Ivory Coast’s uphill task just got even steeper
Ivory Coast were been labelled the dark horses of this tournament by many, presumably all of whom were fortunate enough to miss their pathetic display at this year’s Africa Cup of Nations, where they recorded a 0-0 draw with Burkina Faso in the group stage, and were eventually knocked out by an average Algeria side.
To get to the knockout stages, the Ivory Coast must get past Brazil and Portugal. To do this, they have appointed Sven-Goran Eriksson – England fans will appreciate the irony there. In a sense you have to feel sorry for the Ivory Coast – for the second World Cup in a row they are the most-fancied African side, but find themselves drawn against two top-class teams; last time they were up against Holland and Argentina.
Drogba absence
Today’s news that Didier Drogba will miss the tournament is an absolutely huge blow for the Ivory Coast. As captain and main goalscorer, the Ivorian system was essentially entirely based around him. Like with Chelsea, Drogba is at his best when he’s the main man, and for his national side he was afforded that status as much as any other striker in international football.
His replacement will probably be Aruna Dindane, who spent last season on loan to Portsmouth (and along with Bakari Kone, who will now be the ‘first deputy’ for the forward roles, has just signed for Qatari league club Lekhwiya). With the greatest of respect due to Dindane, it’s a big drop in quality. Even more crucial might be the fact that he is a completely different player – he is half a foot smaller, to start with – and with Drogba playing a fairly classic target man role in national colours, it may necessitate a change of plan for Eriksson.
Continuity from previous regime
Elsewhere, Eriksson appears to have changed the first XI very little from Vahid Halilhodzic’s favoured side. Despite being a committed 4-4-2 man himself, the Swede has clearly recognized that the identity of the Ivory Coast’s best players almost necessitates playing a 4-3-3, for he has pacey wingers, physically imposing midfielders, attacking full-backs (and a striker who liked playing upfront on his own).
The one player who plays in a slightly unfamiliar role in the side is Yaya Toure. At club level he plays in a holding midfield position and often drops in as a centre-back when needed, but for the Ivory Coast, he plays a much more dynamic role, as he was used to doing during the early part of his club career. He will probably be the most advanced midfield player, with Didier Zokora taking the holding role.
The identity of the third midfielder remains to be seen, but the most likely choice is Cheick Tiote, who spent most of the season as a substitute for Steve McClaren’s FC Twente team. He is a less physical player than his two midfield partners and is more of a ball-player, with the tendency to drift into wide midfield positions to receive the ball in space.
The back four operate as you would expect – Emmanuel Eboue charges forward from right-back, whilst there is a mirror image on the opposite side with Siake Tiene, who is presumably preferred over the solid Stuttgart left-back Arthur Boka because of his attacking ability.
Upfront, Saloman Kalou will switch sides with with Gervinho. The pacey Lille striker will see Drogba’s absence as his cue to step up and become the Ivory Coast’s most dangerous forward, and could emerge as a star of the tournament.
This all assumes that Eriksson won’t completely change his system in Drogba’s absence – a 4-4-2 would probably feature the same eleven players, but with Kalou dropping to one wing, Tiote shifting sideways to the other, and Gervinho moving to a central striking position. A 4-4-1-1 would see Dindane as the lone striker with Gervinho offering support from deep.
Lone striker formations have become increasingly popular in recent seasons, but as Liverpool have found with Fernando Torres’ injury problems, and Arsenal have with Robin van Persie’s long-term lay-off in recent months, the team can look completely blunt if you have to do without your best striker.
Ivory Coast’s uphill task just got even steeper
http://www.goal.com/en/news/article?contentId=1958629
It seems he will go after all..
Yeah, I’d seen that in L’Equipe.
http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/breves2010/20100604_164631_drogba-dement-etre-forfait.html
I can see him Beckenbauer-style with a bandage on the arm against the Portuguese.
Although I’m Brazilian I am looking forward to his rehabilitation – Brazil will probably grind out a win anyway, but with him it’d be a much more interesting game. The matchup with Lucio again after the CL games is mouthwatering.
I’m not sure whether Eriksson will take him or not. We all know he hates taking a risk and bringing an injured star player to a big tournament.
Haha
Sven HAS to take him. They probably have no chance with him, and they certainly have no chance without him.
Getting out of group would be a monumental achievement for the IC.
Hopefully he’ll go. Not his biggest fan but you like to see the best players at the World Cup.
(For anyone wondering, the article was ready to go when the injury happened and had to take a decision either way. Hopefully the tactics are clear if Drogba DOES make it.)
The way you shaped your second sentence is rather an argument for not taking him
.
Although, I’d like him to go (and so does surely Drogba himself) as he is already 32 and physics laws tell me that he will inevitably be 36 when the next World Cup takes place. I guess he will still play in 2014 but he won’t be that good as he is today, anymore.
ZM you gonna be able to whip up a piece on ferdinand being out as quickly?
No
ZM, with Dindane starting do you think that will mean that the forward line players will be felxible in position like at Barca when Pedro, Bojan and Messi play? It could be a good chance exploit movement rather than physicality.
Yeah maybe, although with Eriksson I can’t help thinking they’ll be more rigid than that.
I agree with your sceptical assessment of ivory coast as supposed dark horses. The fact the they have a scattering of star players and the general impression that somehow at least one african team will do well at this “african” world cup (despite the fact the africa is a vast disparate continent, with varying climates & cultures etc) should not disguise their poor recent performances & results.
