Can Cote d’Ivoire become the first African team to reach a World Cup semi-final?

Cote d’Ivoire are undoubtedly the rising stars of Africa and proved their worth qualifying for the World Cup finals and also finishing runners up at the 2006 African Cup of Nations. My question is can they become the first African team to reach a World Cup semifinal?

I think it all depends on how they cope in the ‘Group of Death’ with Holland, Argentina and Serbia&Montenegro.

Cote d’Ivoire face former champions and World Cup favourites Argentina in their opening match and would need a good result against the South American’s to have any chance of progressing in the group.

The first match in the World Cup group is always crucial and any team that wins their first game can be in the driving seat.

A draw wouldn’t be too bad but losing your first game will put your team under a lot of pressure to perform well in the rest of the competition.

I remember Cameroon in 1990 and Senegal in 2002. Cameroon beat Argentina in the opening game and went on to become the first African team to reach the quarter-finals. They were narrowly edged out in the quater-finals by England in a thrilling match that ended 3-2.

Senegal repeated the same feat in 2002, beating France in their opening match and reaching the quarter-finals only to be edged out by Turkey in extra-time.

So will the Elephants follow the trendsetters like Cameroon and Senegal and beat Argentina in their opening match? Surely it is possible but the Cote d’Ivoire team will have to be at their best to keep the likes of Messi, Crespo at bay.