Drogba Goal Too Little Too Late

Argentina vs Ivory Coast
Hamburg

Ivory Coast, in Orange, kick-off from right to left with the pace considerably slower than the earlier Trinidad & Tobago vs Sweden match.

The only real early incident came in the 14th minute when Jean-Jacques Tizie seemed to fumble Roberto Ayala's header. The Argentine thought the ball had entered the airspace over the line, referee Frank De Bleeckere of Belgium disagreed. Replay cameras couldn't really give a clear view either.

A run through the middle by Côte d'Ivoire's Didier Zokora, in the 20th minute, almost put Argentina's defence to the test; as the South Americans conceded two corners in succession.
Juan Riquelme's 24th minute free-kick fell nicely into a confused penalty area, for Hernan Crespo to put Argentina ahead.

Didier Drogba threatened to equalise for Ivory Coast just after the half hour when he took a ball on his chest and tried to jiggle through into the Argentine area. But the corner the Chelsea forward earned came to nothing.

Ivory Coast had another chance to equalise shortly before Saviola scored Argentina's second goal. Riquelme's exact, offside-defeating, timed chip floated into the middle of the penalty area, just out of reach of the advancing Tizie. Saviola got there first.

Half-time: (2:0).

The second half started with the same tactical cat and mouse play and another yellow card for Argentina; Gabriel Heinze challenging Didier Drogba.

Argentina, happy to sit on their two-goal lead, slowed the tempo to almost a standstill. With Didier Drogba closely watched by Heinze and Ayala, he failed to make much of an impact up front for Côte d'Ivoire.

And then, with less than 10 minutes remaining, Didier Drogba pulled the Ivory Coast back into the game snapping onto a return ball into the middle of the Argentina area; too little, too late.

Final Score:
Argentina 2 - Ivory Coast 1

Teams
Argentina: (Captain Juan Pablo Sorin)
1 Roberto Abbondanzieri; 2 Roberto Ayala, 3 Juan Pablo Sorin, 6 Gabriel Heinze, 21 Nicolas Burdisso; 5 Esteban Cambiasso, 8 Javier Mascherano, 10 Juan Riquelme, 18 Maxi Rodríguez; 7 Javier Saviola, 9 Hernán Crespo.

Ivory Coast: (Captain Didier Drogba)
1 Jean-Jacques Tizie; 3 Arthur Boka, 4 Kolo Toure, 12 Abdoulaye Meite, 21 Emmanuel Eboue; 2 Kanga Akale, 5 Didier Zokora, 19 Gneri Yaya Toure; 8 Bonaventure Kalou, 11 Didier Drogba, 18 Abdulkader Keita.

Referee:
Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)

Our Man of The Match:
Juan Riquelme, whose vision provided the spark for both of Argentina's goals. An honourable mention too for Didier Drogba, who carried Ivory Coast's hopes forward single-handed.