Ivory Coast VS Portugal

TEAM NEWS

Ivory Coast coach Sven-Goran Eriksson must decide whether or not to risk captain Didier Drogba, who broke a bone in his arm on 4 June. If he is ruled out, Seydou Doumbia is set to replace him up front alongside Salomon Kalou.
Portugal's defensive midfielder, Pepe, only made his comeback from a serious knee injury against Mozambique last week, so he may have to settle for a place on the bench.
Simao has declared himself fit after a minor knee complaint and is likely to start, given Nani's departure from the squad with a collarbone injury.

MATCH PREVIEW

Portugal have not lost for 20 months and are ranked third in the world. But there is something of the old adage 'there are lies, damned lies, and statistics' hiding what has been a very average spell of form for Carlos Queiroz's side. Central to this poor run has been Cristiano Ronaldo's performances in a Portugal shirt. The world's most expensive player failed to score during qualifying and has not been on target for his country since February 2009. Not that he is worried: "Goals are like a bottle of ketchup. When it appears, it all comes at once," he said.
A dismal goalless draw with the Cape Verde Islands in a warm-up match added weight to the argument that this might be a team slightly past their best, but if they can get CR7 firing on all cylinders, they are more than a match for anyone. Mystery, though, continues to surround the reasons behind the departure from the squad of Nani after he told reporters as he arrived back at Lisbon airport, "I'll be fine in a week," despite being ruled out of the World Cup with a collarbone injury.
As if being drawn in the 'Group of Death' for two World Cups in a row wasn't bad enough, a tournament-threatening injury to their inspirational captain Didier Drogba must have left the Ivory Coast feeling like they are cursed. New coach Sven-Goran Eriksson barely had a chance to work with his squad by the time his World Cup plans were thrown into disarray when Drogba broke a bone in his arm against Japan.
The Elephants' squad are studded with star names, but it has been a lack of team unity, and accusations that they put club before country, that has been their undoing in recent times. Eriksson is blessed with a talented group of players, but getting them to gel in such a short space of time looks like a tough task. And for those of you looking for an omen, Eriksson was in charge of England when they were knocked out by Portugal at both the 2006 World Cup and 2004 European Championships.

MATCH STATS

Head-to-head
- This will be the first meeting between the sides.
Ivory Coast
- At their only previous World Cup appearance, they conceded 2 goals in each of their 3 games.
- Only reserve goalkeeper Daniel Yeboah plays for an Ivory Coast-based team.
Portugal
- Portugal have never drawn a group game at the World Cup, winning eight and losing four.
- During qualification for South Africa, Cristiano Ronaldo failed to score in seven appearances.
- Portugal last lost an international in November 2008 when they were hammered 6-2 by Brazil.

MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Jorge Larrionda (Uruguay)
Assistants: Pablo Fandino and Mauricio Espinosa (both Uruguay)
Fourth official: Martin Vazquez (Uruguay)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2010/matches/match_13/default.stm

Incredible effort from Ronal-doh there!

Yes fantastic strike. And speaking of which, I got my Ronal-d'oh! shirt from The Soccer Shop today. Its rad as hell

If there was a game in the group stages where I thought there could perhaps be some goals scored by both sides this was it. Compared to 2006, teams just aren't finding the back of the net.

If there was a game in the group stages where I thought there could perhaps be some goals scored by both sides this was it. Compared to 2006, teams just aren't finding the back of the net.