大象传媒

I have never seen the attraction to Sven if I am honest. Much of his success in Italy was as a result of ridiculous levels of financial investment and his time in charge of England showed him to be a manager who had very limited tactical ideas and didn't cope well under pressure. If his system suits the Ivory Coast I am sure they will do well but if not then they could be embarrassed at the World Cup....

I think the trick for Ivory and indeed the other African teams in the tournament is to play as a team. The players should play as they do in their club teams where they play as part of a team and not try to outshine others.

I still think it was a mistake to sack Halilhodzic but that's water under the bridge now and Ivory Coast should now concentre on making sure they get out of the group. Its possible.

Yeah..... not too many comments here.

Must admit I think the Ivorians are a talented bunch of individuals, but that is the problem, they don't seem to gel as a team.

Sven has his work cut out to make them such. The African temperament would appear to be totally different from that of the Europeans that he has managed before, or at least that is how I see it from viewing all those on show in the Premiership.

Still I hope he succeeds, cos there is not doubt they have the potential to be a great side, and it would be good to see them put the frightners on Brazil, and Portugal in the group stages, and possibly a few in the latter stages too (although not England LOL)

Interested to see the instant dismissal of Sol Bamba, do you really think he isn't capable of partnering Kolo at the back. It was Toure himself who claimed Bamba to be a class act and a certainty to fill that role in coming years. Admittedly, we don't have the best league here in Scotland but he does put in some blinding performances with a great rate of consistency.

Is Droga beer called "BIG BABY"

I don't see how he got this post, I don't know much about him as a manager apart from the last 8 years or so. What i do know is he nearly made it so Mexico couldn't qualify for the World Cup when they are by far one of the best teams in the North American Qualifying. I also know he screwed up at the England job but i dont think he should be judged on that because anyone would have! He also got fired from Man City and his Notts County "dream" went into the trash can. I fail to see any significant positive impact he has had on a single Football club or nation from the past 10 years. However i stand to be corrected as I said i don't really know much about his career before the England job.

Sven's going to have to be some kind of sorceror to get the Ivory Coast anywhere near the latter stages of the competition.

Being in a group with Portugal and Brazil and then, in all likelihood, having to face Spain in the last sixteen, the deck could not be stacked any more against the Ivory Coast!

Maybe this will be the opportunity for Sven to show the world that he is actually a good manager and not just one of the luckiest men in football who earns more from severance packages than win bonuses.

I lost hope of the Ivorians playing well at the World Cup when Sven's appointment was announced. If only they'd gotten someone like Bora Milutinovi膰 (now coaching Iraq) or Guus Hiddink instead! Now the only country who'll have a worse coach than the Elephants is France.

I think a lot of unfair comments have been put against Eriksson in the comments to this blog. He qualified England for three major tournaments during his reign, and Steve McClaren showed how difficult that can be if you don't have the experience in the job. And managed to take them to the QF in all those tournaments, and given the fact that England were knocked out in the groups of EURO 2000 and Rnd 1 in WC98 shows he did a decent if not exceptional job. And if it wasn't for England's inability to handle the pressure of penalty shoot-outs then the games against Portugal could have gone in England's favour (and if Rooney hadn't lost his cool or got injured, depending on which one you look at)


A lot of people also don't realise the success Eriksson has achieved over the years either. At Lazio he was fortunate to have a good budget to achieve success, but money doesn't always achieve the results, and don't forget at this time Juventus and Milan were at arguably there most successful in recent years, both winning the Champions League during Erikssons reign in Italy. But he achieved a lot before taking the job as well, such as winning the UEFA cup with Goteborg in 1982 and reaching the CL final with Benfica in 1990. Unfortunately most people in this country are just familiar with his reign as England manager and the subsequent failings at Man City and Mexico and the Notts County.

But what i dislike most is the money grabbing Eriksson that is portrayed by the media and fans alike. Yes he took the FA for a lot of money, but they shouldn't have offered him such a contract in the first place. At Notts county he chose to forego all the money the club owed him (a lot i might add) in order to help them survive financially. He also chose to remain there unpaid after Munto Finance pulled out to keep the club together before they got more stable owners.

