Ivory Coast
Following in the footsteps of the greatest collection of talent in Africa’s history
For a European national team to own as much talent as the Ivory Coast squad does would be impressive. For an African team to boast that talent is extraordinary. The 23 players called up to the Ivory Coast World Cup team — who collectively have won 12 FA Cup, 8 Premier League, 2 La Liga, and 3 Champions League trophies — composes the most talented, most accomplished side of any African national team ever.
The flip side to this success is the dearth of silverware earned on the international stage. The current, outstanding generation of Ivorian footballers has made up the majority of the national squad since the 2006 World Cup, yet, despite being ranked in the top 20 in the world FIFA rankings consistently during that period, the nation has failed to win the African Cup of Nations — the biannual continental tournament which they have been the favorites in for the past several renditions — and did not progress to the second round in either the 2006 or 2010 World Cups.
The 2014 World Cup marks the last shot for the Ivory Coast’s golden generation of superstars to finally match what they have achieved at the club level for their country. At 36, 33, and 31 respectively, Didier Drogba, Kolo Toure, and Yaya Toure, three of Africa’s greatest players of all time, are likely playing in their last World Cups. Other key players, such as Gervinho, Cheik Tiote, and Solomon Kalou — all in their late twenties — may be around for the 2018 tournament in Russia, but will likely be past their prime by then.
Thus, the task facing the Federation Ivoirienne de Football (FIF) is twofold. The first job is finding and developing the next generation to fill the enormous shoes of their predecessors. The second is to put together a team that is greater than the sum of its parts, rather than a muddled group of talented players who detract from rather than compliment each other’s abilities.
The present group of Ivorian stars provides a platform — but not a template — for how the FIF ought to approach developing its next wave of players. The success of Drogba and others at the club level has given the country a leg up over its less proven west African neighbors and competitors in the eyes of European scouts; if choosing between two raw but underdeveloped talents from Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast, clubs are more likely to invest in the latter player because of the tried and true pedigree of his countrymen.
However, such attention from scouts can also impede the development of the Ivorian game. The head Africa scout for Manchester United Tom Vernon identifies the “Papa Bouba Diop template” — named for a hulking Senegalese defensive midfielder — as what club teams look for when buying African players. These less technical, physically imposing players — of whom the Ivory Coast has several — make up the overwhelming majority of exports from African countries, while smaller, more technical players are more likely to come from Latin America.
In his book on soccer tactics Inverting the Pyramid, Jonathan Wilson sums up, “The African players who have succeeded in Europe in the past have usually been big and robust, and so clubs look only for something similar. Players called up by European clubs at a young age develop faster and have a higher profile, and so it is they who make it into the national team.”
This trend is accountable for several of the past, present, and future difficulties the FIF faces. In order for a national team to be successful, it must balance physical prowess with technical ability and be well-rounded. While the team has a glut of talent at center forward and center midfield, its options decline sharply at the wing, defender, and goalkeeper positions.
For the 2014 World Cup, the Ivory Coast enters the tournament with three legitimate contenders to start at the center forward position. Didier Drogba, Wilfried Bony, and Lacina Traore are all big, strong goalscorers who would compete for starting spots on any national team in the world. At the other end of the field, the opposite is true for the defense. a mishmash of second- and third-rate players will anchor the Ivory Coast backline at the tournament. Of the 32 teams competing in Brazil this summer, arguably no other squad has as much of an imbalance between the quality in attack and defense.
The FIF cannot exert control over European club scouts’ preferences. However, it can make a dedicated effort to buck the trend of its continental counterparts by focusing its resources on developing technical, creative players that can compliment the speed and strength of their teammates. The FIF alone cannot change the sporting landscape overnight, but it can take strides toward developing a wider variety of players to offer for European clubs.
Through the continued construction of technical centres around the country, the federation has focused its attention on youth academies, from which several players continue on to the top European leagues. The FIF must adjust its evaluation of which players it will allocate its resources for in order to place the focus upon smaller yet skilled players.
The young, aspiring players of Ivory Coast will watch the national team compete at the World Cup and hope that one day they will fill their shoes on the global stage. While these shoes will be enormous ones to fill, the players must play in a more sophisticated style and possess a greater diversity of talents than their predecessors in order match and exceed the legacy they have left for the national team.
