Suprise call up for Ivorian with an Italian connection

Henri Michel the Cote d’Ivoire coach has handed a suprise call up to Lazio midfielder Christian Manfredini for Wednesday’s World Cup warm up against Spain in Valladolid.

This is an interesting selection as the 30-year-old left-footer was born in Cote d’Ivoire but adopted by an Italian family at the age of five and has spent his entire playing career in Italy.

There is also a first call up for keeper Stephan Loboue, who plays for German second division front runners Paderborn, and four other players left out of the squad for last month’s African Nations Cup in Egypt.

Seydou Kante, Tchiressoa Guel, Abdelkader Keita and Kandia Traore can all stake their claim for a place in the World Cup squad for the finals in Germany where the Ivorians will face Argentina, the Netherlands and Serbia & Montenegro in Group C.

This week’s friendly with fellow World Cup qualifiers Spain sees Cote d’Ivoire play their second major European opponent in six months. They lost to France last August but drew with Italy in Geneva in November.

Earlier this month the Ivorians finished runners-up to Egypt at the African Nations Cup finals.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Boubacar Barry (Beveren, Belgium), Stephan Loboue (SC Paderborn, Germany), Jean-Jacques Tizie (Esperance, Tunisia)

Defenders: Arthur Boka (Racing Strasbourg, France), Cyrille Domoraud (Creteil, France), Emmanuel Eboue (Arsenal, England), Seydou Kante (Beveren, Belgium), Blaise Kossi Kouassi (Troyes, France), Abdoulaye Meite (Olympique Marseille, France), Kolo Toure (Arsenal, England)

Midfielders: Kanga Akale (AJ Auxerre, France), Emerse Fae (Nantes, France), Tchiressoa Guel (Lorient, France), Christian Manfredini (Lazio, Italy), Christian Koffi Ndri (Le Mans, France), Gneri Yaya Toure (Olympiakos Piraeus, Greece), Didier Zokora (St Etienne, France)

Strikers: Didier Drogba (Chelsea, England), Bonaventure Kalou (Paris St Germain, France), Abdelkader Keita (Lille, France), Arouna Kone (PSV Eindhoven, Netherlands), Bakary Kone (Nice, France), Kandia Traore (Le Havre, France).