Via USSoccer

Lineups:
USA: 18-Brad Guzan; 2-Marvell Wynne, 15-Michael Parkhurst, 6-Maurice Edu, 3-Michael Orozco; 16-Sacha Kljestan (10-Benny Feilhaber, 46), 4-Michael Bradley (13-Patrick Ianni, 89), 11-Freddy Adu (5-Dax McCarty, 46), 7-Stuart Holden (8-Danny Szetela, 46); 17-Brian McBride (capt.) (14-Robbie Rogers, 46), 12-Jozy Altidore (9-Charlie Davies, 46)
Subs Not Used: 1-Chris Seitz
Head Coach: Peter Nowak

CIV: 1-Vincent de Paul Angban, 2-Serge Pascal Wawa, 3-Ousamane Viera Diarrassouba, 5-Brou Benjamin Angoua, 7-Kafoumba Coulibaly (6-Herve Kambou, 67), 8-Salomon Kalou, 9-Franck Dja-Djedje (17-Antoine N’Gossan, 46), 10-Koumatien Kone, 12-Mamadou Bagayoko, 14-Kouassi Gervai Yao (capt.), 18-Sekou Cisse (13-Abraham Guie Guie, 81)
Subs Not Used: 16-Fabrice Okous, 4-Nassa Guy Roland Niangbo, 11-Moura Komenan Anthony, 15-Tamla Ladij
Head Coach: Gerard Gili

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Don’t get the wrong idea with the title of this post… Having the opposing goalie drop one in over your head from outside his own penalty box has got to be embarrasing. This is not a good look for the Ivory Coast keeper heading in to the Olympics.

Chelsea’s (for now) Didier Drogba has officially made himself available for the Ivory Coast Olympic Team.

Salomon Kalou, both Toure brothers (Kolo and Yaya) and Didier Zokora have all made themselves available as well.

Throw in Constance Djakpa and Sekou Cisse from their 2008 Toulon Tournament team and you’ve got yourself a nice little starting 11 for your Group A match ups against Argentina, Australia and Serbia.

How could you not love this face?  The one, the only Maximus Bretos.

The surprise team of the 2008 Toulon Tournament did it again as Marcelo Bielsa’s Chile squad pushed past the Ivory Coast 2-1 to head into the Finals on Thursday against the winner of Italy v Japan.

While it felt like the Ivory Coast was just about to score, Chilean #10 Pedro Morales toe the ball away from Ivory Coast defensive midfielder #7 Coulibaly, snuck a peek and chipped the keeper #1 Okoua from 40 yards out in only the 5th minute.

My favorite player in the tournament, Ivory Coast left back #15 Constant Djakpa whipped a free kick across the 6 yard box, and with all the confusion in front of the net, Chile keeper #1 Toselli could do nothing to stop the ball from going in untouched to level 1-1.

The only mistake the Ivorian back four would make would cost them dearly as Chilean #11 Lorca found space down the left side, got his head up and found #14 Fabian Orellana wide open, completely unmarked at the top of the 6 yard box for an easy tap in for the final 2-1 result.

Unlucky for highly athletic Ivory Coast squad, but full credit to Chile and their ability to deal with the pressure and ultimately finish the few chances they had for a tournament leading 11 goals scored with only 4 conceded.

This is what preparation looks like as Christian and myself had the early Group B match between 2008 Olympic Qualifiers Ivory Coast and United States in the 2008 Toulon Tournament in France.

The first 45 minutes were ugly for the US as they barely had any of the ball, couldn’t create chances going forward and ultimately defended for the entire half with Keeper Chris Seitz coming up with three big saves to keep a nil-nil scoreline at halftime.

The second half saw a lot more possession for the US (similar to what we saw in their first match against Turkey) with their best chance coming from FC Dallas’ Brek Shea, hitting the far post with a diving header off the cross from right back Tonly Beltran.

That miss would kill them as barely 5 minutes later Beltran would make a bad mistake, taking down #9 Niango. Instead of continuing to push him towards the corner with Corey Ashe to his left, Beltran dove in and the foul resulted in a deserved Penalty Kick.

#15 Djakpa, the captain and best player on the day for the Ivory Coast would step up and lace a driven ball to the lower left hand corner of Chris Seitz’ goal. Seitz guessed the right way, but was not able to get on the end of it due to the placement and power.

Seitz would again come up with another huge save, this time a wide open opportunity from substitute #12 Dja Djedje, pushing the shot that was heading to the upper right corner out for a corner (11 in total for Ivory Coast).

It would end 1-nil for Ivory Coast, who now have the chance to continue on to the Semi-Finals with a result against Turkey on Sunday. For the US, not soo much.

Just goes to show how important it is for clinical finishing at the International Level.

image via Wikipedia

The latest Fifa rankings have confirmed what we thought all along, donkeys run the show.  After winning the African Nations Cup for the second time (back to back), Egypt is ranked 4th coming out of Africa while Ghana takes the top spot with Cameroon and the Ivory Coast following.  The exact quote from a Fifa rep is “rankings are not a reflection of a teams present performance, but a reflect of the past for years.”  Cough-bullshiz-cough.

image via CNN

This has got to be bullshit, but here it is anyways. Drogba has always been a master of making questionable statements to the press, but this comes from the Ivory Coast press officer regarding the African Player of the Year Award which was won by Frederic Kanoute.

With Ivory Coast beating Mali 3-0 and Nigeria beating Benin 2-0, both teams advance to the final 8 with Ivory Coast facing Guinea and Nigeria facing hosts Ghana.

After pulling up lame in Ivory Coast’s 4-1 win over Benin in African Nations Cup Friday, Arsene Wenger’s wig got itchy. First fears were that the rock of Arsenal’s back line was out indefinitely with a major groin injury, but after flying Toure from Ghana (first class no doubt) to Paris to meet up with Arsenal’s medical staff, the his bits and pieces were assessed. While diagnosing the problematic area a Grade 1 groin problem, Kolo made his way back to his Elephants with a view for return within 8 to 10 days.