d’Ivoire’s possible sweet relief as an African nation looking to upset either favorites Portugal or favorites Brazil to eventually reach the last 16 of the tournament.

The 2010 World Cup, This Time For Africa?

Well, only the Black Stars of Ghana have managed to shake the earth of the Black Continent so far with their famous 1-0 victory against one of Europe’s best defensive side, Serbia. South Africa was on the verge of creating a perfect new page in history when they came up against Mexico to open the 2010 World Cup tournament. But disappointingly, they conceded an equalizer and were therefore denied from celebrating a victory.

Nigeria followed with a 1-0 loss to Argentina. That defeat was a narrow one and their goalkeeper would have to be credited for putting a man-of-the-match performance which prevented the Albicelestes from drowning the Super Eagles with a flood of goals. Either way, Nigeria lost only to be judged by the numerous overconfident statements they had been making since December 2009.

Algeria also went down to Slovenia in what looked like a balanced game and thus gave way for Ghana to become the first African nation to win a game at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Now with Cameroon also losing against Japan on Monday, pro-African fans are starting to wonder about the fate of the continent’s six representatives.

Cote d’Ivoire certainly have the toughest mission among African teams with the likes of Portugal, Brazil, and underdogs Korea DPR aiming to challenge them in Group G. Cote d’Ivoire’s match against the Portuguese is a crucial one, and one that will surely give early details about the Elephants’ destiny during South Africa 2010. 90 minutes of football are there to be played; will the Ivoirians be outplayed instead during this period?

Will Didier Drogba’s absence or presence have an enormous impact on the match?

Cristiano Ronaldo’s fierce rival Didier Drogba became part of the 2010 World Cup’s long injury list comprising star names when his arm broke during Cote d’Ivoire’s friendly match against Japan on June 4. Didier Drogba is the skipper of the Ivory Coast and his talismanic influence in football has mainly been felt in Chelsea, his club football team.

The father of four enjoyed his best ever year last season as he helped the Blues to an historic double in England. It will be disappointing for the man who is arguably the world’s finest striker at the moment to endure a miserable 2010 FIFA World Cup campaign. Drogba’s injury has been Cote d’Ivoire’s main concern lately. Coach Sven Goran-Eriksson commentated on the issue on Monday, saying:

“We are rather confident that he [Drogba] can play a part in this tournament. Tomorrow is eight days since the breakage. A short time, and we think that he will play in the tournament. We didn’t call up anyone else, so that says everything. We and I hope that he will play tomorrow.”

Didier Drogba, who attended his team’s training session on Monday afternoon, might be forced to play with a cast on his arm. In any case, defender Kolo Toure is certain that the Elephants will be able to battle it out with or without the squad’s talisman.

“There are 23 players here who represent Cote d’Ivoire, and it is through all those players that we will win games, not through Didier Drogba alone. We are going to deal with whatever comes our way. What’s important is that everyone fights for each other and remains side by side.”

Cote d’Ivoire and the Sven Goran Eriksson Factor

When Portuguese fans think about Cote d’Ivoire’s Coach Sven Goran Eriksson, they should remember that this is the man who failed to guide his former side England to victory past Portugal in the quarter-finals of the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Carlos Queiroz’s men may therefore fear Sven Goran Eriksson but the Swedish manager has avowed that he will not be driven by any kind of revenge task to beat Portugal on Tuesday.

“No, not revenge. Four years ago, we [England] were a little unlucky and we couldn’t put our penalties in [against Portugal], but that is life. I don’t think about that anymore,” Sven explained to the media.

“We all know that Portugal have a great team with good stars. It is not easy, but it won’t be easy for them either as we also have a good team with a lot of good players in it. I expect a game from two great teams. I hope we can win the match, of course.”

Ironically, Sven Goran Eriksson and Portugal’s skipper Cristiano Ronaldo share the same birthday date as they were both born on February 5.

Cristiano Ronaldo Dreaming To Explode

Talking about Cristiano Ronaldo, the captain of the side had to endure tough moments with the Portuguese media at times for one reason; the prolific Real Madrid and former Manchester United goal scorer has not netted a competitive goal for his country since June 12, 2008.

Coincidentally, Wayne Rooney (whose red card incident involving Cristiano Ronaldo during Germany 2006 transformed the Portuguese into England’s number one public enemy) suffered the same fate at a point in his career.

Tuesday will mark exactly two years and three days since Ronaldo last scored for Portugal in a competitive encounter. This record is surely not what a player as attacking minded as Cristiano Ronaldo should have for his country, especially when scoring goals is not an unsolved problem at club level.

The former world player of the year award winner, who complained about the controversial Vuvuzela horns before admitting that players must adapt to it no matter what, expressed his desire to become the 2010 World Cup’s best player. Concerning the issue about his goal statistics for his national team, Cristiano Ronaldo declared:

“I’m hoping to score on Tuesday. Frankly, I’m not worried at all about my lack of goals. Goals are like a bottle of ketchup, someone said to me. When they appear, they all come at once. God knows who works hard and who deserves something. I’m totally calm because I’ve been doing the same things I did four years, three years, and two years ago. It is going to be like ketchup. The goals will all come at once!”

His fans will hope that this will start against Cote d’Ivoire on Tuesday. In the meantime, the captain urged his team to concentrate on the match:

“We have to think about the first game only. We need to build a foundation for a good start at the World Cup. We will have a very tough game against Cote d’Ivoire. We have to concentrate on that and only then look forward to the second game.”

Portugal will come up against Korea DPR on match-day two while Cote d’Ivoire will battle it out against the planet’s giants Brazil on June 20.
 

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