Just like what seems to be happening to many of the teams that are participating in this year's World Cup, Didier Drogba and his Côte d'Ivoire teammates are concerned about the fitness of one of their key members. Les Éléphants coach Sabri Lamouchi recently admitted that Manchester City star Yaya Toure is currently facing a fitness battle to be ready in time for his team's clash with Japan.
"We will try and do everything to ensure he can play", the former French international stated to reporters earlier this week when asked about the condition of the experienced midfielder. Considering that Toure has won the African Footballer of the Year award three years running and was highly instrumental in Manchester City clinching another Premier League title, the squad and its legions of supporters will be holding their collective breaths hoping that he recovers in time.
Like fellow African side Ghana, the Ivory Coast are making their third consecutive appearance in the World Cup. However, they have yet to even get past the group stages, failing to do so during their debut in Germany in 2006 and four years later in South Africa. Nonetheless, they cruised through the second round of qualifying, outscoring their opponents by 15-5, and successfully powered past Senegal to maintain an unbeaten record during their qualifying matches.
Lamouchi's men had mixed results during their pre-World Cup friendlies, drawing with with fellow tournament competitors Belgium, succumbing to a loss to the Bosnians and then bounced back with a win over Honduras. Still, one can not predict how a team will fare in the actual event, as there are numerous cases of teams who have performed poorly during friendlies only to bring their A-game when it actually counts.
As for Japan, they will be appearing in their fifth straight World Cup and unlike their opponents, have seen what life is like outside the group stages. Although they have never progressed past the round of 16, a common belief is once one does something, it is certainly feasible to do it again. Moreover, the team known as the Samurai Blue or more commonly, Zac's Japan are currently working under a new manager. Alberto Zaccheroni, who assumed the position in 2010, is a name well known to Serie A fans due to his spells with numerous sides, including Milan, Juventus, Inter, Torino, and Lazio.
Contrary to the Ivory Coast, Japan have produced fantastic result in their friendlies this year, winning each and every single one of them. And while some critics may say that teams like Cyprus are not exactly the most strenuous test they could have faced, they nonetheless will still be feeling
Both sides might be feeling a tad more confident given that Colombia's talismanic striker, Radamel Falcao, will not be taking part in the competition, but obviously their main focus will to be to get maximum points before moving on to their next match.
Where to watch the match – live stream, start time, TV channels, live scores
Watch Côte d'Ivoire vs Japan live on Saturday, June 14, 2014:
In the US at 21.00 EST on: ESPN3, ESPN Deportes, Univision Deportes, Univision Deportes En Vivo, Watch ESPN, SiriusXM FC, ESPN Radio, Univision, ESPN
In Canada at 21.00 ET on: CBC Sports Live Streaming, CBC, Univision Canada, ICI Radio-Canada En Direct, Mediaset Italia, TSN 1050 Toronto, TEAM 1410 Vancouver, TVA Sports
In the UK at 02.00 BST (Sunday) on: ITV Player, ITV 1, UTV, STV Scotland
In Côte d'Ivoire at 1.00 GMT (Sunday) on: SuperSport 3 Africa
In Japan at 10.00 JST (Sunday) on: NHK Japan
For more live listings and scores of this World Cup match, visit the Côte d'Ivoire vs Japan match page.
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