World Cup Photos: Ivory Coast 0-0 Portugal – Ronaldo & Drogba Fire Blanks

Ollie Irish

16th, June 2010

1 Comment

By Ollie Irish

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Picture 14 of 14

Ivory Coast's Didier Drogba (left) hugs Portugal's Paulo Ferreira (right) after the final whistle

Yet another disappointing match. The first 15 minutes were quite lively but after that both teams seemed to lose ambition, no doubt afraid of losing a match when each has still to play group favourites Brazil. In that respect, it’s a shame this was the first match in the group.

Cristiano Ronaldo had one excellent shot which hit the post – one of the best strikes at the World Cup so far – but otherwise he wasn’t involved much. Didier Drogba came on in the second half, wearing a FIFA-sanctioned protective cast on his arm, and made no impact.

Both teams were much stronger in 2006, it seems to me. It’s amazing that Portugal are ranked third in the world. Sven’s Ivory Coast are solid enough but play without fire and joy. It’s a shame many African teams have lost their character by mimicking European teams (caution and organisation before invention and flair), but I guess when you have had to endure European nations dominating in the World Cup for so long, it’s a logical shift.

Brazil should beat both these teams, and based on North Korea’s spirited display against Dunga’s side, there’s no guarantee that Ivory Coast or Portugal will beat the group’s so-called whipping boys.

Posted in Photos, World Cup

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1 Comment

  1. Deckard says:

    Maybe Ivory Coast’s different game plan is because they way things turned out 4 years ago. Being adventurous but naive cost them dearly in Germany. Although they were on level pegging with Argentina and (no problems admitting it) were better than Holland, they ended up only the losing side twice and were eliminated before their final group game.

    And Eriksson is coach, under his tenure I rarely saw a flashy and exciting England, in fact, I can’t remember one game off the top of my head he made the Three Lions look like the Brazil of Europe. So I’m not surprised really IC’s now playing this way. A great shame for entertainment value, but results above everything I suppose.

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