Unfortunately his reputation has been tarnished in this country, slightly unfairly, so i hope he can achieve some success (not enough to deny England though!!) at the WC.

Be interesting to see how he fares against Brazil and Portugal though, the two teams who knocked him out of every major tournament with England!!

I think Ivory coast is the best equipped African team to go in the world cup . They're unlucky to be in such a difficult group . I feel they are good enough to qualify from their group above Portugal in my opinion . With an inconvincing ACN , they would want to put things right this time around and i think Sven is good enough to do a good job there .

Can Sven save the Elephants ? or Can the Elephants save Sven ?

It's a win win situation. Team Ivory Coast is loaded with talent. Best wishes to Drogba and Sven.




Dr. Cajetan Coelho

I am not reckoning with the Ivoriens,Cameroun,Ghana or any other Africa team, I see Nigeria schoking the World at this 2010 world cup,They have always done Africa proud and they have the world class players the world do not know.

Moore,PHD,Leeds.

I think this is a master stroke by the Ivorian FA. I see them finishing 2nd in the group ahead of the overrated Portugese.

Then if the last 16 pairs them with Spain, so be it. Anything can happen in knock out cup football.

Khan, B.A.(with honours!)Manchester.

For people who dont know Sven is one of the most decorated coaches out there. Something like 5 european cup finals, winning 3, some with unfashionable teams, several italian cups, portugese league titles, etc etc.

This isnt a fluke, this was sustained success with a variety of clubs and budgets over a long period of time.

The poisened chalice that is the England job wasnt right for him and he is still finding his feet since then, besides, his record, despite not delivering what the fans wanted is still better than a majority of the managers we have had.

Sven was an easy target for the media because of his non footballing activites which have left a tint on peoples perspective towards him who cant be bothered to read up things for themselves.

#14 - totally agree.

Remember McClaren? Taylor? Even Keegan? Sven bettered the lot of them.

Hoddle and Venables were both unlucky but Sven more than matched them if not more. He was Englands best manager since the late great Sir Bobby Robson.

And thats just at international level.
Hes won club titles galore like you mentioned.

Yet hes still ripped apart by the media at every opportunity.

But I guess papers need selling and t.v channels need to increase viewers so....

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Nobody seems to have much to say about Ghana. I tip them to be the achieving African team of the tournament. They have only 2 or 3 big names, but I think this may actually work in their favour. Everyone else is tipping Ivory Coast ... they will choke, too many temperamental players. South Africa have the passion but not enough quality. Ghana have a lot of Germany and Italy based players. This will count for something. My money is on them progressing the furthest of the African teams.

Is Droga beer called "BIG BABY"
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No. "CRY BABY". Drogba is a striker with amazing skills, arguably the best of his generation. A real gentleman off the field. Why he rolls over, nobody will ever know.. Maybe he just has the lowest pain threshold ever.. Same as Lucio of Inter. Maybe they were taught to fall over by a common manger they've had.

1. At 2:59pm on 14 May 2010, writtenbyfansforfans wrote:
I have never seen the attraction to Sven if I am honest. Much of his success in Italy was as a result of ridiculous levels of financial investment and his time in charge of England showed him to be a manager who had very limited tactical ideas and didn't cope well under pressure. If his system suits the Ivory Coast I am sure they will do well but if not then they could be embarrassed at the World Cup....

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Not true. Eriksson was extremely successful at IFK Gothenburg, Benfica and Fiorentina where he was not given tons of cash, and where he made his name. He also did a great job at Sampdoria, who played excellent football during his time there.

That basically got him the Lazio job. You can say that he was given a lot of quality players there who were expensive signings, but the likes of Inter were trying to buy the title in that period and not succeeding with their managers- he won a title.

Also a lot of people feel he failed with England. 2006 was a disappointment, I think most people feel that, but to go out on penalties at Euro 2004 and 2006 was unlucky. Penalties are a lottery. You talk about tactics but better penalties would have had England in two semi finals in two tournaments.

In 2002 he gets a lot of unjust criticism. He didn't have Gerrard because of injury, Owen and Beckham were not 100% fit but he still took England to the quarter finals with the likes of Danny Mills, Nicky Butt and Trevor Sinclair our best options at the time. We just couldn't beat a Brazil team with Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho in their prime!

