Help wanted: Ivory Coast looking for a new coach

It doesn't make me feel any better since I wanted the team to do well above all but can I receive some credit for correctly predicting that Sven-Goran Eriksson would be a complete flop for Ivory Coast?

It was no surprise that this bumbling fool managed to screw up the Elephants completely at the 2010 World Cup, as they played terribly on their home continent. Now comes word that he is moving on because they can't afford him?

What planet am I on? Is this real life? Nobody gets a free pass like Erikkson and this is further proof that he has dirty pictures/secrets on everyone in soccer. How does he keep getting cushy jobs? I'll never understand it.

Ivory Coast has given up hope of keeping Sven-Goran Eriksson as coach, and the president of the country's governing body says a replacement will be announced by next week.

Sory Diabate says the federation wanted Eriksson to continue even after an unsuccessful World Cup, but financial negotiations to renew his contract broke down.

In an interview posted on the federation website, Diabate said a new coach will be announced before an Aug. 10 exhibition against Italy in London.

Diabate said that "indeed, Eriksson will not be the next coach of the Elephants. He was the very first choice, but the negotiations did not succeed."

Eriksson's contract expired after the World Cup, where Ivory Coast was eliminated in the first round.

But hey, the bottom line is he's sent packing and maybe now the Ivory Coast can get back untracked.

This is all your fault Sven, you hopeless loser

Like most professional sports (other than football), I don't think being a soccer coach for a big club or country really makes a difference either way. It's all about how much talent you have, who's healthy and who's on form. With that said, go back and look when Ivory Coast announced Sven-Goran Eriksson was their new head coach. I hated the move then and I hate it now since the Elephants are going home early.

Eriksson didn't make obvious tactical or substitution mistakes and he wasn't on the field for his team's lifeless 0-0 opening draw vs. Portugal but I'll still make him the scapegoat for this team because he's never won anything in his life and yet he continues to get cushy jobs (England, Mexico, Ivory Coast and next maybe Fulham).

Ivory Coast

Best Moment: Didier Drogba, the face of the nation, suited up and played even though he broke his arm a few weeks before the tournament. He wasn't up to his usual high-level of play but just the fact that he sacked up and was out there had to be inspiring for the Elephants.

Worst Moment: Getting down 3-1 to Brazil. That game basically would make or break their 2010 World Cup and they never showed up.

Best Result: The win over North Korea, their only three points of the tournament.

Worst Result: I'll go with the opening scoreless draw with Portugal. Obviously, as I said the loss to Brazil was more costly but in terms of setting the tone, the match vs. Portugal showed that Ivory Coast was in big trouble. They failed to get anything started and they seemed to play scared which is never good.

Final Tally: 1 win, 1 tie, 1 loss; 4 goals scored, 3 goals conceded.

Best Player: Midfielder Yaya Toure had a goal and an assist and was a force in the center of the field for all three games. No surprise if you watch him do his thing for Barcelona.

Worst Player: It's not really fair to him since his defense left him out to dry but goalkeeper Boubacar Barry (outstanding name) gave up the three fatal goals to Brazil so he earns this mark.

Ivory Coast wins 3-0 but doesn't move on

The North Korea-Ivory Coast match has gone final and the Elephants won 3-0.

Final stats:

North Korea Ivory Coast
9(4) Shots (on Goal) 27(10)
12 Fouls 16
0 Corner Kicks 7
2 Offsides 4
34% Time of Possession 66%
0 Yellow Cards 0
0 Red Cards 0
7 Saves 4

Salomon Kalou says hello before it's too late

In the 82nd minute, with his right foot, Kalou redirected a sweet pass from defender Arthur Boka for a goal.

Ivory Coast just put another one but they were offside.

3-0 Ivory Coast in the 87th minute.

0-0 Portugal-Brazil in the 87th minute.

Last Ivory Coast sub of the 2010 World Cup

Seydou Doumbia came on for Romaric. There are rumors that Sven-Goran Eriksson will be replace Roy Hodgson as the Fulham manager. And I just puked in my mouth.

North Korean and Ivory Coast subs

North Korea's Choe Kum-Chol came in for Mun In-Guk. Ivory Coast made two changes as Salomon Kalou replaced Kader Keita and Aruna Dindane took out Gervinho.

2-0 Ivory Coast in the 74th minute.

0-0 Portgual-Brazil in the 73rd minute.

Go get another tat Meireles you clown

It should be 1-0 Portugal after Raul Meireles had a ball deflect right to him in front of the net. He had to one time it with the outside of his right foot but he hit it wide (after I think Julio Cesar deflected it).

Cristiano Ronaldo made the whole play as he drove down the right side then had the ball tackled away by Lucio.

Cesar was shaken up but he's staying in the game. Portuguese corner.

0-0 Portugal-Brazil in the 63rd minute. Pepe is out for Pedro Mendes.

2-0 Ivory Coast in the 63rd minute.

Duda out, Simao in

Portugal makes its first change in the 54th minute, Duda is done for the day and midfielder Simao (who had a cap in the 1998 World Cup) comes on.

0-0 in the 55th minute and I'm almost ready to change back to Ivory Coast-North Korea which still has the Elephants up 2-0 in the 57th minute.

Second half underway

Hopefully Ivory Coast can score a few more and somebody can score in the Brazil-Portugal match.

Halftime

Brazil-Portugal are still scoreless at halftime and the referee in their games needs to relax with the yellow cards.

He gave Portugal defender Fabio Coentrao a yellow in the 46th minute for a non-existant foul.