Ever since Cameroon in 1990 & Pele’s prediction that an african team will soon will the WC people have been expecting big things from Ivory Coast, Nigeria et al and so far its yet to happen
Based on recent friendlies and my impression of the African Cup of Nations in January, I can’t see any African team doing well in SA. The best chance is most likely the hosts, because they have a really poor French team as ‘favourites’ in their group, and they could upset Mexico in the opening match, with the adrenalin and fanatical home support. They could theoretically do a ‘South Korea 2002′ and upset 1-2 fancied teams. It’s unlikely, however. But I can’t see Ivory Coast topping Brazil or Portugal, and certainly not without Drogba fully fit. And Eriksson is hardly the man to inspire them to exceed expectations. Nigeria, Cameroon (with Eto’o not really motivated) and Algeria all seem quite mediocre, and Ghana have no chance without Essien, the entire engine of their team.
Off Topic: How about an article on Italy, ZM? I’d like to read you analysis on their style.
ZM, great point at the end about how the lone striker really needs to be the first choice striker – the whole dynamic of the team completely changes without him in such a system.
i’m sure eriksson will go 4-4-2 in his absence, but maybe keep gervinho right side and kalou as second striker? eboue does well going forward with an out and out winger ahead of him, creating space for his runs from deep. perhaps though, with robinho poised to counter-attack, this would be suicide against brazil. could work against portugal though, pushing their right winger (probably ronaldo) back, and a zokora-yaya combination in central midfield could work to snuff out any counter attacks.
they still have a decent enuff team..i hope they make it to the next round..this world cup needs a strong performance from 2-3 lesser nations probably from asia or africa
Couldn’t Kalou come more central for them or am I just being unrealistic about his talents? Also, is anyone else beginning to suspect that the Portugal – Ivory Coast game might resemble two aged, tired, and broken boxers pathetically and desperately trying to stay on their feet? I mean both teams were supposed to be great but after Portugal’s last result (or lack thereof) and the injuries and turmoil the Ivory Coast has sustained, it appears what should have be a great game is headed towards something of lesser quality.
i think portugal might just come good, i reckon they’ll beat ivory coast comfortably and then knock out spain in the second round. ivory coast are so unlucky, in most other groups they’d be second best, and despite their bad form, they did beat japan 2-0 without drogba for the most part today. i still think ivory coast vs portugal will be a good game.
portugal beating spain? i dont think so mate.
vincent, remember where you heard it first!
I’m portuguese, but unfortunately I don’t see it hapenning. ‘d Love to though.
Last result was 3-1 against Cameroon in which they did OK. I’m guessing you must be talking about the game against Cape Verde which i find it’s not a proper game to make analyses of how Portugal will do in WC.
Just to give an example, the game against Cape Verde was on the 25th of May, 3 of the players that played arrived on the 23rd to the training ground, Ronaldo arrived on the 21st. Of course that the 3rd team in the fifa ranking HAS to beat the 114th team, but most of the players were still recovering physically from the long season, plus, it’s hard to motivate players like Ronaldo, Nani, etc, to give 100% in friendly games against way weaker teams risking getting injured weeks before the WC starts. When you see Ronaldo at the end of the game with a smile from ear to ear, you know that the game against Cape Verde wasn’t important.
With this i’m not saying that Portugal will be world champion or even pass the group stage, i just think that saying that Portugal will “pathetically and desperately” try “to stay on their feet” is quite unfair for a team that has Ronaldo, one of the best in the world, Nani, did the best season in Man Utd, Simão, was Europe League champion, Bruno Alves and Ricardo Carvalho, two of the best defender in europe…etc..etc..
I have no idea why outside of Africa the Ivory Coast is receiving so much attention. Is there really noone who actually watches their matches instead of reading the squad list only ? Even with Drogba on board they were never dark or any other horses to bet even one buck on.
The current generation has done exceptionally well in the context of Ivorian football history, against smart sides they failed on pretty much every big occasion though.
Names don’t play football and there has hardly ever been better proof than this CIV team under the guidance of several coaches.
ZM said:”His replacement will probably be Aruna Dindane, who spent last season on loan to Portsmouth (and along with Bakari Kone, who will now be the ‘first deputy’ for the forward roles, has just signed for Qatari league club Lekhwiya).”
I am sure you missed the fact that Baki Koné was not picked in the 23 by Sven. Or has he been recalled following Drogba’s injury? (I don’t think so). If they stick to 4-3-3 with one man leading the front line – Seydou Doumbia (Young Boys Bernes) looks to be the centre-man (replacing Drogba). Didane is often used on the wings in the Ivory Coast rather than as a central striker.
Don’t know what you think.
So, am I the only one who sees this drogba injury as a blessing in disguise for the Ivory Coast?
Seriously, this will make them play more pressing football that relies less on getting the ball to One lone striker….ok.
Yes, it is a big blow to the Ivory Coast this late in the game to have to rethink their system, but gervinho-and kalou need to feel more pressure to link up (with Toure maybe) without just dishing balls to drogba — and now eboue has to use his marauding runs more tactically –
They could now move between a 4-3-3 and a 4-4-2 with Yaya Toure dropping deeper to his original role and Gervinho playing higher off a replacement striker (where he can perhaps be more creative, which suits his game, ie, wegner is interested in him) – while introducing Keita into the lineup to add more dimension and flow between the mid and forward ‘lines’
but these should be good developments right?
I believe Toure Yaya will do quite well in his position. In the last league match he showed that he might even be some kind of surrogate for Xavi
About the blessing in disguise, as Paolo above me writes – that could be true, but is Sven a proper person to reconsider the tactics, make his team more fluent?