Club:CFRCluj Age: 20 Position: Striker Claim to fame: one of the most promising strikers on the continent
Prospects: One of my personal favourites and definitely a player destined for one of the top European leagues in the future. The 20 year old, born in Ivory Coast’s capital Abidjan, is one of the most distinctive players on a football pitch as he stands at a mammoth 6ft 8in tall.
He started his career with Ivory Coast’s ASEC Mimosas, and is a product of thier famous youth system; which bred the likes of Salomon Kalou, Gervinho, Emmanuel Eboue, Yaya and KoloToure. In 2008, he moved to Romanian champions CFRCluj from Stade d’Abidjan, playing 32 games in two seasons, on route to picking up a Liga 1 Romanian title, as well as a Romanian Cup.
He is yet to make his debut for his national side, but is expected to gain a call up in the near future. Traore, who has been touted as the “new Adebayor” has been heavily linked with a move to the Premiership, possible suitors including Arsenal, while Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson has also shown an interest in the youngster.
Traore’s key attributes include his aerial ability (of course), however he is far from one dimensional, blessed with attacking flair, great technique, brute power, and a rocket of a left foot.
Definitely a name for the future, he has impressed in the Champions League and Europa League, he will certainly join a big club soon.
The Brazilian’s head to South Africa after finishing top of the South American qualifying campaign, one point ahead Chile and Paraguay. Many of the “big name” Brazilian stars were left out; with Dunga opting to pick more home based players and players rather than selecting “star names”. Dunga then continued this precedence but leaving players such as Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Pato, Adriano and Anderson at home. Therefore at this World Cup, Brazil will be looking to win an unprecedented 6th title relying on the likes of regulars Kaka, Robinho, Julio Cesar, Maicon, Dani Alves, Lucio and newer names such as Grafite of Wolfsburg, Nilmar of Villarreal Felipe Melo of Juventus.
Manager: Dunga
The former Brazil captain and midfield general won the 1994 World Cup title, and was a runner up in 1998. Now as a manager, he has been in charge since 2006, and guided Brazil to the confederations cup in 2009 and the 2007 Copa America. Blessed with an array a superstars and a depth of options, expect Brazil to be amongst the big boys this time round (as per usual!)
Key Player: Luis Fabiano
The Green and Yellow’s new number 9 has an excellent goal scoring record netting 25 times in 36 matches for Brazil. He was the top goal scorer for Brazil in the qualifying campaign scoring 9 goals, one behind Humberto Suazo overall. The Sevilla striker is in top form heading into the finals scoring 21 times this season.
Best Finish: Winners 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002
Prediction: Semi Finals
I believe the Brazilians will be there or there about’s, as they always are, but Dunga’s men will steamroll their way towards the semi’s but fall foul to their lack of match winners (not to discredit Robinho or Kaka) but after a tricky confederations campaign, the Brazilians could be undone by a strong defensive unit.
North Korea
The North Korea side, head to their second finals after a 44 year absence, and a history hindered by political problems means the North Koreans qualification is somewhat of a shock. However they finished runners up to their Southern rivals in their qualifying zone ahead of Saudi Arabia.
Manager: Kim Jong-Hun
Not too much is known on the North Korean, but its evidently clear his squad is made of domestically based players, while according to the official FIFA World Cup website “favours a pragmatic and defensive approach based around discipline and teamwork”.
Key Player: Hong Yong-Jo
The 28 year old plays for FC Rostov in the Russian Premier League and has 3 goals in 30 appearances for the team. He is his nations Captain, and has 11 goals in 39 international appearances. Expected a lot of stamina and hurrying from Jong-Hun, looking to capitalise on defensive lapses.
Best Finish: Quarter Finals 1966
Prediction: Group Stage
They only scored 7 goals in the 8 qualifying matches, and that was against an average array of teams. I expect the team ranked 106th in the World to finish bottom of the group, no points.
