World Cup 2010: Ivory Coast v Portugal – Group G

International Football Tips

 

World Cup 2010
Ivory Coast (27th) v Portugal (3rd) – Group G
Tuesday 15th June 2010 – 1500hrs
Arguably the match of all the opening group matches, Ivory Coast take on highly fancied Portugal in their Group G opener at Port Elizabeth.
Both sides will be looking to make an early impression in the form of taking all three points with Brazil starting their campaign against minnows North Korea – almost a given that Brazil will take all the points in that match.
Ivory Coast powered through the qualification stages remaining unbeaten. In their warm-up matches they have had mixed results however; won 1-0 v Tanzania, lost to South Korea 0-2, drew with Paraguay 2-2 and then most recently, beat Japan 2-0.
Taking a look at their squad; in defence, the central partnership at the back will more than likely be Emmanuel Eboue (Arsenal) and Kolo Toure (Manchester City), who both had impressive seasons at their respective clubs in last season’s Premiership. Their midfield will be strong with Didier Zokora (ex Tottenham), Yaya Toure and Kader Keita who can either play on the flank or in the centre of midfield.
Up front, well we all know what Didier Drogba can do,  but he may have to settle for a place on the bench as he recovers from a broken elbow. Portsmouth striker Aruna Dindane will be joined by fellow Premiership star Salomon Kalou (Chelsea), along with hot prospects Seydou Doumbia and Gervinho, as the Elephants have plenty of attacking options for the traditionally defence-minded Sven Goran Eriksson.
Portugal squeezed through their qualifying group coming runners-up to Denmark, and pipping Sweden by one point to go through to a play-off against Bosnia-Herzegovina, which they won 2-0 on aggregate (winning home & away legs 1-0) to book their place in the finals.
With all the talent at their disposal, they tend to get bogged down at times and draw matches they really ought to have won; their group record of 5-4-1 is testament to this which included a 0-0 draw at home to Albania.
In defence, their personnel include Premiership pedigree of Ricardo Carvalho & Paulo Ferreira (both Chelsea), along with Miguel and Bruno Alves.
Midfield will be occupied by Deco (Chelsea), Pedro Mendes (ex Portsmouth & Tottenham), Tiago and Simao in all probability, with Christiano Ronaldo playing a possible floating role of wide attacker. We know what Ronaldo is capable of as demonstrated week-in, week-out at Manchester United, but does tend to drift in and out of play on the international stage, and Portugal’s tag of ‘nearly-men’ may not be a coincidence.
In summary, this will be a cagey affair with both sides checking each other out before lighting the fuse – but as with many big matches that receive the pre-match hype and anticipation,  I’m hoping this one fizzles out in a draw as both teams seem to be evenly matched.
Pick: Draw @ 3.28 with Pinnacle Sports