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Group G: Brazil 3, Ivory Coast 1

Brazil:

1- Julio Cesar; 2- Maicon, 3- Lucio, 4- Juan, 6- Michel Bastos, 5- Felipe Melo,

8-Gilberto Silva, 7- Elano, 10- Kaka, 11- Robinho, 9- Luis Fabiano.

Ivory Coast:

1- Boubacar Barry; 21- Emmanuel Eboue, 4- Kolo Toure, 20- Guy Demel, 17-Siaka Tiene, 5- Didier Zokora,

19- Yaya Toure, 9- Cheik Tiote, 8- Salomon Kalou, 11- Didier Drogba, 15- Aruna Dindane.

Referee: Stephane Lannoy (France)

This match was one that all true football aficionados were looking forward to. The world’s finest team, Brazil, talking on the superstars of the Ivory Coast. Their group, Group G, is this year’s Group of Death, and this clash would be a vital one in determining who progresses to the next round. Brazil made no changes to the squad which had narrowly beaten North Korea in match one, while Elephants’ coach Sven Goran-Erikkson made one change, putting Chelsea powerhouse Didier Drogba in the starting line up after he’d started on the bench against Portugal.

The match was off to a slow start. Brazil enjoyed the vast majority of possession, but were constricted to the midfield. The Africans, while being forced to be defensively strong, were trying to push forward and succeeded to some extent; however, Brazil refused to concede possession. Both sides looked slightly laboured, a touch apprehensive. The word that come to mind in the opening 15 minutes was, shockingly, mediocre. Neither team were really showing us what they are capable of. This changed in the 20th minute, when Real Madrid Galactico Kaka made a mockery of the Elephants’ defence and passed wonderfully to the awaiting Luis Fabiano, who swung an absolute piledriver past Boubacar Barry in the Ivorian net. This was a superb goal, one of the best of the tournament thus far

The match was livelier after that, and the Ivoirians had become somewhat more aggressive. Aruna Dindane and Didier Drogba had been pairing up quite nicely, and the former had the Ivoirians only real attempt on target in the 41st minute, but it wasn’t enough to trouble the impeccable Julio Cesar. After the interval, the match restarted in a sedate manner, albeit alongside some majestic football. Fabiano, whose form hadn’t been wonderful as of late, was really moving the ball well. He silenced the deafening African crowd yet again with another goal, this time in the 51st minute. This one wasn’t without controversy, as he deliberately handled the ball before smashing it home with his left foot. The officials, however, seemed to have missed the offense, and the goal stood.

The Ivoirians were full-on aggressive after that, and were doing all they could against a now rampant Brazilian side. We were finally seeing true end-to-end football, with the aforementioned Dindane and Drogba in particular doing well for the African side. It just wasn’t meant to be for the Elephants, however, and Brazil took advantage of some dodgy defending to allow Elano to slot home Brazil’s third, and a beautiful goal it was, too.

The match then took a rather nasty turn. Ivoirian defender Cheik Tiote went in on Elano in a disgraceful, studs-up tackle. Elano screamed in agony, and had to be stretchered off the pitch, clutching his shin bone. What undoubtedly should have been a red card offense had been missed by the officials, the second rather blatant faux pas the quartet had made. Tiote was later booked for a nasty challenge on brace-scorer Fabiano, and Kader Keita was lucky to escape a straight red for his vicious tackle on the same player. Amidst the dirty tackles, in the 78th minute Didier Drogba slotted home a belter of a consolation goal for the Africans, but it was just that, a consolation.

By the 80th minute, the match had descended into chaos. Players from the opposing sides were involved in a scuffle on the pitch, which resulted in the normally whiter than white Kaka being booked for his confrontation with Barcelona hardman Yaya Toure. Keita, fresh off the ball in the 88th minute, then really made matters worse. In an Oscar-worthy performance, as Kaka walked past him, Keita hit the ground so quick you’d think he was under sniper fire, clutching his face. An amazed -and innocent- Kaka was then shown his second yellow, resulting in a sending off. This was an absolutely disgraceful decision by referee Stephane Lannoy. The remaining few minutes saw no action worth mentioning, as Brazil’s players were still seething about the sending off, while the Africans looked utterly dejected.

Overall, this was a truly disgraceful end to what had been an enjoyable match. Brazil will now advance to the nest round, while the Ivoirians are left with merely a small chance of joining them as runners up. However, the main talking point in the match was undoubtedly the abysmal officiating we saw. Kaka, one of the world’s best players, will now serve an undeserved match ban, thanks to both the referee and the disgraceful play acting of Keita. This, along with the unnoticed handball for Brazil’s second goal, and the fact that Tiote wasn’t booked for the awful challenge on Elano, amounted in an awful night for the officials. These situations must be put to an end soon, for the sake of the players, the fans, and more importantly, the tournament itself.

Emma Hickey
DFN Sports Staff Writer