Under-strength Ivory Coast lose, Brazil beat Ireland
Differing fortunes for Portugal’s World Cup opponents
 Following on from their poor showing in the Cup of African Nations, Ivory Coast slipped to a 2-0 defeat against South Korea yesterday. The previous day Brazil had little trouble in clocking up a routine victory over the Republic of Ireland.
For all the undoubted talent of their squad, the Ivory Coast are in poor shape ahead of the World Cup. Speculation is rife about who their coach will be in South Africa, and another poor performance yesterday would have further drained the confidence of the Elephants.
In a match played at Loftus Road, London, the home of Queens Park Rangers, goals at the start and end of the match by Dong-Gook Lee and Tae-Hwi Kwak gave South Korea a deserved victory.
The Africans were without three of their star players, Kolo Toure, Salomon Kalou and Yaya Toure. Although not involved yesterday, the latter of the three is very much focused on the World Cup and has stated that the match against Portugal will be the key encounter of the group stage for the Ivory Coast.
Portugal game crucial
“For us it’s an extremely important game, because the match against Brazil will be very difficult. If we beat Portugal, we can aspire to qualify,” said the Barcelona midfielder.
On Tuesday evening five-time World Champions Brazil played their latest preparation game, also in London at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, against Ireland.
Despite a lukewarm first-half display the Brazilians went into the break one goal to the good thanks to an Andrews own goal. Dunga’s side stepped up a gear in the second half and scored a second through the lively Robinho, who had earlier seen a goal ruled out for offside.
Portugal’s other opponents in the group stage of the World Cup, North Korea were not in action this week. They had a game scheduled against Chile but it was cancelled following the devastating earthquake that hit the South American country.
by Tom Kundert
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