My name is Elliott. I am from the United States. I like soccer, err, football, err futbol. I am writing about the Ivory Coast because, at the last World Cup, I fell in love with Les Éléphants. I do not speak French. Sacre bleu!

But seriously, for all the talk of Argentina and Spain, for my money the Ivory Coast put on a slick-passing exhibition. Despite being in a group of death, Les Éléphants played vibrant, technical, bursting football. Yes they gifted two early goals to Argentina, but the proud Elephants clawed back a goal. The Ivory Coast battled the Dutch to a similar 2-1 loss, leaking early goals but showing incredible resolve in the latter stages. Two games, two losses, but at least they managed to, cough cough, unite a nation.

Moral victories may not count, but the Ivory Coast will soon be back on soccer’s biggest stage. The Ivory Coast sealed their qualification for South Africa 2010 with a 1-1 away draw to last place Malawi. The hosts took a shock lead in the 60th minute, but Drogba promptly appeared in super sub mode to pull a rabbit out of his hat. And qualification for the World Cup also means qualification for the African Cup of Nations in 2010. Two tournament birds with one stone!

Thus, the November 14th game against Guinea should be a site of experimentation as younger players get a look. Then, a little over two weeks later, Les Éléphants will eagerly chitter chatter like school girls in anticipation of the African Cup of Nations group draw. Let’s hope it goes better than Germany 2006. In the meantime, I will brush up on my French and do some player profiling. Does anybody know Didier Drogba’s twitter account?

It is a strange questions that when posed sounds an awful lot like an old philosophy question.  But I keep asking myself why am I not more upset after the loss, why have I not lost sleep over this loss like I have with past Azzuri and AC Milan (my calico passions) losses?  It is because this tournament never really had the chance it deserved in my eyes because of lack of convenience.  I could not DVR it, I could not listen, the news was always second hand, and the games felt more or less like a simulation than the real thing.  This method of delivery did not ignite my passion and left in somewhat of a void in terms of feelings and posts.  As I wrap up my odd ranting I would like to step down before the third place match.  First and foremost, because I hate third place matches they are glorified friendlies with an often poorer atmosphere, secondly because I truly feel deprived of something special.  That something for me was a final that I craved, IC vs. Ghana, and as I sit here feeling like a failed blogger and even worser failed Elephants fan.  I would like to sign off and ask if no one is reading am I really signing off…?  I will continue to blog over the offside.com AC Milan blog, and continue to rant about and love Didier Drogba until he one days wear the Rossoneri, but until then my Elephant days are numbered.  

The semifinals will be a repeat of the 2006 semifinal with the Pharaoh’s of Egypt having the unenviable task of going against the juggernaut of
Cote d’Ivorie.  The 2006 version of the semifinal ended in PK’s in favor of
Egypt, I am inclined to think PK’s may not be a problem here.  The Elephants have seemingly been able to score at will in the second half of matches, and it is reasonable to think that they will continue their run of strong play against an Egypt side who did very little to impress against Angola.  The defending champions have done well to be where they are and would surely relish the role of giant killer in this tournament.  You just have to believe that a Cote d’Ivorie vs.
Ghana final is in the cards and very little can stop that, Thursday will prove a very exciting day as the tournament winds down. 

Thoughts and well wishes out to the family of former Cote d’Ivorie coach Uli Stielke who lost his son this week, Uli had left the team to cope with the family situation. It seems a bit unfair that Uli had really put in the time in effort to the Elephants, and African football and he is not able to reap the benefits of the juggernaut he has helped create. If all things go as planned, and Cote d’Ivorie hoist the trophy, Uli will get what his wish and hopefully another opportunity to prove his value as a coach.

AFRICAN FOOTBALLER OF THE YEAR

It is not official yet, but it appears that next African Footballer of the Year will be the Elephant’s own Didier Drogba. I can not say enough about this man, as a leader for both club and country, as a striker, and as a pure player. The just plain does what a striker is supposed, SCORE. He also proves time and time again that he is a big game player as he has in this tournament. The elephants have scored 8 goals in the first round and Drobga has 2, but had a hand in many more, and was on the pitch for all but one.

