Cote d’Ivoire 1-2 Argentina

I thought the Ivorian’s gave two successive goals to Argentina and panicked. I thought they lacked discipline and not very much team oriented. They will have in surmountable fight against Holland the number 3? Ranked and even Serbia… that said, I am proud to say 2-1 is not embarrassing for the elephants of Africa. Lacking a cable TV (expensive), went to watch the game in a bar after I made sure they would show it, a woman in the bar promised me to let me watch it and did.

Posted from  United States

Tirusew - You need to find a good sports bar. I am going to the ESPN Zone in NYC to watch the matches, as they will be on in high definition on the BIG SCREEN.

Posted from  United States

Yer have 2 say Ivory Coast played really well, thought they were the better team by far in that second half and with another 10mins left in the game they might have nicked a draw, but Argentina i think overall derserved there win. Thought in the first half Mascharano n Riquelme were superb…but this is Ivory Coast Blog, so i’ll speak about Ivory Coast.

I thought that Drogba led the line well tonight and really had a good battle with the returning Gabriel Heinze, and was well worth his goal, which i thought he took really well, although Ayala completly lost him for the goal.

Anyway in conclusion Ivory Coast should be happy with their performance, they have a good squad and if they can perform as well in the other 2 group games like they did 2nyt then they have a good chance of going through.

Well Done Coté d’Ivoire!

Posted from  United States

Great game, the best and most enternaining game so far. It showed there are no big or small teams in the world anymore. Games are won not because of the breliance of some players, but by the mistakes of the other teams as did CIV today. The referee though was biased and did not award CIV some clear cut fouls either in the box or on the edge of the box, the only times he was pretending to be fair was when he was awarding them the not so dangerous fouls in the middle of the park. It was for all to see that he had way too much respect for Argentina. Guys remember if most decisions go against one team for a consecutive period of the match, no matter how good that team is, it is bound to suffer disapointment which will result in losing composure, and that is exactly what happenned today. Hey, after all no one wants Argentina to go out early for a second consecutive tournament, that’s not good for business. Watch for big name teams when they play against poor nations, you’ll notice what I am talking about.

Posted from  United States

Yoni,
Maybe you gained some shots in the last 15 minutes of the game when we just chilled, but first half and start of second you were getting pummeled, and sorry but I understand why people critize Drogba for diving.
And dont say IC culdnt finish them off, its because you couldnt get past our defense, and we had amazing passing, and did not waste anything until the end.

I will say though, you are a very good team, and I think you will beat Holland & S&M to come out of the group. It was indeed the best game so far, mind you, it always is when Argentina play.

Posted from  United Kingdom

Last thing, the best team won, and IC did not deserve to draw, Argentina had most of the game underwraps, and with 2 goals dissalowed, a draw is ridiculous.

Posted from  United Kingdom

Calciatore,
You obviously are dilusional, i suggest you just stfu and face the facts instead of making up shit. Argentina were on the bad end of the referee decisions, and what you say there about argentina being sent off early again, shows that you are a true retard, just go home idiot.

Posted from  United Kingdom

Well done IVC. The Argentinians dont want to admit it but they were worried after Drogba scored. They are now trying to convince themselves that they were the better team and are good enough to win the WC.

Posted from  United Kingdom

the coty divvy team must now have a huge well deserved following, this from a first game on the big stage.

they, like all african nations ewre more entertaining in defaet than argentina was in victory. game.

of course argentina were awesome in victory. but enough there, i am already a big fan of the candy stripes.

frankly, i thought drogba and gang were going to thrash argentina. two goals later, and so many passes gone astray, a rotten display in midfield, and all 11 divvy’s with dribbling skills slightly worse than batistuta, i knew they would lose.

the divvy subs were miserable, especially that blond fellow. after scoring, the divvys managed to hold the ball for all of 1 minute of the 15 remaining.

testament to the argentine midfield. the argentines have their act together to move on. cote divvy do not. and they are going against my fave, orange very soon.

two in the group of death will die. i suppose we will know who they are before half time with orange and serbia/montenegro.

Posted from  United States

Vin, I live in Omaha, NE. If there was anything close to soccer fan base like NYC has, I would have a great World Cup month here in Omaha. But I would still be enjoying it where I could view it. You know what though ABC matches are all in my pockets and all free!!!!! Thanks Vin.

Posted from  United States

JM,
I understand national pride and being proud of your country but bro lets be real. Im not from the Ivory Coast so im not biased. Dont let your national pride get in the way of reality. Argentina played very well indeed, but with that said the Ivory Coast penetrated your defense and squandered many opportunities. The score line could easily be vice versa in favor of the Ivorians. But no more excused from me. Argentina has won and now the Ivorians are in a must win situation against the Dutch. Best of luck to your team JM during the rest of the WC.

Posted from  United States

National pride!! what national pride does this idiot and low class, low life JM has. If he had any, he would’ve spoken in a polite manner instead of showing his worth, which is nil. I doubt if he’s even an Argentine, because most of the Argentines I know are Gentelmen in any situation, win or lose. But, this thug here is a hater that wants to start a bad sentiment agains Argentina, but no one going to fall in it, why because you are an idiot, and because even if Argentina were lucky and got a helping hand, still will cheer for them as I always did you moron.

