Portugal ready for unlikely Drogba appearance

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa (AP):

Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz is taking all possible precautions and making sure his team is ready to deal with Didier Drogba, even though the Ivory Coast striker is unlikely to play in the teams' World Cup opener today at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

Drogba would seem to have little chance of making the starting line-up after breaking his arm in a June 4 warm-up match, but he has been receiving intensive treatment and has not been officially ruled out by Ivory Coast coach Sven-Goran Eriksson.

"I'm not a doctor so I can't say if Didier Drogba will be playing," Queiroz said yesterday. "It is a fracture and the doctors, along with Mr Eriksson, will have to decide.

"After 30 years of my life in soccer, there is nothing that surprises me. In terms of a player playing or not, nothing surprises me.

"I did not speak with Didier and I do not know if he will play," Deco said. "I hope so because he is a friend of mine. If he played, it would be good for the game."

Portugal have their own injury problems, with Manchester United winger Nani out of the match because of a shoulder problem.

Portugal only arrived in Port Elizabeth late yesterday morning and the outfield players trained immediately, starting the hour-long session with some light ball work. Cristiano Ronaldo trained with his teammates and will lead Portugal's attack, aiming to end an eight-game run without a goal for the national side.

"We are hoping to see these goals coming," Deco said. "Everyone talks about him. It's normal because he is the player that he is. It is important that he scores. They will help us to go through to the next phase."

Ivory Coast are among Africa's best hopes for a second-round berth, invigorated by the arrival of Eriksson, who took England to the World Cup quarter-finals in 2002 and '06.

Defender Kolo Toure said Eriksson has the squad thinking more like a unit than a collection of individuals.

"Sometimes we, instead of thinking about the team, are thinking about ourselves," Toure said. "I think Mr Eriksson came and he just said to us, 'If you want to be one of the best teams in this World Cup, we need to work together'."

In their World Cup debut four years ago, The Africans opened with a 2-1 loss to two-time champions Argentina. They then lost by the same score to the Netherlands, before rallying with a 3-2 win over Serbia and Montenegro, which restored some pride, but was not enough to take them into the next round.

Aruna Dindane was their leading scorer with two of their five tournament goals and could again be the main man if Drogba is missing.