FIFA World Cup 2010
Côte d'Ivoire
 Côte d'IvoireIvory Coast Football Federation Best Results
World Cup Round 1, 2006 African Cup of Nations Winners, 1992 |
The Ivory Coast national team, known as the "elephants", is the most likely African team to advance to the final stages in the World Cup. This has been affirmed by experts based on the skills and talent of the starter players, many of which play in the European leagues.
The Elephants are seeking for revenge in the African World Cup since they were eliminated too early in the group stage of the 2006 Germany World Cup. In that occasion, the team faced a very difficult group that included Netherlands and Argentina and lost against both of them.
The Ivorians don't have an easy task this year. They are in Group G and will face Brazil, Portugal and North Korea. However, the Elephants have everything they need to surprise everyone this time, especially with the energy that surely will be given by the fans, since they are the favorite team in the African continent.
Qualifying Stage
Ivory Coast had an absolute dominion over their group in the qualifying round, where they did not lose a single game and only drew one. In their group, the Ivorians faced Burkina Faso, Malawi and Guinea. As expected, the Elephants' greatest scorer was Didier Drogba, who made six goals in only five games.
During this stage, only one game generated tension to Ivory Coast and it was precisely the game that assured the team a place into the African World Cup. This was the penultimate game of the third qualifying round where the elephants faced Malawi. After a goalless first half, the Malawian Jacob Ngwira opened the scoring for his team at minute 64. However, Drogba came as substitute immediately after that and just two minutes later he scored the goal for the draw. That way Ivory Coast secured its qualification to the World Cup and kept their undefeated record.
Players
The Elephants of Ivory Coast have plenty of talent on every position on the field. Many of its players play in the best international soccer leagues. The strikers Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou from Chelsea FC and the defenders Emmanuel Eboue from Arsenal FC and Kolo Toure from Manchester City are among the players coming from the English Premier League. Arthur Boka from Stuttgart of the German Bundesliga is in charge of strengthening their defense. In the midfield they have players from the Spanish La Liga, such as Yaya Toure from Barcelona and Didier Zokora from Sevilla. The team also counts with players that play in the premier leagues of France, Germany, Belgium and Netherlands.
Head Coach
Ivory Coast was the last qualifying team to define its coach for the South Africa World Cup. The coach who led the team to the qualification, Yugoslavian Hallihodzic Vahid, got dismissed just 100 days before the World Cup in spite of losing only one game in the two years he was in charge of the team. The game lost was the one that left Ivory Coast out of the 2010 African Nations Cup in the quarterfinals against Algeria, and apparently that was the reason why the Fédération Ivoirienne de Football took the dramatic decision of letting Vahid go.
On March 28, 2010 it was announced the Swedish Sven-Göran Eriksson, who led England during the Korea-Japan 2002 and Germany 2006 World Cups, would become the new Ivorian head coach. Eriksson also had a short participation of only eight months as Mexico's head coach during the 2010 World Cup Qualifying Stage, but he was dismissed in March 2009 after defeats against United States and Honduras.
His most recent experience as head coach was with the English League Two team Notts County, which he led from July 22, 2009 to February 11, 2010. In his long career as head coach, Eriksson has led teams like Benfica, Roma, Fiorentina, Lazio and Manchester City.