Ivory Coast needs minor miracle against North Korea

It’s going to take a minor miracle for Ivory Coast to advance to the second round when they meet North Korea in a Group G showdown at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on June 25. The Africans sit third in the group with a single point after their opening 0-0 draw with Portugal, while Brazil tops the group with six, followed by the Portuguese with four and North Korea with none.

While the Ivory Coast can draw level with Portugal at four points with a win and Portuguese loss to Brazil, their goal difference sits at minus 2, while Portugal’s in plus 7, thanks to a 7-0 thumping of the Koreans. This means Ivory Coast needs Brazil to spank Portugal while they try and fill the net against the Koreans for any chance to advance.

There have been six games in the history of the World Cup that have ended with an 8-0 score, so there is a faint hope for the Africans, but it seems realistically they know it’s all over for them. The Ivory Coast will once again be depending on all-time leading scorer and captain Didier Drogba to lead the way. He’s done pretty well so far, scoring the lone goal against Brazil, but is still hampered by the cast on his fractured right arm.

Manager Sven-Goran Eriksson will have to take the shackles off of everybody here in an attempt to pour in the goals. This means we might see Salomon Kalou and Gervinho playing up front with Drogba. However, he’ll need to be aware of North Korean counter attacks as it’s goal difference that counts, not goals for.

North Korea started the tournament well and looked very impressive in their opening 2-1 loss to Brazil, but then the wheels fell off in the drubbing by Portugal, especially in the second half when they let in six goals. With nothing left to play for but pride it’s hard to predict how their embarrassing loss will affect their psyche, but manager Kim Jong Hun will attempt to regroup his team. However, he is taking a lot of the blame for the loss to Portugal himself by saying he didn’t use the right strategy, but also admitted the team fell apart and allowing three goals in seven minutes finished them off.

The team may be let loose in their last game as Hun might go for a more offensive formation. Striker Tae-Se Jong appears to be their most dangerous player, but he’s missed several scoring chances so far. However, he did set up Yun Nam Ji for his goal against Brazil.

Odds and Predictions

The two teams have never met previously, but Ivory Coast is favoured to win the match at William Hill with odds of 2/5. A North Korean win is listed at 15/2 and a draw is posted with odds of 71/20.

With Ivory Coast knowing they have to score a bucketful of foals here, they should at least end up scoring two or three. This will leave the Ivory Coast open and North Korea should take advantage of it at least once in a 3-1 win by the Africans. BetUS offers -105 (2.05) in odds on Ivory Coast to score more than two goals.

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