Preview: Korea DPR – Cote d’Ivoire

(GSM) – Cote d’ Ivoire and Korea DPR face off in what is likely to become a redundant match. The only thing that will be at stake is hounour for those two countries. The Koreans are already eliminated after their embarassing 7-0 loss to Portugal while Cote D’Ivoire will have to pull off a miracle to reach the second round. And even then, they still rely on the result of the other group match against Brazil and Portugal.

Korea DPR started their World Cup campaign pretty good with a narrow loss against five time World Champions Brazil. Yun-Nam Ji even managed to score a goal for the Asians to add some excitement to the last phase of the game which ended 2-1 for the Brazilians. The impressive performance caused the North Korean authorities to broadcast their second group match against Portugal live on television.

A decision they will regret because of the terrible display from the Koreans who were slaughtered by the Portuguese: 7-0. This indirectly led to the almost certain elimination of their opponents in the last group match: Cote d’Ivoire.

Les Elephants showed a promising display in their first match against Portugal which ended 0-0. These match was characterized by the return of star player Didier Drogba who came on as a substitute. The Chelsea striker played with a cast to protect his arm, which he fractured only seven days before the tournament.

Drogba started the second match against Brazil but despite scoring a goal he couldn’t prevent a loss against the Selecao: 3-1. After that match the Africans put their hopes on Korea DPR who faced Portugal a day after their Brazil match. However, the Portuguese thrashed the Koreans and almost certain put an end to Cote d’Ivoire’s World Cup dream.