Ivorians outplay Portugal but draw 0-0

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa (AP):

Ivory Coast drew 0-0 with Portugal in the teams' opening match of the World Cup yesterday, largely outplaying their higher-ranked opponents despite Didier Drogba only coming on as a late substitute.

Portugal captain, Cristiano Ronaldo, hit the post early, but Ivory Coast otherwise created the better openings in the Group G match.

"It was a tight game, not many occasions to score," Ivory Coast coach Sven-Goran Eriksson said. "I thought if any team was going to win, it was us. We created some more chances than they did. I am very, very happy with the performance.

"If you think about discipline and organisation, I think we were organised for all 90 minutes," Eriksson added. "They have a very good team and a lot of very good footballers, but I think we handled it very well."

Drogba came on as a 66th-minute substitute for Chelsea teammate Salomon Kalou after FIFA cleared him to play with a cast on the arm he broke in a warm-up match against Japan on June 4.

He was only passed fit shortly before kick-off at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium and his entrance was greeted by huge cheers, with vuvuzelas drowning out drumming by Ivorian fans for the first time in the match.

But, not everyone was happy to see him. Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz suggested that football's ruling body may have bent its rules because of the "cultural significance" of a player hugely popular in Africa taking to the field.

"The FIFA delegates decided that the referee's decision is final," Queiroz said. "This was a bit odd as far as we were concerned because there are rules and regulations that say, for example, that players cannot play with a string bracelet or a plaster.

"The solution presented at the meeting was not necessarily one we knew about. I would like to know that all the rules are the same for everybody."

But Drogba had little impact on a defence that struggled to contain Lille striker Gervinho and Aruna Dindane, Ivory Coast's leading scorer when they were knocked out of the first round at the 2006 World Cup.

Still, Eriksson watched his striker move freely, largely untroubled by an injury that had threatened to prevent him from taking any part in the month-long World Cup.

"I spoke to him after training yesterday evening and he said he preferred to be on the bench," Eriksson said. "He said 'Boss, if you need me, I am there'. I hoped we would not need him but we wanted to win the game so we did what we did.

"We did not put any pressure on him."

Line-ups

Ivory Coast: Boubacar Barry, Kolo Toure, Didier Zokora, Salomon Kalou (Didier Drogba, 66), Cheick Tiote, Gervinho (Abdul Keita, 82), Aruna Dindane, Siaka Tiene, Yaya Toure, Guy-Roland Demel, Emmanuel Eboue (Koffi Romaric, 89).

Portugal: Eduardo, Bruno Alves, Paulo Ferreira, Ricardo Carvalho, Cristiano Ronaldo, Pedro Mendes, Liedson, Danny (Simao Sabrosa, 55), Raul Meireles (Ruben Amorim, 85), Deco (Tiago, 62), Fabio Coentrao.