Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast have been presented with a difficult task in South Africa. If they qualify from a group that includes Brazil and Portugal, then they may have to face Spain in the second round. But Ivory Coast are the African side that other nations would have wished to avoid.

Ivory Coast demonstrated their ability in their group game against Ghana at the African Cup of Nations. The main threat Ivory Coast presented in the first twenty minutes was from Didier Zokora breaking from midfield: he struck a couple of good long-range efforts. Just as it appeared that the game may become inextricably mired in caginess, Ivory Coast scored from an excellent counter-attack. The ball broke to Gervinho who carried the ball beyond the halfway line and fed Yaya Toure who played a lovely through ball to Solomon Kalou. Instead of shooting, Kalou crossed and Gervinho, who had continued his run, finished from close range.

After the goal Ivory Coast settled and played some good football, although Ghana did come back into the game before half-time. The second-half became scrappy again and the shape of the contest changed when Eboue was sent off for a nasty challenge on Opoku. 10-man Ivory Coast contained Ghana reasonably well although Matthew Amoah did hit a post after Kolo Toure’s clearance landed at his feet. And it was Ivory Coast that managed to score again: an excellent left-footed free-kick from Tiene found the top corner. Just on full-time Ivory Coast scored again to create a flattering scoreline. Substitute Keita showed good tenacity and skill on the left flank and his cross was headed home by Drogba. In a frenetic end to the game Gyan scored a penalty for Ghana in added time to make the score 3-1.

Ivory Coast set up under a 4-2-1-3 formation for this fixture. Drogba is the centre-forward, with Gervinho and Kalou switching flanks. Chelsea’s Drogba will be one of the best centre-forwards at World Cup 2010, while Gervinho is a highly regarded forward with French Ligue 1 side Lille. Kalou has only sporadically impressed at Chelsea but is also a talented forward. The magic quartet is completed by Yaya Toure [pictured] who plays behind this triumvirate of attackers. Toure usually plays in a defensive midfield position for club side Barcelona, but he certainly has the craft and guile to play in a more offensive role. His physical presence could also disrupt sides that deploy a deep-lying playmaker. Midfield security is provided by Zokora and Tiote.

Ivory Coast’s defence was not exactly meticulous in the fixture against Ghana, but they are a strong and experienced backline led by Kolo Toure. It is also considered that keeper Barry Boubacar is the side’s weak link. He pulled off a couple of very good saves in the first-half, but almost ran underneath a cross in the second-half.

South Africa 2010 could go either way for Ivory Coast. They have the players and tactical set-up to make it all the way to the final, but there’s also a very good chance they won’t make it out of their group.