Ivory Coast waits and sees if Drogba will battle Brazil

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This article was published 20/06/2010 (5950 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Ivory Coast coach Sven-Goran Eriksson won’t decide on whether to start Didier Drogba against Brazil until the last hours leading up to today’s World Cup match.

Drogba, who broke his right arm in a warm-up match against Japan on June 4, came off the bench and wore a special cast in the opening tie with Portugal in Ivory Coast’s opening match.

“I’m not sure yet if he will start. We will decide tomorrow,” Eriksson said Saturday. “He has been practising.”

Regardless of who’s in the starting lineup, Eriksson is confident there’ll be unity in the team.

“I’ve never had such a smiling, happy team in my coaching career,” said Eriksson, who has managed England and Mexico at international level. “The reason I’m enjoying is that I’m working with a lot of good football players. They are listening, enjoying their football and working very hard.

“What we are trying to do is to get organized at the back, and the players are happy to take that on board. We are working on attacking and set pieces as well.”

Such a balanced approach reflects the fact that Eriksson believes a draw will not dent his team’s qualification chances. Ivory Coast has one point so far after its 0-0 tie with Portugal, two fewer than early Group G leader Brazil.

The game, Eriksson said, gives Ivory Coast an opportunity to throw off the tag of tournament underachiever.

“I guess a draw against Brazil is always a good result. Of course, a fantastic result will be to beat them. A draw won’t be bad. But we are not going there thinking about drawing. We are going out to win.”

— The Associated Press