Posted from  United States

Alright guys I am a huge Argentine supporter and I give my compliments to your team. You are the team that I most feared in our group. Hopefully we will meet again and if we do it will mean we both made the final. Congrats on a good game! Having said that lets not start saying that somehow it was luck. Argentina scored two maybe three first have goals and then diecided to shut the game down. The did not sub in Messi, Tevez or Aimar at about 60 minutes as they would have down if they were not two goals up. Those three guys can really turn it on but are not good defenders. You played great but dont think that you saw the very best of Argentina. Good luck in your next games. I think you will win both.

Posted from  United States

Calciatore i agree that JM’s choice of words were definitely out of line. Lets enjoy this “beautiful game” and not taunt one another with ignorant phrases.

Posted from  United States

where is JM posting from? England? And talking about Argentina? Hmm. I am very suspicious.

Posted from  United States

Im from argentina and i can say, that Ivory Coast had given us a nice headache
When the referee didnt mark our first goal as a good one… (when ayala headed a ball and the Goalkeeper took it from inside the net) i thought,…..we started with the wrong foot…
Argentina played very bad in the middle of the field, Cambiasso and Mascherano were in another game, nobody from argentina could take the ball in the middle from the IVC players and thats why IVC had played very well, argentina never took the midfield. But argentina its argentina and thats why we won 2 to 1….because we have a great striker like Crespo and an excellent midfielder who put balls with his foot like Jordan uses his hands…Riquelme…the pass he made in the second goal to Saviola was awesome….and thats the difference between arg and ivc…2 goals, a pair of individualities from crespo and riquelme and nothing more…. good job IVC, you have to be proud, african teams isn´t what they were 30 years ago…i love soccer and i love to see that teams from all over the world are playing this beautiful game every day better!!!

Posted from  Argentina

Cambiasso committed error after error. Ayala (as usual) lost his concentration and let in a goal. I didn’t see A. dominate the way some are describing. I.C.’s pressing and attack shut down the Argentina inititative. They didn’t tie because Abbondanzieri was great, and because their finishing was imprecise. I.C. is one of the best teams in the tourney thus far, no doubt. Interesting to see how they do against the others in the group. Congrats to both teams for the best show of football so far.

Posted from  United States

Please read the comment on this match from Eurosport:

” Ivory Coast had actually created more of the chances in the first half, Bonaventure Kalou missing a gilt-edged chance when heading straight at Abbondanzieri from close range, but good possession play and super running was unfortunately not matched by the final ball or finish”

This is why IIvory Coast lost the match. Ivory Coast players must learn to score goals from chances. You must capitalise the chances you get, otherwise you loose. This is the simple rule of the game. Argentina did and won the match. It seems that Bonaventure kaloue does not know where the goal posts are. From a close range he was shooting the ball towards the spectators. If Ivory Coast continues with this poor finishing, they will loose the remaining two matches.

I hope the players understand that good running and possession play is called “worthless football” unless it is matched by the final ball or finish. Argentina taught a lesson to Ivory Coast.

I am a fan of Ivory Coast. I hope someone tells this to the players so that they don’t dissappoint us in the next two matches.

Posted from  Sweden

Hey thanks for a great game Ivory Coast. I hope you qualify wtih us!

Posted from  Pakistan

There is a cool video clip about the Ivorian team as they ready for the WorldCup I found here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2×6K6k7D1w

Posted from  Germany

What’s the hype about Argentina?
Lucky first goal and second goal offside. The first goal scored happened on an unnecessary foul which resulted in a free kick. The second goal was clearly offside. CIV is a team with very little international experience and is in the World cup for the first time. The team played strong from the back out, through the mid-field. Unfortunately they were not able to finish even though Argentina’s defense was penetrable. Argentina was beaten to many balls by a physically fit and technically skilled Ivory Coast squad.

Posted from  United States

Guys, i feel the Ivory Coast played a good game Drogba alone was a torment to argentina defence, they had to tie two players for him. though argentina had good attack that put them ahead. FOUL PLAY? its argentina and italy that knows how to eliminate a troublesome oponent without a card

Video: Argentina vs Ivory Coast

Date Played: June 11, 2006 (Group Stage)

Below is a video of the FIFA World Cup 2006 game between Argentina and Ivory Coast where the Argentinans prevailed with the score of 2-1. The first goal came from Crespo Hernan on the 24th minute where he was…

Posted from  United States

Unfortunately Eboue seemed to get frustrated that his right midfield player (sorry i don’t know his name) was blocking his runs down the line that he does so well for Arsenal. If he gets the chance to run down the wing he can get behnd players and get some crosses in. And as an Arsenal fan naturally I think Toure is the main man

Posted from  United Kingdom

It is true that Argentina have GREAT players.Ivory coast which is the team I favor most also played well though whatever effort they put in their was never converted into a goals.That is the only different between IVC and Arg.Hope next time we shall see them dual again.This two teams