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.

Losing Uli is a tough blow for the Elephants as they have been experiencing some solidarity and team unity, as described by Didier Zokora. Stielike is a big proponent of African football and large believer of how capable African countries can and will be. I one point he even claimed he would put his “head to the block” if an African team was not in the semifinal of the 2010 World Cup.

Upon taking over in October of 2006 Uli lead the IC to a breezy qualifying run and six straight victories. It was helpful that he inherited a team littered with European talent such as: Drogba, Kalou, Toure’s, Zokora, & Eboue. He also inherited a team as closely knit as a family despite their religious differences. Even though the team is almost split directly down the middle in terms of Catholics and Muslims they still pray to the same God and don’t fear a little “voodoo” on their side either.

The loss of Uli, coupled with the potential loss of Drogba, will either prove to be a further unifying catalyst, as this team has experienced in the past, or it will prove to be a loss to difficult to overcome. This could be the end before the start, but the more I familiarize myself with this team, the more I feel that they can survive without Drogba or in fact even their coach, their unity and talent seems capable of good things.