COUNTDOWN 10: Last chance for Drogba’s golden generation

Never has a golden generation been wasted by a country, but that is exactly what Ivory Coast are doing with their array of world-class talent.

Blessed with a talented generation of players spearheaded by Didier Drogba and the Toure brothers, the elephants of Cote D’Ivoire are in danger of misusing an opportunity that last presented itself in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.

Didier Drogba, though 35, still strikes fear in defenders. The Chelsea legend and captain of the national team is his country’s all-time highest goal scorer and will look to finally achieve something of note with the West African country after several AFCON heartaches. Didier Zokora, Kolo Toure, Arthur Boka and Boubacar Barry are arguably in their final World Cup. One other player in this category is midfielder Yaya Toure.

The Manchester City midfield maestro can do almost everything with the ball: headers, long-range shots, on-the-ball dashes. He can strike dead balls with perfection. The reigning two-time African footballer of the year is the embodiment of the modern midfielder; he can score from anywhere within 30 yards of goal. He also equalled Frank Lampard’s record of 20 or more goals in a single EPL season. The Elephants’ midfield revolves around him, and he will be required to drive the team forward in Brazil.

Suffering group-stage eliminations in Germany 2006 and South Africa four years later, Ivory Coast have been unlucky on both occasions to get drawn in difficult groups. However, this summer’s tourney sees them in a group with beatable opposition in Colombia, Greece and Japan; and they will look to utilise this unique opportunity.

Having tried experienced heads without any luck, the country’s football federation went for inexperienced Frenchman, Sabri Lamouchi and the former France international has had it relatively easy. Apart from a disappointing showing at last year’s AFCON tourney, he enjoyed an 11-game unbeaten start to his tenure, and went through World Cup qualification undefeated.

Apart from Drogba and Yaya Toure, Gervinho, Salomon Kalou, the 42-year old coach of Tunisian descent can also call on the likes of Wilfried Bony, Cheick Tioté, and sought-after defender, Serge Aurier, to lead the highest ranked African country (21st) to prove their prowess on the World Cup stage.

Strengths

The Ivory Coast always does find a way to score — finding the back of the net in every game. They also score early, with a quarter of their goals during qualifiers coming in the opening quarter of an hour in the games. Coming from behind to win is a welcome mentality, and they were one of few teams who always manage to come back from behind and claim at least a draw.

Weaknesses

Although blessed with wingers, they seldom achieve success attacking through both flanks, so they will hope Gervinho and Kalou can finally shine from the wings. Their goalkeeper also lacks the faith of the backline in front of him, a problem which can cause confusion and gift the opposition an added advantage.

Last line

Ivory Coast is its own enemy. Blessed with an array of talent, they just find a way to blow their lines and hand victory to the opposition: the team rarely lives up to expectations. Hopefully, it will be third time lucky for the Ivoirians!