Country: Ivory Coast (Cote D’Ivoire)
Nickname: Les Elephants
Key Players: Siaka Tiene, Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue, Solomon Kalou, Yaya Toure
Rankings: 27 (FIFA), 16 (SPI)
History: Qualified (2006)
Odds to Win: 50-1 (was 40-1 before Drogba Injury)

“Sometimes I dive, sometimes I stay up.” – Didier Drobga

UPDATE: Drogba initially stated he was out of the World Cup.  That may not be true.  After the writing of this post, L’Equipe retracted the initial report.  The striker is seeing a specialist to see if he could have an operation to allow him to play.  The operation has a 10 day recovery period.

Didier Drogba went down theatrically. For once, it was in earnest. A reckless challenge from Japan defender Tulio Tanaka during a friendly fractured his arm. The Chelsea striker will miss the 2010 World Cup. When determined to be, Drogba is the most intimidating force in international soccer. He has power, pace and superb technical ability. He’s virtually unstoppable. He’s irreplaceable.

Ivory Coast is the best African team in the tournament. They were a sexy sleeper pick. Many believed, with the home-continent advantage, the Elephants could be the first African team to lift the trophy or at least mount a serious campaign. Without Drogba, it doesn’t seem feasible. Considering the Ivorians would have had to fight through a group with Portugal and Brazil and then likely have to beat Spain, Italy and Germany or Argentina in succession to reach the final, it probably never was.

[Video via Dirty Tackle]

Form: The Elephants romped through the final round of African qualifying. They were undefeated, winning five of six. They scored 19 goals when no other team scored more than 10. Their emphatic performance in qualifying, however, was tempered by disappointment at the African Cup of Nations. They drew 0-0 with Burkina Faso and beat Ghana 3-1 to make the quarterfinals. They blew a 2-1 lead late against Algeria, who won 3-2 in extra time. Because of this poor showing, the Ivory Coast fired coach Vladimir Halilhodzic.

Coaching Change: After Guus Hiddink rejected them, Ivory Coast replaced Halilhodzic with former England and Mexico boss Sven-Goran Eriksson. It was not an inspired choice. Eriksson is excellent at spotting talent. With money to spend, he’s an adept club manager. However, he’s not an impactful tactician or motivator, making him an underwhelming national team coach. He nearly failed to qualify Mexico. His most notable accomplishments with England were copulating with an FA secretary and being duped into embarrassing revelations by a fake sheikh.

Tactics: Eriksson isn’t an idealogue. He adjusts his tactics to the squad available. For Ivory Coast, that should be a 4-3-3, or, being slightly more precise, a 4-1-2-3. The challenge will be replacing Drogba, as he was the system’s focal point.

Squad: Boubacar Barry, of Lokeren in Belgium, will be the starting goalkeeper. He’s under 6 feet, which is a rarity. The back four should be Kolo Toure and Hibernian’s Sol Bamba in the middle. Arsenal’s Emmanuel Eboue will play at right back. The attacking Sieka Tiene will edge out Arthur Boka and left back. They have speed and attacking intent, but, with Toure’s decline in form, they could be a liability defensively.

The Ivory Coast midfield is all strong ball winners at club level. Sevilla’s Didier Zokora and FC Twente’s Chiek Tiote will play their more customary holding roles. Barcelona’s Yaya Toure will have to get forward and play a more attacking role. Without a facile passer, they could struggle distributing the ball.

Replacing Drogba up front will be a problem. They have a lot of support strikers, but no other natural lead strikers with experience.  Eriksson’s most likely solution will be to slide Aruna Dindane up front, supported by Kalou and Gervinho. We may see Seydou Doumbia as well. The 22-year-old put on a show for Young Boys at the Wankdorf, scoring 30 goals in 29 appearances.

Prediction: The draw put Ivory Coast in the Sisyphus position, and that was before Drogba’s injury. Pulling off one upset to escape from the group is conceivable, but expecting them to pull off two or three huge upsets in succession was foolish, even with Drogba up front. Without him, it’s hard to see the Ivory Coast advancing from the group.

Interesting Fact: The Ivory Coast economy is almost entirely dependent on agriculture, specifically cocoa.

[Photo via Getty]

Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece
Group C: England, United States, Slovenia, Algeria
Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana
Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia
Group G: Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal
Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile