PORT ELIZABETH // Sven-Goran Eriksson, the Ivory Coast coach, has instilled a sense of teamwork in the players since taking over and can lead the African side out of a tough Group G at the World Cup, according to Kolo Toure. Eriksson was hired in March and has strong international pedigree after taking England to the World Cup quarter-finals in 2002 and 2006 and the same stage of the 2004 European Championship.
"Sometimes we, instead of thinking about the team, we are thinking about ourselves," Toure, the Manchester City defender, said. "I think Mr Eriksson came and he just said to us, 'If you want to be one of the best teams in this World Cup, we need to work together.'" Ivory Coast played their first World Cup four years ago, opening with a 2-1 loss to Argentina, the two-time champions. They then conceded two early goals to lose by the same score to the Holland, before rallying with a 3-2 win over Serbia and Montenegro that restored some pride but was not enough to take the African side into the next round.
They are up against Brazil, North Korea and Portugal this time, starting with the Europeans tomorrow. "We have so many players playing in the best leagues, but when we come to our national team we don't do things in the right way," Toure added. "We have a lot of meetings and try to bring all the players together and to bring this team spirit." * AP