Drogba will join the likes of players like Eto, Kanu, and Weah who have won the African Footballer of the year on more than one occasion, truly exceptional company. He has beat out his Chelsea teammate Michael Essien yet again, I am sure we will get to see more of those two at Chelsea, and maybe in the finals of the ANC.

ONTO THE QUARTERFINALS

With a dominate first round behind them, Guinea is next in line on the march to the final. Guinea finished second in Group A to hosts Ghana, with a win, loss, and draw under their belt. Guinea lack the star power of the other sides in this tournament but played well in the first round scoring a fair amount of goals and giving a Ghana a very tough first win. It will be up to the Elephant defense to silence Pascal Feindouno who scored two goals in the first round.

I would expect a much closer game seeing that it is the quarterfinals, but with the run of play of the boys in orange it is tough to tell how the game will completely play out. The eight goal outburst in the first round may prove to continue through, with very little resistance from the fans, everyone loves a goal fest, especially Elephant fans. Gili was able to find a nice mix of starters and subs in the first round leaving him with tons of great potential and players ready to step on the pitch.

Nine minutes into the match Didier Drogba made a stamp on the group stage of the African Cup of Nations, scoring the sixth goal of the tournament for the Ivorians, and the only goal needed to defeat upstarts Mali. But the elephants did not stop there, they added two more goals one from Marko Zoro and another from Constant Djakpa to take a 3 goal victory.

With three dominating performances the Ivory Coast is easily the strongest team going into the knockout stages and is a sure favorite to work their way into the final. The group stage has the key points of the Elephants:

1. Drogba is here, healthy, and wants to establish himself as the best African Footballer. He has also proven extremely valuable as a leader, even assisting interim coach Gerard Gili as an assistant and on field general. Anyone who questioned his health, desire, or ability can politely shove it.

2. The loss of Uli Stielke only gilded a team that is playing with a desire to win. The team who was a close knit group as it was, but as the tournament has rolled on this team has gotten stronger putting dominant offense performances scoring goals seemingly at will.

3. Everyone knew this team had firepower in the attack but was has really been the story is the fact that have given up only one goal, and that goal was to Benin in the 89th minute of a match that was already sealed. Who would have that Boubacar Barry, BOUBACAR BARRY, would have one of the best save percentages in the African Cup of Nations. Everyone on this team has come to play.

A litte about todays match. Drogba kicked off the scoring in the 40th minute, after a string of strong play from Benin, forcing Boubacar Barry to make some good saves and keep his team strong. Once Drogba opened the scoring the rest was history, Yaya Toure struck again four minutes later on a sublime cross from his brother. A two nil lead at halftime doubled by the 63rd minute with Keita and Dindane also finding the back of the net.

Gili ran the squad quite shrewdly today even being able to get Didier twenty minutes of rest. Gili will continue his mastery of the lineup and most likely play a second squad will could feature the likes of Bakari Kone and Marco Zoro. Gili has favored the Kalou and Drogba pairing which found very good results today with Keita, but late in the first half. I am in favor of resting the big eleven or at least a few, but not at the cost of the teams chemistry. But with the group looking like this:

Elephants 6
Mali 4
Nigeria 1
Benin 0

It makes for very interesting upcoming game with the Elephants being able to draw with Mali and see them through along with their opponents, and in the process politely leave Nigeria behind. Oh the possibilites…

As expected the game began with a bit of sparring, but as the match picked up so did the shots on net. Nigeria’s Kalu was the first to try to strike but was unsuccessful time and time again. It was not until the 66th minute where Salamon Kalou shimmied past three Nigerian defenders and ripped a shot past the keeper.

The important thing was that Gili was able to establish a quality line up with Drogba, Kalou, & Dindane up front. Drogba did not last the entire match but played well and as the fast track to recovery. In the second half Gili removed a defender for Abul Keita to become more attack minded and basically open up the game.

I would expect Gili to ease off against Benin and really begin to prepare himself for the third game against Mali, and also with a foresight for the next round. A great start to the ANC for the whole squad and if they continue this run of play things will be coming orange for the rest of the tournament.

