Brazil versus Ivory Coast

Gameday number two for Group G in South Africa, and Brazil takes on the Ivory Coast with both teams looking to secure a spot in the second round of the 2010 World Cup tournament. For Brazil things are more simple today: with a win they definitely advance to the knock out stage, and the last game against Portugal will probably decide which team will also grab the first place of Group G. Which is also really important since the football team that qualifies second will have to play an early final against tournament favourites Spain.

The Ivory Coast on the other hand has a lot more work to do today, and basically during the entire World Cup in South Africa. Didier Drogba and his team-mates have built an exceptional football team the last few years, and playing in Africa in front of their fans is definitely a plus. But lady luck was not on their side when deciding the eight groups of the tournament, and the Ivory Coast was selected to play in the toughest one of them all. Trying to compete against Brazil or Portugal is hard, fighting for a spot versus both teams is almost an impossible task. The most important game of Côte d’Ivoire is on June 15 against the Portuguese. Depending on the result of this match up today’s game could be a matter of life and death.

If I was Sven-Göran Eriksson, manager of the Ivory Coast I would try to do this: Strong defence and smart play with counter attacks against Portugal, try to get a draw. Full defence versus Brazil, pray and hope for the best. Full attack against North Korea to score as many goals as possible. In this scenario (and provided that Portugal loses to Brazil) the Ivory Coast has a good chance to finish second based on goal difference! Because Portugal will definitely aim for first place and look Brazil straight in the eye on the last game, but this could backfire and lead to a loss with many goals which automatically means triumph for the Ivory Coast.

For today’s game all we could say really is that the Ivory Coast will lose, and Brazil will win. Most likely Brazil will win all games of the group stage, for the simple fact mentioned above: second place in Group G leads to Spain on June 29.

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