So I don't really know why Eriksson gets a lot of criticism, I think the media image projected of him as a womaniser and money-grabber has just tarnished his reputation here in the UK.

I think the Mexico job was just the wrong kind of job for him, the wrong job at the wrong time. I think the Notts County thing was a little idealistic dream on his part, a little project for a veteran coach to rescue his reputation here, but it fell through out of his control.

Does that leave enough time to make any realistic imprint? Conventional wisdom would suggest not but football doesn't always work that way, as Denmark showed in 1992.
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What? Denmark did not have the upheavel of sacking their coach and bringing in a new one 30 days before the championship. They played the same system that they did in the qualifiers and were lucky enough to come up against some very poor team displays.

The Ivory Coast are probably the most interesting team in this year's World Cup. They have huge amounts of ability and the spine of the team (with Kolo Toure, Yaya Toure, Zokora, and Drogba) looks very strong.

On ability alone, they look stronger than Portugal but they have underperformed in major tournaments previously so who knows how they will perform this time.

Eriksson certainly looks an odd choice as coach, however. He showed little tactical flexibility when England manager and trying to get the Ivorians to play to a rigid 4-4-2 may backfire. However, let's hope that he can get the best out of them and that they can progress through to the knockout stages.

It would be an absolute miracle if Portugal and Ivory Coast get qualified to the next round from the group of death since Brazil are no longer playing with their flair with which they used to.

Portugal and Ivory Coast can defnitely qualify but the main thing is that they must play as a team and not as individuals leaving aside all their differences at the club level.

I think the Ivorians' biggest problem now might be self-doubt. This "golden generation" has not achieved nearly as much as their undoubted talent might suggest; steadily declining performances at 3 Nations' Cups and failing to get out of their group in 2006.This would be the last hurrah for many of the players.
They look sensational thrashing second-tier African teams but haven't really proved themselves against the bigger African teams. I really don't think they are any better than Cameroun, Ghana, or Nigeria. And we all know what happened against Algeria at the Nations' Cup where they could have suffered a sound thrashing. Clearly they have serious defensive deficiencies and it is difficult to see Brazil and Portugal not capitalizing. In 2006 they quickly went 2-0 down in every game they played before fighting back; it wasn't enough against the big teams then and might not be this time round if the same thing happens. If Eriksson can plug those leaks then the Elephants might at lasy start living up to the hype. But it's a big "IF".......
Personally I think Cameroun, Ghana, and Nigeria will be the African teams in the knockout stages with at least one of them making the semi-finals.
Cameroun are beginning to look solid again and I have a sneaking feeling the Super Eagles will perform. And if Ghana have a fit , full, squad then there is a great chance of them progressing and going far in the tournament.
I can't wait!!!!!!

Week-in week-out (WIWO), sofa commentators and retired footballers use the cliche: 鈥減laying as a team鈥� or 鈥渘ot playing as a team鈥�. But what exactly does it mean to not play as a team? How can a team not play as a team in a team game? How can a player play on his own; how long can a player hold on to a ball without losing it and provoking his team mates to swear at him or stop passing the ball to him or his manager taking him off.

Paul Gascoigne would often not pass to Gary Lineker but that is still not to say that the English team did not play as a team. As one who has played football since my dummy finally came off my mouth and WIWO, I don't understand what this cliche mean.

The problem with the Elephants is that they are elephants, hahaha! But seriously, I said during the ANC, that it is their fitness or stamina. Like a lorry tyre in which is impeded a sharp nail, they fizzle as the tournament progresses . Maybe it is their nutrition or training or both but they cannot go the distance. Further, under pressure, they seem to look very ordinary and schoolboy-ish 鈥� ball control and passes abandon them.

Sven-Goran Eriksson? Him again? Like the Romans, what did he ever do for England? He came, he conquered Orika Johnson and left with loads of cash. He then dabbled his trade in Mexico and then Hull without success, and then presto: he wins the lottery again.

