Ivory Coast Sweat over Drogbas Fitness f

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Following what should be a relatively comfortable opening fixture against North Korea, Brazil contest their second fixture, again in Johannesburg, against the Ivory Coast on June 20th.The Ivory Coast is a nation with some of the worlds most recognizable talent on its roster. However, despite the big names, the team as a whole has been an underachiever at recent big tournaments.Brazils match against the Ivory Coast could be their first real test of the tournamentFor example, four years ago, after reaching the final of the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations, they could not get out of their World Cup group of death that featured the Netherlands, Argentina, and Serbia, so their early exit could seen as understandable considering the difficulty of the hand they were dealt.However, it was the performance in those matches that left some shaking their heads. They lost 2-1 to both the Netherlands and Argentina in very poor fashion, making the  Jesse James Jersey 3-2 victory of Serbia meaningle s as the Elephants were already staring elimination in the face. This was their only appearance so far at the World CupFour years later at the 2010 African Cup of Nations, same story, losing 3-2 to Algeria in the quarterfinals. This came after dropping two points  Damiere Byrd Jersey against Burkina Faso in the group stage. Following this performance in Angola, the Elephants fired their manager Vahid Halilhodzic and replaced him with former England manger Sven-Gran Erik son, who had recently been made redundant after his dismi sal as the Mexico national side manager.Erik son has a group of talented players at his disposal.With Erik son on board as manager, it is probable his side will play a conservative 4-3-3. He has called up six forwards for the World Cup, which reinforces the probability of this formation.It was a very solid qualifying campaign before the Africa Cup of Nations failure. In the final round of qualifying the team went 5-1-0, with 19 goals scored against 4 allowed. However, it should be noted that the nation got a favourable draw that featured Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Malawi.In terms of individual quality, there is a huge gulf in cla s between North Korea and Ivory Coast, who boast such names as the Toure brothers (Kolo and Yaya), as well as Chelsea forward Salomon Kalou and former Tottenham Hotspur centre midfielder Didier Zokora.The big worry for the Elephants, however, is the fitne s of star striker and captain Didier Drogba. The Chelsea hitman broke his elbow in a collision with Japanese centre back Tulio Tanaka in a pre- Khyiris Tonga Jersey tournament friendly in Switzerland and required surgery on his arm, but Erik son remains optimistic that Drogba could return ahead of schedule.It had been initially feared Drogba may mi s the entire tournament.If it had been today or tomorrow, he wouldnt play, said Erik son ahead of the 15 June clash against Portugal.But there are still some days  he might play against them Portugal .Given Erik sons hopeful attitude towards his main man being fit to play against the Portuguese, it would seem extremely likely that the Premier League top scorer will be ready to face Dungas Brazil in Johannesburg.Drogba could well be in for a long afternoon, if this seasons UEFA Champions League was anything to go by, as when Drogbas Chelsea met Internazionale in the quarter finals of the competition Tarik Cohen Jersey , the 32-year-old striker found himself neutralised by Inter, and Brazil, centre-back Lucio, during both legs of the tie as Inter ran out 3-1 winners on aggregate. Should this incident reoccur, Erik sons side will find it difficult to break down the stubborn South Americans.After their 2-0 victory over Japan, the Ivorians struggled to a 1-1 draw against Swi s second division side Lausanne. Erik sons men clearly lacked the presence of captain Drogba, and mi sed a host of chances in their final warm up match.The Africans do present a challenge however, due to their top-cla s experience and quality. They have a strong spine to their team, as well as having plenty of players with a physical presence. Their pitfall, however, could be an over-reliance on Drogba, and a lack of a creative spark; they dont have a player who can consistently slice open defences with a killer pa s.Prediction: This could be said to be Brazils most difficult match in the group stage, due to North Korea and Portugals lack of big names and form respectively, but a match they should take all three points from. Brazil 2-1 Ivory Coast.Brazil Line- Isaiah Coulter Jersey Up (po sible, 4-2-2-2)Julio Cesar; Maicon, Lucio, Juan, Michel Bastos; Gilberto Silva, Felipe Melo; Elano, Kaka; Robinho, Luis FabianoIvory Coast Line-Up (po sible, 4-3-3)Barry; Eboue, Toure, Meite, Boka; Zokora, Demel, Toure; Kalou, Drogba, Gervinho