Match 46: Korea DPR x Cote d'Ivoire

Cote d'Ivoire have this game in the bag, it is almost a sure victory for Ivory Coast as I am from Ghana and I support not only Ghana but Ivory Coast as well since they are my next-door neighbour geographically speaking, so Drogba, Kalou, Gervinho, Yaya Toure, Kolo Toure, Bakary Kone, Aruna Dindane, and company have this game in the bag, a sure victory calling it now Ivory Coast will beat North Korea with ease 5-0

Allez Les Coeur Cote d'Ivoire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

It would nice to see Cote d'Ivoire take the 2nd place at the expense of Portugal, and they should win DPR quite comfortably. But then... the Elephants drew with Burkina Faso and clearly had problems against bunkering teams... I won't be too surprised if North Korea can nab a draw.

 

Allez les coeur D' Elephants, Go Ivory Coast Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I see Ivory Coast beating North Korea in this match like 2-1, a realistic scoreline here, seeing as how Cote d'Ivoire have a more superior team than North Korea, and Ivory Coast have that skill, that flare, that passion which I think North Korea also has, but not to the level of Ivory Coast

 

Well, CIV will need a bit more than 2-1 for it to feel like anything more than a loss.

 

I think that lack of motivation in this final game by IVC will ensure the koreans a 1-1 draw.

 

I feel for Ivory Coast right now... I mean Brazil can take 3 points from their game against Portugal, but even if Ivory takes 3 from N. Korea they're still under the thumb of Portugal's massive goal advantage.

 

NK will want to go out respectfully. They're gonna turtle up and wait for the counter.

IC would have to score 10 to get second place right?

 

Well at least they'll be playing the team that gave up 7 goals in the first place. It would only be impossible if CIV had to make up all those goals against Brazil or Portugal, so it isn't over yet.

But I don't like the comments that I'm hearing from the CIV players. They're not being pragmatic enough. All this talk of miracles. Nonsense, they need goals. Quit waiting for an angel to fly down from the heavens and magic you through and just worry about pushing the tally on Korea. Did a miracle gift Portugal 7 goals? Such a loser's mentality, no wonder they're in the position that they're in. The only comments I want to hear from them is "we need goals, that's all we're concerned about." Not miracles. Damn defeatist attitude. I could have knocked all of those interviews out of the park. "I'm doing fine thank you. Our job at the moment is to go out there and score 10 goals against N. Korea. How are you?" Just like a 9 to 5, you have a task before you, set about it. Quit crying and feeling sorry for yourselves. Damn!

Don't even worry about the other match. If I'm Erikkson, I don't let the team know what's going on, push everyone forward and try to score from the opening minute. If, by chance, Korea get one on the fly, score two more. If you get to 3 or 4 by halftime, then take that confidence and realize that they do not have to equal Portugal's second half performance, only come close. They sound like they've quit already.

They just need to remember that they played Portugal to a stand-off without their best player. So if Portugal can put 7 on N. Korea, so can they. They cannot go into this match afraid of N. Korea. They are the better team, show it and leave everything on the field. Anything less than 4 goals and I will have to assume that they quit and didn't try to go through. If they score 8 goals and Portugal wins or draws Brazil, they can at least know that they forced the issue and leave with class. I'm still expecting something of them.

 

This is their first world cup and remember that they are likely under extreme pressure from their ppl at home, and by that I mean Kim Jung Il. If that has made them mentally fragile, the potential exists for them to crack again. Right now CIV's job isn't to wish for miracles, but rather to induce a relapse. I detest quitting far more than failure.

Right now, CIV knows that the Koreans have it in them to break. Find that breaking point while the Portugal match is fresh in their minds. If they dwell on it too much it can work against them. I daresay that the pressure should be off of CIV. Everyone's writing them off, they should be loose, but N. Korea is facing going home as abject failures. They may feel the need to win now more than ever and may be undervaluing CIV at the moment as fellow bottom-dwellers. My point is that, sure CIV has a difficult task on them, but going about it with the type of attitude that they currently have is not becoming a World Cup side with the talent that they have, they games that these players have all played on the European stage. They cannot go out and wait for angels to guide their passes and put their shots in the net.

 

What are the chances that CIV come out with a crazy formation like 3-2-5? It would make for some entertaining football. At this point though, why hold back? You need at least 7 goals to have any shot. It doesn't matter if the score is 14-7. Just get as many goals as possible without worrying about defense imo. If I were Sven, I'm going all out. It would be hilarious if Portugal were to get knocked out like this. Let's go CIV!!!!

