NELSPRUIT // Didier Drogba said the Ivory Coast should not be too hard on themselves after their World Cup ended last night following a 3-0 drubbing of North Korea. "Our World Cup is over," the Chelsea striker said. "But I think we can be proud of what we did against Portugal and against Brazil - even if we lost - and against North Korea. "It was difficult for us to go through, and I think the Fifa rankings have been respected. We are disappointed, but at the same time we cannot be too disappointed when we're in a group like this."
The Elephants were the odd-team-out in what pundits had proclaimed the Group of Death; Group G included top-ranked Brazil and Portugal, ranked third, and the well-regarded and 27th-ranked Ivorians Ivory Coast needed an enormous victory over North Korea as well as a Portugal defeat to have any chance of advancing. Neither happened, and the fifth African team of the six who qualified were dismissed at the group stage.
Sven-Goran Eriksson, who took over as the Ivorian coach in late march, rued his team's departure before announcing his departure. "I think the players were very, very good," he said. "It's a pity we have to leave, because this team is getting better and better every session. But that's life. We're out. We have to accept that." Ivory Coast went out with a feast of goals against the North Koreans. Yaya Toure and Koffi Romaric scored in the first half and Salomon Kalou rounded the scoring off in the second.
"If you look at the three games we played, they should be very proud of themselves and the country should be proud of them," Eriksson said. There were large groups of Ivorians in the crowd, wearing orange shirts and dipping and swaying in unison to the beat of African drums and the constant drone of the vuvuzelas. One section on the top tier of the stadium included a mascot: a dancing white elephant, complete with long white trunk and flapping ears.
Ivory Coast took the lead in the 14th minute when Arthur Boka sent a low cross into the area and Toure neatly deflected it past Yong-guk Ri in the North Korea goal. Romaric hit the far post with a long-range drive from the right in the 17th, catching Ri off guard, but was on target with a header three minutes later after Drogba's powerful drive bounced off the underside of the crossbar. Kalou scored the final goal eight minutes from time. Ivory Coast were never in serious danger against the North Koreans, who went into the match following a 7-0 loss to Portugal and left the tournament having been outscored 12-1.
North Korea had a lot of history to live up to after the team from the reclusive communist nation took the world by surprise by beating Italy en route to a quarter-final loss to Portugal in 1966. "I believe we had two good results," said Jong-hun Kim, the North Korea coach. "It has laid the foundation for us to grow in the future. So this has been a very useful experience for us. Up until the last minute of the match, they really put in all their effort."
* AP
