Cote d'Ivoire World Cup 2010 Team

Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast from where they stand have it in them to peak at the heights of greatness. The valiant team is pumped and ready to take on the competition in South Africa. They are seen as the African team most likely to have a huge bearing on the way the FIFA 2010 World Cup tournament shapes up. Their early eviction at the Germany 2006 World Cup will see the Les Elephants hunting for big and well-earned wins in South Africa. However, they deserve their fair share of sympathy for the fiasco at Germany. The Ivorians were placed in a group with big names which saw them fizzling out to heavyweights Argentina and the Netherlands before buying back namesake wins against Montenegro and Serbia.

Ivory Coast, like Spain, pulled off the herculean feat of winning a berth to South Africa without losing a single match in the qualifying stages. The Côte d'Ivoire national football team took gigantic steps to come out on top of their group, ahead of even Malawi, Burkina Faso and Guinea. The pyrotechnics of the Ivory Coast’s star player Didier Drogba literally helped steer the Ivorian ship to the sun kissed shores of South Africa. Didier Drogba was the top scorer for his team, with six goals in the five matches the team played. A lot will be expected from this genius of a player in South Africa.

"At the last World Cup we played really well, but we were unlucky because we were in a very tough group with Argentina and Holland and went out in the first round. But I think with this kind of experience, it will be possible at South Africa 2010 to do much better. Perhaps we can make the quarter-finals and then semi-finals; this is something we can achieve," said the Côte d'Ivoire striker Didier Drogba. High hopes or an impending reality? You get to decide!

Côte d'Ivoire will also look to flourish on the efforts of their other stars namely Chelsea’s Salomon Kalou, Barcelona's Yaya Toure and Sevilla's Didier Zokora, all of whom are robust enough to ensure favorable results for their country. The Ivorians also have a formidable and almost impenetrable defence comprising Emmanuel Eboue, Arthur Boka and Kolo Toure. Capitalizing on these stars is a must for the team!

The Côte d'Ivoire coach Vahid Halilhodzic and his team will without the question of doubt look to cash in on the dream run they enjoyed in the qualifying matches. Building on that ‘run’ will be the ultimate goal for ‘Team Côte d'Ivoire’ in South Africa.