And the Ivory Coast leads 2-0 at the half.

Halftime stats:

Portugal Brazil
6(1) Shots (on Goal) 12(2)
7 Fouls 9
0 Corner Kicks 5
1 Offsides 0
28% Time of Possession 72%
4 Yellow Cards 3
0 Red Cards 0
2 Saves 1

North Korea Ivory Coast
3(0) Shots (on Goal) 13(7)
5 Fouls 7
0 Corner Kicks 4
1 Offsides 1
28% Time of Possession 72%
0 Yellow Cards 0
0 Red Cards 0
5 Saves 0

Fabiano muffs header from close range

Fabiano should have done better as he had a header on a platter as they say. He knodded it off the ground which caused it to bounce wide.

Portuguese midfielder Pepe received a yellow card and now Brazilian midfielder Felipe Melo picked up a yellow for just body checking a Portuguese player.

0-0 in the 44th minute.

2-0 Ivory Coast in the 44th minute.

Melo is coming out for midfielder Josue, Dunga doesn't want Melo to pick up another dumb yellow.

Nilmar is unlucky

Brazilian midfielder Nilmar received a pretty through ball into the box, one-timed it but it was deflected by Portugal goalkeeper Eduardo off the crossbar and out.

On the other hand, Portugal was attacking but midfielder Tiago was booked with a yellow card for an obvious dive in the box. I love Portugal (since they're my heritage) but they often make it hard to love them since they flop and whine so much.

0-0 Brazil-Portugal in the 34th minute.

2-0 Ivory Coast in the 34th minute.

Why must I be so white?

They just showed the Ivory Coast fans and they were all turned around and doing something called the Elephant dance. It was probably the coolest thing I've ever seen.

2-0 Ivory Coast in the 29th minute.

0-0 Brazil-Portugal in the 29th minute. Both Juan (Brazilian defender) and Duda (Portuguese forward) picked up yellow cards in the 25th minute.

Romaric makes it 2-0 Ivory Coast

I have officially flipped it over to Ivory Coast-North Korea because the Elephants added another strike.

Midfielder Romaric scored after Didier Drogba's blast went off the woodwork and bounced right to him.

Two goals made up of the nine goal swing needed.

Wow, North Korean striker Hong Yong-Jo just curled a free kick wide by a couple inches.

2-0 Ivory Coast in the 25th minute.

Yaya Toure opens his account

Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure opens the scoring for the Elephants in the 14th minute. All they need now is seven more goals and one from Brazil as well and they're through.

1-0 Ivory Coast in the 21st minute.

Group of Death (G) live blog

Brazil plays Portugal and Ivory Coast meets North Korea this morning as Group G wraps up. Brazil and Portugal are pretty much locked in to advancing but let's hope they take the shackles off and play some exciting soccer.

Starting 11's:

North KoreaLineup
G
1Ri Myong-Guk
CD
3Ri Jun-Il
CD-L
5Ri Kwang-Chon
CD-R
13Pak Chol-Jin
LB
8Ji Yun-Nam
RB
2Cha Jong-Hyok
CM
17An Yong-Hak
CM-L
4Pak Nam-Chol
CM-R
11Mun In-Guk
CF-L
9Jong Tae-Se
CF-R
10Hong Yong-Jo

Ivory Coast Lineup
G
1Boubacar Barry
CD-L
5Didier Zokora
CD-R
4Kolo Touré
LB
3Arthur Boka
RB
21Emmanuel Eboué
CM
19Yaya Touré
LM
13Romaric
RM
9Ismael Tioté
F
18Kader Keita
LF
11Didier Drogba
RF
10Gervinho

0-0 Ivory Coast-North Korea in the 9th minute.

PortugalLineup
G
1Eduardo
CD-L
2Bruno Alves
CD-R
6Ricardo Carvalho
LB
23Fábio Coentrão
RB
21Ricardo Costa
CM
15Pepe
LM
16Raul Meireles
RM
19Tiago
F
5Duda
LF
7Cristiano Ronaldo
RF
10Danny

Brazil Lineup
G
1Júlio César
CD-L
4Juan
CD-R
3Lúcio
LB
6Michel Bastos
RB
2Maicon
LM
5Felipe Melo
RM
8Gilberto Silva
F
9Luis Fabiano
RCF
19Júlio Baptista
AM-L
21Nilmar
AM-R
13Dani Alves

0-0 Brazil-Portugal in the 10th minute.

Group of Death stinkbomb

Well I promise never to overhype anything again during the 2010 World Cup. I know we had a lot to do with the sluggish nature of the Portugal-Ivory Coast game, you don't have to tell me twice.

Anyways, to end this stinker Ivory Coast played the corner short but the referee blew the final whistle just as they did that. That about sums it up, just a really disappointing match. It became a little more interesting in the second half and Drogba played for a bit (without his arm falling off) so there is that.

Brazil plays North Korea this afternoon (2:30 p.m.). Brazil plays Ivory Coast on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. and North Korea meets Portugal on Monday at 7:30 a.m.

See you in a few hours.

oh Drogba

My man Drogba actually got behind the Portuguese defense but his shot/pass was well wide. It seemed like he let it run too far, if he hit it sooner it might have been more of a challenge for Eduardo.

In the last minute here, still 0-0. Ivory coast corner. Come on Elephants!

Three minutes of additional time

Can anybody save this nightmare of a match?

Last call: Eboue out, Romaric in

Before a Portugal corner, Ivory Coast makes the last change of the game: Emmanuel Eboue out, Romaric in.

0-0 in the 89th minute.