With the African Nations Cup set to kick off tomorrow we have a ton of coverage here at the Cote d’Ivorie blog as well as the main with Daryl giving us a strong introduction to all the teams competing in this edition of the tournament. As you read the previews you begin to get a real sense of how much talent resides in Africa, and how much real talent will be on display at this tournament. As you begin to get exciting for matches such as the IC vs. Nigeria, and potentials games involving the likes of Ghana and Cameroon you say to yourself, “I can’t wait to watch these games.” Oh wait you can’t.

I am personally really struggling with the fact that the big boys of American/World Soccer TV ie Gol TV, FSC, and Setanta did make huge bids for these games, but I am even more upset that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) did not work in conjunction with these broadcasting entities to make sure that the ANC would be broadcast globally into people’s homes. At a time when many African superstars such as Drogba, Essien, Eto, and Mikel are becoming household names, and pivotal pieces of our favorite teams, I think it is unfair to that we can not watch these games on our TV’s but have to turn to the internet. The CAF should have worked long and hard with the likes of Gol TV and FSC to make sure a deal was struck to get their product out there. I have not been able to pinpoint the details, but the boys at World Soccer Daily, and Fox Football Fone In made it very clear that there was an extensive effort by the TV moguls to the CAF.

It is no mystery that corruption exists in all football associations, and CAF is no exception but it is no one’s fault but their own that their showpiece tournament is only available through the world wide web, possibly leaving millions of dollars on the table for a simple lack of negotiation or agreement between nations. Even a simple Setanta PPV package would have been fantastic, heck I would have paid a few hundred to get every game on DVR to watch at my leisure. Founded in 1956 the CAF’s mission was to bring competitive football Africa, which was deemed a success since their inclusion in the 1970 World Cup and beyond. With their recent ability to export top class to Europe and beyond their mission should now be for exposure to, in my opinion, the budding soccer powers of the African continent.

In a continent whose progress has been mired in many avenues both socially and economically this was their one chance to announce to the world we are here, and we want to show you we can do, a proverbial test run before their World Cup debut in 2010. CAF is not the only federation to blame, as FIFA has also been less supportive of Africa and CAF than federations such as Asia and their favorite son of UEFA. It is not enough to exploit the country for the talent and award them a World Cup which is still considered to be a possible mistake by some FIFA members who feel that they will not be ready in time to make this happen. Instead of criticizing they can reach into their pockets and give the CAF the help they need to build their federation, promote, and deliver their product. I will be among the many huddled around the computer to watch my Elephant’s kick some ass, but shouldn’t any soccer fan be afforded the same privilege?

I apologize for the soap box rant in this post, but I a feel strongly about African as a continent, and the collective World’s lack of assistance in all fronts, football included. The next 2 years are a real chance for African to take some serious steps forward through football legitimizing them as a footballing federation but also as a continent on the rise, and in my opinion no amount of help is to little or enough.

Goalkeepers are not the strong spot on the Cote d’Ivorie squad, and in fact they are not the strong spot for most of the teams in the African Nations Cup. It is somewhat of an enigma to me that a country so adept at producing imposing strikers and defenders has yet to find a player extremely adept in between the pipes. There is not a doubt in my mind that an African team will go deep into the WC2010, it will most likely be the one with the most solid keeper.

Uli Stielke, and now Gerard Gili, have three keepers on squad and I would like to introduce them to the Elephant fans.

Boubacar Barry: The 29 year old is the most seasoned on the team, and most likely the first team favorite for the coaching staff. Gone is Tizie from the World Cup, who at age 35 is no longer first choice material. Barry is relatively unproved but will get a strong chance to shine early in the tournament against a tough Nigeria squad. He currently plys his club trade in Belgium, and is commonly referred to as Barry or just plain “Copa.”

Stephan Lobue: The second choice keeper currently plays in the second tier of the Bundesliga. As I mentioned with Barry, we are not talking world beating goalies here but clearly has shown enough to the staff to be considered for the team. Born and raised in Germany he has yet to earn a cap for the Elephants.

Tiasse Kone: The last keeper and really only their in case of injury, will gain some valuable big game knowledge as he sits on the bench during the ANC. Kone plays his club ball in Cote d’Ivorie for the champion club, African Sports National, clearly a strong future consideration in tournaments to come.