Argentina - Ivory Coast

[Jean]

ARGENTINA 2-1 CÔTE D'IVOIRE
10 June 2006
by FIFAworldcup.com



In a highly entertaining Group C game in Hamburg, two first half goals from Hernan Crespo and Javier Saviola helped Argentina to a 2-1 win over Côte d'Ivoire in Hamburg on Saturday, 10 June 2006.
The Albiceleste took the lead in the 24th minute when Crespo scored a classic poacher’s goal. Henri Michel’s side failed to deal with a Juan Roman Riquelme free-kick and the Chelsea striker was on hand to turn the loose ball home.

Argentina doubled their advantage fourteen minutes later when Riquelme picked out Saviola with a great pass and the striker produced a beautiful finish to steer the ball past Jean-Jacques Tizie.

Didier Drogba, Crespo’s team-mate at Chelsea, gave the Ivorians hope with a goal eight minutes from time, but the South Americans hung on to secure the three points.

The match:
3‘: Côte d’Ivoire forward Didier Drogba had his first sight of goal but his header missed the target by some distance and flew over the top of the crossbar.

14‘: Argentina’s Juan Riquelme released Maxi Rodriguez, who whipped in a dangerous cross and Côte d’Ivoire defender Kolo Toure just beat Hernan Crespo to it to concede a corner before the Chelsea striker was able to pounce.

15‘: From the resulting corner, Roberto Ayala powered a header towards goal and the Elephants’ keeper Jean-Jacques Tizie was relieved to gather it at the second attempt.

24‘: The Albiceleste moved in front as the game took on a frenetic pace. Riquelme provided the cross from a free-kick and when the Ivorians failed to deal with it and clear their lines, Crespo was on hand to stab the loose ball home past Tizie (1-0).

30‘: As the TV cameras picked out Argentine legend Diego Maradona looking happy in the crowd in Hamburg, Bonaventure Kalou tried to wipe the smile off his face by bursting into the area and shooting, but his effort flashed past the post.


35‘: Drogba’s cushioned header provided the Elephants’ midfielder Kader Keita with a fantastic opportunity to equalise, but as he stooped to try to guide the ball home with his head, Argentina goalkeeper Roberto Abbondanzieri blocked the attempt with his legs.

38‘: Argentina extended their lead and, once again, the outstanding Riquelme was the provider. He cleverly steered the ball through to Javier Saviola, who beat the offside trap to quickly poke the ball past Tizie (2-0).

Argentina search for third:
48‘: Argentina wasted little time as they went in search of a third killer goal. Saviola fed Rodriguez in space. He took a touch to steady himself before clipping the ball over the crossbar.

55‘: Villarreal playmaker Riquelme continued to cause havoc for Côte d’Ivoire with his crosses. He came close to scoring directly from a free-kick near the corner flag as his pacy curling delivery evaded everyone and almost crept in at the far post.

59‘: Ivorian substitute Aruna Dindane crossed for Drogba, but the Côte d’Ivoire skipper could not get enough power on his downward header and Argentina cleared the danger.

70‘: Drogba showed great power and determination in the box to shield the ball well from the Argentine defence and try to get a shot in. The attempt fell to Keita, who in turn squared it to Arouna Kone, but he could not keep his shot down.

72‘: Yaya Toure had a free-kick partially blocked from the edge of the area, but Drogba came close to turning the ball in for the Africans, although he guided his volley wide.

82‘: The Elephants got the goal their efforts richly deserved and the inspirational Drogba was the man who eventually claimed it. He was twice involved in a move which saw him head the ball away from goal instead of at the target, but when Bakary Kone crossed it back to the Chelsea star, he steered it into Argentina’s net (2-1).

85‘: Amid intense pressure at the other end, Rodriguez believed he had made the game safe for Argentina by lifting the ball over Tizie and guiding it home, but play was pulled back for an offside flag.

In conclusion:
Argentina held on for a precious victory in a classic end-to-end encounter, but Côte d’Ivoire were desperately unlucky not to claim in a point in a frenetic finish.

[Jean]

this is the picture of maradona after the end of the game

[Lopez]

Congratulations everyone!

Great game for both teams. Cote d'Ivoire players were very fast and unlucky.

Argentina, in one word . . . TACTICS TACTICS TACTICS

Referee ---> Too bad!


Congratulations ARGENTINA !!

[Diabolo_7]

am sticking with Ivory coast as my second choice behind France, i am a huge fan of Didier Drogba since his Marseille days... he is a great player...

hard luck... hopefully they will do better in the next 2 games...

[Frangieh]

OI saw only the first half....Ivory coast played great
but they didnt have the finish norn the defence....so argentina
istaghilit this and knew what to do

[AliArz]

Originally Posted by Diabolo_7

am sticking with Ivory coast as my second choice behind France, i am a huge fan of Didier Drogba since his Marseille days... he is a great player...

hard luck... hopefully they will do better in the next 2 games...

Didier Drogba is an amazing Footballer.

