Ivory Coast are aware that they are facing a near-impossible task to qualify for the World Cup second round but they are determined to leave the tournament 'with heads held high'. The Elephants, who collected one point from two games after drawing with Portugal and losing against Brazil, are favorites to overcome North Korea on Friday but bagging mere three points would count for nothing. They should bridge a nine-goal gap with Portugal, who have four points and face Brazil at the same time, to stand any chance of booking a last-16 berth in their second World Cup participation. "It's a strange situation in the group," Ivory Coast coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, who took over at the team two months ago, admitted. "I think we have played great football, but it's extremely difficult, you can't tell your players to go out and score eight or nine goals. "We are going to try our best, it's very unlikely but we are going to try. We want to leave this World Cup with our heads held high. We just want to give it a go." Extremely Important Ivory Coast are heavily relying on inspirational striker Didier Drogba, who has scored his side's only goal at the South Africa finals so far in the 3-1 defeat by Brazil, to open the floodgates against Korea. The Chelsea striker is playing with a protective cast after breaking his forearm before the tournament.
Drogba: Ivory Coast's most pivotal player "Didier will start tomorrow, absolutely. He's looking better and better," Swedish tactician Eriksson said. "He scored one goal for us against Brazil and he almost scored another one. He had a very good training session today. He is extremely important for us tomorrow." Ivory Coast will be hoping that already-qualified Brazil do them a favor and beat Portugal. The Samba Boys will miss playmaker Kaka due to suspension, with Roma midfielder Julio Baptista likely to replace him. "Brazil have to win. Otherwise it's a great problem for me. We have no option: we play to win," coach Dunga said. In Group H, Spain need a win over leaders Chile, who have six points, to ensure they would avoid the unfortunate fate of France and Italy, who both failed to make it to the second round. The European champions recovered from their surprise 1-0 loss to Switzerland in their first game to beat Honduras 2-0. Ottmar Hitzfeld's Switzerland, who also have three points, face an easier task against Honduras. Goal difference could determine the group winners and runners up if Spain beat Chile and Switzerland overcame Honduras.