 

Heck go 2-4-4 with Eboue and Toure at the back and a holding mid. Throw everyone else forward. If you have to win 12-4 so be it. You're goal here is scoring goals, not worrying about anything else. You have the more talented athletes, make them draw on their experience and force N. Korea to deal with pressure that they haven't seen yet. Even the score of Brazil vs Portugal is irrelevent at this point. If they go out bc Portugal beats Brazil I can still be proud if they at least attempt to do their part.

 

interesting series of views
I think the betting agencies are inclined to agree, Ivory Coast are paying 1.35x to win,4.4 draw, 9 korea win

korea truly was broken to pieces by Portugal but then what about the 2-1 with Brazil?
How much of that can you put down to poor performance by Brazil???

Hmmm

 

Here's some words from Eriksson that already have me hot under the collar:

No that's Svenny that's exactly what you have to tell them.

And Salomon Kalou already has one foot on the freaking plane:

Wow, so what are you guys doing for the rest of the summer? Fishing?

You loser. Why are you even here?

Here's a thought. If you aren't going to chase 8 goals tommorrow, pack your things, load the team on the bus, fly them out to the airport, and go home right now. If you want to give up, don't waste my time watching the matchup. Forfeit it now, give the N. Koreans something to tell their kids about and just tell the media that you were afraid to play them. Just go home. What's the point of even playing the match if you're not going to try to qualify? I've never seen such unabashed complacency from a club or national side in a similar position. They owe Didier respect? No, they owe him their best effort tommorrow.

On a more nuanced note, he may not be ready to tip his hand, and for his sake, I hope this is the case. But if they come out tommorrow playing to win a 1-0 game I will be forced to sue the team for 90 minutes, and some change, of my life back. And I will root against each and every one of them, with the exception of Drogba, in all of their endeavors for the rest of their careers.

 

I 100% agree with your "never say die" attitude, although you must consider the context as well as the team's display when comparing matches.

Group G's opener had to be played cautiously by both teams. IC was all over Portugal during the 2nd half but Portugal seemed comfortable with a tie and that's what they went for. Hey, it isn't a loss.

For the 7 nil fiasco, NK had opened up a little more, in search of the win. That probably won't happen against IC. I see NK wanting to go out with respect, not another goal festival.

I say IC wins it 1 or 2 nil. Drogba will hardly be present too.

 

There is some truth to this, but CIV's approach should differ from Brazil's greatly. Chasing goals requires them to take some risk at the back and rely on the superior ability of their players to make up the difference. That should be enough for 3 or 4 goals right there. Brazil's first game was played with the calculation of every team going through the first game of 3, not to concede, keep your lines and try to get a breakthrough. For the most part CIV hasn't really opened up at all, and there is no doubt that even Portugal didn't truly open up against N. Korea the way that a team can. If they're simply playing for a win, then yes, 1 or 2 nil is likely, but if they come in to chase goals, then a range of possibilities exist. They can catch 3 or 4 goals and leave themselves an opportunity to qualify or lose by leaving themselves thus open. Neither of these matters if they don't qualify so it behooves them to only concern themselves with scoring goals.

I watched a top Santos Laguna club from Mexico score 4 goals in stoppage time on a bunkering Montreal club because they moved all of their lines forward and overwhelmed them with pressure. They took a risk that Montreal, a Division 2 club in Canada, could not counter them and they were right. This could have blown up in their faces, but they were down 3 goals on aggregate to a club that they should have easily beaten over two matches with 4 minutes of stoppage time left. I've seen this before, but you must be willing to risk losing to do it. At this point this should be their strategy.

 

How awful would it be if IC makes up the goal differential themselves, say, 8-0, only to have Portugal score one late and both Brasil and Por go on. That would be astonishingly heartbreaking, but reallllllllly entertaining.

 

History showed that teams regrouped after a thrashing. Both Honduras in 1982 and Saudi Arabia in 2002 came back with a single goal loss after losing big.

 

Norks r gonna turtle than counter

everything gota go rite get 6+ gols, its not hapening lets get real. this is game for pride

 

The argument isn't about what N Korea is going to do but what CIV sets out to do. It isn't their job to look up stats from history or worry about N. Korea. This is a competition. Their job is to go all out to get through. Shove history, that isn't thier problem. And if they're reading from the same playbook that you guys are then there's no point in playing tomorrow. Just defeatist thinking. Whatever, I hope that they know that there's still a game tomorrow.

Whatever the result, I want to know that they made an effort to make up the difference. Not to read history books. If it means leaving themselves open to countering, so what. What else do they have to lose. They're out regardless unless they score so what other strategy must they employ? No, that's not competition, that's simply copping-out. I've seen it happen with clubs that knew that they had to score and did it against bunkering clubs. With superior talent, anything can happen. Sitting here and quitting on the match before it's played is wrong.