His current employers, the Ivory Coast FA, even pays for a flat for him not in Ivory Coast but in posh London, blimey! -- Presumable, they also pay for Internet conferencing so that from London, he can coach the Elephants in Ivory Coast. I also hear that he is going to have the best hotel suites money can buy in South Africa during the tournament.

The Ivorian people will be disappointed and then for Sven-Goran Eriksson, they will sent him their witchcraft (LOL) and it would be downward slope from there on. Maybe he will pop up in Iraq or some country with name ending in 鈥渟tan鈥�. He is luckier than I am on the lottery.

Sven is not a bad manager he got england to qualify for three tournaments back to back however as alot of people have his reputation in terms of money and outside affairs of football protrayed especially by the english media, has in fact but his reputation in doubt in terms of wheither he can do a good job.

Hes record speaks for itself in terms of club management but one may argue especially at clubs like benfica and lazio they were at thier peaks in terms of trophies wise and money avaliable at the time.

Wheither he can conquer the elephants is a question that will remain to be seen until the world cup happens of course. However to judge him based on taking a team for only three months is pointless if he gets the job permanently for at least until the next african cup of nations then judge him.

But his main problem for the ivory coast team is overcoming the mentality and fear factor of the players especially when big important games is where the lack winning mentality. Another problem is they dont seem to connect as a team they play by invidiuals such as theirs always a reliability of goals on didier drogba and yaya toure to keep the midfield to get together not as a team work thats what sven needs to work on.

As you mentioned defensively they are pretty woe even though they have the likes of eboue, kolo toure at their dispise they lack leadership in that defence. As we saw in this years african cup of nations their defending cost them big time.

When will african countries learn, How long shall we continue to waste our scare resources on these over rated and utterly useless Foreign coaches. I do not believe Eriksson has anything to offer. The only down fall of the ivorian team of this generation is their lack of belief in themselves.

If people are saying that these players playing abroad will not respect the local coaches, that to me means that they (players) are not worthy of being called professionals period!

As soon as Nigeria appointed a foreign, I decided to cancel my flight ticket to South Africa. As Fela Kuti used to say "Monkey de work, Baboon dey chop".

Can this topic not be change '' Sven and CIV'' Its becoming boring. I think the Ivorians are not the African favourites since the last 8 years or so, no tropy but praises every day. Yes they are a typical African football team ,players being so proud of themselves but no collective team spirit for their country, ethnic problems, Jr racism is a big problem in African teams, with exception of Egypt! Another problem is a lack of a competent home-based couch, the foreign couches are just to carry away the cash from Africa as the dictator goverments do. Most of the players too can not even understand them when they speak in English or French due to poor educational background. Home base couhes could be better. When will African work on their own? By 2090s 0or by 3000s or 4000s?

John, 28 i think you are giving a real stereotypical view of african football nations yes mayority of the players with expection of egypt as you said i think that they are above all as they play in europe which is the dreamland for young african footballers trying to make their name in the trade.

However to say that foreign coaches take all the money is a very vivid point not all foreign coaches are like that, many of them that coach in africa because of the exciting challenge and the experience of coaching in another contient.

Another point you made is that many of the players dont understand them i think again thats giving a very igronant view of the issue when it comes to foreign coaches in africa. Many of them are educated because probably through the money and fame they get through football they will try to learn and understand other languages via visiting europe etc.

Its not all about communication its all about the managerial skills of the manager himself, you can communite well in the language all you want but if you dont have tactical understanding oand football in that country then you wont last a sec in african country ill you that straight.

African countries are probably as passinate as european fans in the game, and that comes with alot of expectations which then brings pressure on that manager and team to perform which another problem with african teams is the mentatily my friend.

Interesting article from Scotland On Sunday about the shenanigans involving CIV in the ACN. (interview with Sol Bamba)



I may be biased towards Bamba but I think CIV's biggest problem in the ACN (and tournaments before that) was the lack of a reliable goalkeeper. The goalie they used in the ACN (Boubacar Barry) hadn't even been playing for a struggling Belgian club. All the crosses that Piers describes as "sailing over Bamba's head" would have been claimed by a commanding goalkeeper from one of the more established nations.

Not many opinions here. Probably because it was a bad idea. . Personally I have never seen that coach sparkle in Eriksson.