Côte d'Ivoire national football team at the 2006 Football World Cup

Côte d'Ivoire (that's the Ivory Coast to me and you) haven't got an easy ride this time. Their spotty record at the African Nations Cup bears testament to this, however, their very last result in the competition (achieving a runners-up spot in 2006) is the most important thing to take note of here. As the famous Chinese proverb goes, don't underrate the elephants.

This, as is the case for four of the five African teams in this year's competition, is their first foray into the World Cup. Themselves, as well as Angola, Ghana, Togo, this year take the generally-established places of South Africa, Cameroon and Nigeria. Thanks to the Africans sharing the same pot during the draw, no two African teams could have been drawn within the same group.

Throughout qualifying, the star of the Ivoirian group was Didier Drogba, though Arsenal's Kolo Toure is bound to appear to be the important figure in either saving the Ivoirians from acrimony, or, indeed, steering them to glory. And so long as they refuse to leave with egg on their faces, they could easily make the quarter finals.