Didier Drogba starts on the bench for Ivory Coast, having not fully recovered from injury. Barney will be here from around 2.30pm. In the meantime, here's an extract from his preview of Ivory Coast v Portugal:
For Portugal, burdened with the world's most expensive and most extravagantly eye-catching footballer, the possibilities of this World Cup seem to run along two tracks. Either Cristiano Ronaldo plays as he can, as he did briefly at Euro 2008, and Carlos Queiroz's team shape up as outsiders as dangerous as their talent proposes – or Ronaldo plays as he did in qualifying, failing to score in seven matches as his country limped towards South Africa via a play-off with Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Portugal play Ivory Coast in their Group G opener and Ronaldo's uneven international performances – compared to his muscular and urgent presence at club level – are, as ever, a preoccupation.
"Everyone talks about Cristiano Ronaldo – it's natural because he is the player he is," the midfielder Deco said . "But we can only get anywhere if we are a team. It's the whole team that matters. It's important he scores goals and those goals will help us to get through to the next phase and maybe win it. Whether Cristiano Ronaldo scores or not, there's no concern as long as we score as a team."
The man himself has been more bullish on his prospects of adding to his 22 goals in 72 caps, predicting with his customary, vibrant sense of self-worth that goals would soon emerge "like ketchup from a bottle". That is, in a decisive splurge.
Source http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jun/15/world-cup-2010-ivory-coast-portugal
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