I love his style.

Plus, he is an excellent entertainer, especially after he gets to score goals, I like the way he shows his emotions on the field.

As a person, he seems very sympathetic.

Me too, since his days at OM, I became a huge fan of the man.

However, I did stop following him once he went for Chelsea.

The English Premiership is giving me a headache, so I did not bother much to know more about anything there.

I am a big fan of OM and RC Lens, which are in France's Foot Pro.

Les Bleus has all it takes in order to go forward.

Time will tell how they will do in this WC.

The "giants" didnt impress me much, even if they won.

Germany should do better, so does England.

Argentina is far from impressive.

Let's wait and see what France will do...

Imagine a France vs. Cote d'Ivoire showdown later on...

This might spell the end for Les Bleus if they didnt learn from that mistake against Senegal...

Take care,

Ali Arz

[MPFL]

Originally Posted by Lopez

Congratulations everyone!

Great game for both teams. Cote d'Ivoire players were very fast and unlucky.

Argentina, in one word . . . TACTICS TACTICS TACTICS

Referee ---> Too bad!


Congratulations ARGENTINA !!

It is good to see and argentinian fan in here, sometimes i feel alone.

Congratulations Argentina..
We deserved to win..
we killed off the match with our first half display..
in the second half we sat back and defended only trying to win with least tiredness possible..

Although i do think that we sat back early..
we should have sat back as of minute 65 and nothing less..
trying to kill off the match at the start of the second half would have been the better tactics..

Anyway i just don't care.. WE WON!!!

Serbia & montenegro ur next!!

[MPFL]

FIFA.com

Javier SAVIOLA (ARG), Budweiser Man of the Match
To score a goal on my World Cup debut is a dream come true. I had waited so long for that moment that when I saw the ball go in, I didn’t know what to do! The adrenalin kicked in and it was a real blur! I have to thank my team-mate Juan Riquelme, who set me up with a perfect pass. I didn’t swap shirts at the end of the game because I want to take it home and give it to my mum. What were my other impressions of the game? It was a fantastic feeling when I walked out onto the pitch because the stadium was absolutely full. For now, I want to enjoy the moment and tomorrow we can start thinking about the Serbia and Montenegro game.

Juan RIQUELME (ARG)
I’m pleased that I could play my part with the two assists, but I don’t feel as though there is any extra pressure on me. After all, it’s only a game. We deserved our win. Perhaps we sat back a little in the second half, but we were 2-0 up and we felt comfortable, so that was bound to happen. Their goal came out of nothing, and after they scored they did put us under pressure. But people should also bear in mind how well we played and in the end I don’t think they created a clear-cut chance. We got the win, and that was the most important thing.

Juan Pablo SORIN (ARG)
We knew that it was going to be a tough game, but our experience saw us through. This win really sets us up for the rest of the tournament. It was amazing to see so many Argentinian supporters at the game, and that gave me a real lift. In fact, it was the only way I could cope with the heat and fatigue by the end of the game. But the crucial thing was to take all three points. Now we can relax and we have to get ourselves ready for Serbia and Montenegro.

Hernan CRESPO (ARG)
I’m pleased that I scored, because that’s my job. The way the team plays relies on me being in the right place at the right time to take my chances. It’s never easy to start the World Cup with a win, because everybody is so anxious to do well. Tactically, maybe we lost our way a little in the second half, but we made up for it by battling hard. In a way this win is the culmination of four years’ hard work, and you do feel that pressure when you go out onto the pitch. But we can just take it one game at a time now, and look to make progress.

Javier MASCHERANO (ARG)
It was vital to start with a win, and that’s what we’ve done. From here we can try to improve and really try to get into top gear. But because this was our first game, we have to be happy with the win.

Roberto ABBONDANZIERI (ARG)
This game was our first final, if you like, and we’ve got six more finals ahead of us if we want to win the Trophy. At times we struggled with the pace of some of their players, but in the end they didn’t cause us too many problems.

[drkalsaee]

Originally Posted by MPFL

It is good to see and argentinian fan in here, sometimes i feel alone.

Congratulations Argentina..
We deserved to win..
we killed off the match with our first half display..
in the second half we sat back and defended only trying to win with least tiredness possible..

Although i do think that we sat back early..
we should have sat back as of minute 65 and nothing less..
trying to kill off the match at the start of the second half would have been the better tactics..

Anyway i just don't care.. WE WON!!!

Serbia & montenegro ur next!!

No way man,

You are never alone!

VAMOS ARGENTINA!

But honestly good job by Ivory Coast.
I think the main difference was the ability to finish the ball, Argentina did the better job.


Oh and about Didier Drogba, he might have been great at Marsielle but he's nothing at all for Chelsea, just a big diver.

Cheers!

[paul_219]

The game was simply! I enjoyed every minute of it.
The Ivory Coast team simply didnt want to give up.
Both teams deserved to win.

Yalla we want more of such gameplay and action :) . I hope all games get played that way.