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Elephants stand in way of Argentina
7 June 2006
by FIFAworldcup.com


The first round of games in Group C of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™ gets under way at 21:00 CET on Saturday 10 June, with Argentina renewing their quest to regain the crown they last won 20 years ago. Facing them in front of a packed house in Hamburg will be debutants Côte d'Ivoire.
Colours for the game
Argentina: blue and white shirt, black shorts, white socks
Côte d'Ivoire: orange shirt, orange shorts, orange socks

The players
Argentina coach Jose Pekerman has put his faith in the crop of players he nurtured during his time in charge of the national youth teams that included among others Juan Pablo Sorin, Esteban Cambiasso and Juan Roman Riquelme. In doing so Pekerman has cast aside seasoned campaigners such as Javier Zanetti, the most capped Argentine international still in action today. His counterpart on Saturday, Henri Michel, had no such surprises in store, however, the Frenchman remaining faithful to the players who took Côte d'Ivoire to Germany and then all the way to the final of the recent CAF African Cup of Nations. Not surprisingly Didier Drogba, the side's star striker, captain and talisman, is among them.

How they qualified
The Albiceleste confirmed their finals place back in June 2005 with a handsome 3-1 win over eternal rivals Brazil in Buenos Aires, some three games from the end of the qualifying tournament. The Elephants turned the form book on its head when they edged out Cameroon in Group 3 in Africa following a 3-1 win over Sudan on the final day of qualifying.

Previous meetings
The two sides have met just once before, in the 1992 King Fahd Cup, the precursor to the current FIFA Confederations Cup. On that occasion the South Americans, coached by Alfio Basile, ran out comfortable 4-0 winners with goals from Gabriel Batistuta (2), Ricardo Altamirano and Alberto Acosta.

Tournament history
This is Argentina's 14th appearance at the finals. The Albiceleste have won the title twice (1978 and 1986) and finished runners-up on two other occasions (1930 and 1990). In stark contrast, Germany 2006 represents the Africans' first ever appearance at the finals.

Key contest
Riquelme versus Drogba. Pekerman is pinning his hopes on the sublime talents of Riquelme, who has been handed the legendary No.10 shirt for the first time in his international career. The Villarreal midfielder is the Argentines' master schemer and has the ability to win games single-handedly with inch-perfect passes and wicked drives from distance. Lining up against him will be the iconic figure of Drogba, the Elephants' main striking threat and inspirational skipper. The Chelsea forward was the second highest scorer in the African qualifiers and will be hoping to use his power and goalscoring acumen to shepherd his side through the tournament.

Coaches
After forging his reputation with the country's youth sides, Pekerman stepped up a level in September 2004 when he replaced Marcelo Bielsa as Argentina coach despite a lack of full international experience. Tactically unpredictable, the 56-year-old imposed his authority in leaving out the likes of Zanetti and Walter Samuel from his final 23-man squad.

Two years older than his rival on Saturday, Henri Michel made his name as a player with Nantes before coaching France to Olympic gold in 1984. His reward for that achievement was promotion to the full job, and Michel duly guided France to Mexico 86 before reappearing at USA 94 as coach of Cameroon. Twelve years on, the experienced tactician is looking to score a major success with his adopted Côte d'Ivoire.