Ivory Coast
The West African side are blessed with an array on excellent strong and technically sound players, who are based all over the big leagues in Europe. Players such as Chelsea Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou, Arsenal’s Emmanuel Eboue, brothers Kolo and Yaya Toure, Aruna Dindane, Arouna Kone and many more. The Elephants finished top of their qualifying group, 4 points clear of Burkina Faso and a goal difference of +15. They reached the quarter final of the 2010 African Cup of Nations, leading to the dismissal of former coach Vahid Halihodzic. Now in change, a man well know to English fans, and the former Mexico coach; Sven-Goran Eriksson.
Manager: Sven-Goran Eriksson
The 62 year old is World renowned in the football world, and has previous World Cup and big competition pedigree with England. He has managed clubs such as Roma and Lazio in Italy, Benfica in Portugal as well as clubs in Sweden. He is vastly experienced, and its interesting to see how he will link up with the Ivorian players.
Key Player: Didier Drogba
The star striker has been in sizzling form domestically, leading Chelsea to a league and cup double. Drogba, 32, is a superstar in Africa and one of the best strikers in the world, and if anyone is a match winner, it’s him.
Best Finish: Group Stage 2006
Prediction: Quarter Finals
I think the Cote d’Ivoire side will be the strongest of all the African teams, and use the home advantage to progress the furthest. Drogba, Yaya Toure and Salomon Kalou will need to take their chances in order for the Elephants to progress. There get through the group stage by topping Portugal on goal difference.
Portugal
The Portuguese may have some of the most gifted and technically brilliant players, as well as one of the best players in the world, in Cristano Ronaldo, but the Selecção das Quinas continuously struggled to qualify and had to do so via the playoffs. They beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-0 on aggregate.
Manager: Carlos Queiroz
Former Real Madrid manager and Man United managing assistant, has been in charge since 2008, and is notorious for nurturing young talent. Despite struggling to top their qualifying, finishing behind Denmark, a team boasting players such as Simao, Bruno Alves, Raul Meireles, Miguel Veloso, Nani, Liedson and Danny, should be able to beat any of the top teams in the world, but inconsistency and a lack of cohesion tends to hinder their progress.
Key Player: Cristiano Ronaldo
The Former World Player of the World and current Portugal captain; Ronaldo has had an excellent season at his new club Real Madrid, despite his settling in period being hampered by injury. He scored 26 goals in 29 appearances this season, and already has 70 caps for Portugal, at just 25 years of age. Expect Ronaldo to carry his team far, but the start will be most important factor for the Portuguese.
Best Finish: Third Place 1966
Prediction: Group Stage/Semi finals
I see it going one way of another. The Portuguese have enough attacking options to beat any side in the World, but aforementioned cohesive and teamwork issues may cause them to fall away unnoticed in a very very difficult group. A mouth watering match against Brazil awaits.
The striker started his career as an apprentice and made his debut as an 18 year old for French side Le Mans. In his early career his was a player who was troubled by injury, and managed to sign his first professional contract with the French ligue 2 side Le Mans, at the relatively late age of 21. He spent 4 years with “MUC72” scoring 12 times in 64 appearances.
In the 2001/02 season Drogba joined Ligue 1 side Guingamp for a fee of £80,000 scoring 3 goals in 11 appearances, most notably an equaliser against giants Lyon in a historic 3-3 draw. Undoubtedly he managed to help the club avoid relegation in his first season. In his second season with the French side, the Ivorian showcased his potential scoring 17 goals in 34 games, which caught the eye of Europe’s big guns.
At the start of the 2003/04 season he was snapped up by “the club of his dreams” Olympic Marseille for a fee of £3.3million, and given the number 11 shirt to wear. This was the best season of his career so far, as he played Champions League football for the first time where he scored 5 goals in 6 matches despite Marseille only featuring in the group stages. In Ligue 1 he was the star player of the season, where he scored 19 goals in 35 matches, in which many of the finishes highlighted his brilliance up front and lead him to pick up several awards including; the Ligue 1 “goal of the year”, “Player of the Year” and a place in the Ligue 1 “Team of the Year”.
In this magical season his brilliance helped take Olympic Marseille to reach the UEFA Cup Final, helping himself to 6 goals in the process, scoring against the likes of Liverpool, Inter Milan and Newcastle. The French side lost to Valencia 2-0 in the final after their luck had seemingly ran out, and Drogba was unlucky to be on the losing side.
In 2004, at the age of 26, Didier Drogba left the Stade Velodrome for Stamford Bridge in a transfers saga that ended with a the striker joining Chelsea for a fee of £24million. He would end his career at Marseille with a record of 30 goals in 51 games. He was signed by Jose Mourinho and scored his first ever goal against Crystal Palace, wearing the number 15 shirt. In his first season he helped Chelsea to win the Premiership for the first time since it became so, and helped the Blues win the League Cup, scoring and beating Liverpool 3-2 in the final. Drogba also had trouble this season, being accused of diving and cheating with the use of hands in finishing goals in big games, something Drogba refutably denied.
The 2005/06 season was a year of progression for the striker, Drogba started with 2 goals in a 2-1 win against Arsenal in the Community Shield. He then helped Chelsea retain their second Premiership title scoring a total of 17 goals in all competitions and creating 11 assists.
In the summer of 2006, Drogba captained his country Ivory Coast to the World Cup in Germany. Drogba’s side face the “Group of Death” after being drawn against Holland, Argentina and Serbia and Montenegro. The Elephants lost to Argentina and Holland 2-1 in both games with Drogba scoring against the Argentineans in the 82nd minute. The one win wasn’t enough as the Ivory Coast finished third in the group but gave an excellent account of themselves.
The 2006/07 was an excellent season for Drogba, as he switched to the number 11 shirt and he managed 33 goals in 60 games played for Chelsea. He picked up the Premiership Golden Boot for the first time with 20 goals, and helped Chelsea win the FA Cup final over Manchester United and the League Cup Final over Arsenal. He also picked up the Ivorian player of the year award, African player of the year and runner up to Cristiano Ronaldo in the PFA Player of the Year awards.
In the 2007/08 season saw Chelsea lose Mourinho and Drogba felt the most frustration at his departure expressing his desire to indeed leave the club too. Inter, AC Milan, Barcelona and Real Madrid all circling Chelsea’s star player. However he did indeed stay at the bridge, whereby despite a season dogged by injury, he still reached the League Cup Final and Champions League Final, but losing to Tottenham and Manchester United respectively. Drogba was sent off in the Champions League Final. His tally for this season was 16 goals in 31 games.
The 2008/09 season saw Drogba score 16 goals in 42 games, and he took Chelsea to the final of the FA Cup, and the Blues beat to Everton 2-1 in the Final with Drogba scoring the first for Chelsea. The downside to the season was Drogba and Chelsea’s Champions League semi final defeat to Barcelona, where Andres Iniesta scored in the last minute, which furious protests from all the Chelsea players including Drogba; who confronted the referee and was seen swearing on Sky TV. The actions of the Ivorian saw him banned for 5 Champions League games.
In this current season Drogba the form of Didier Droga has been better than ever, he has taken Chelsea to the summit of the Premiership, continued tormenting teams, taking his tally of goals against Arsenal in his career to 12 goals in 12 games against Arsene Wenger’s side. He has helped his side to the knockout stages of the Champions’ League, Sixth round of the FA Cup and represented Ivory Coast at the African Cup of Nations. His tally so far for this season is 17 goals in 21 games, with 6 assists.
Blessed with strength, power, pace, finishing ability, great technique, skill and aerial ability, and despite being at the age of 31, Drogba is a world class player, and now considered the best and most complete striker in the world.
