Mixed news for Chelsea

Mixed news for Chelsea supporters from Ghana yesterday as Salomon Kalou scored a sensational goal for the Ivory Coast while Didier Drogba looked a shadow of the striker who was terrorising Premier League defences last season.

Drogba was so desperate to play in this tournament that he has rushed back from a knee injury and it showed. A fully fit Drogba would have spent 90 minutes haring down the channels and demanding the ball at every opportunity but against Nigeria he was happy to play a supporting role alongside his Chelsea team-mate.

Kalou’s goal, which secured a 1-0 victory in Sekondi, was out of the top drawer. The forward beat four Nigeria defenders before finishing coolly from close range. His reward? Three crucial points for his country and a five minute kiss and cuddle session with Drogba and several of his team-mates.

At least Kalou’s goal stopped Mark Bright, the BBC co-commentator from talking about the long grass for a few minutes. Grass has become Bright’s specialist subject and he was blaming it for everything – bad misses, bad passes and bad games. When Kolo Toure hammered a low drive straight at Austine Ejide, the Nigeria goalkeeper, in the second half, Bright exploded. “It’s the grass, it’s the grass,” Bright screamed. “He scuffed his shot because the grass is too long,” Or it could have been that Toure is a defender who gets a nosebleed every time he crosses the halfway line.

Hopefully someone in Ghana will have found a lawnmower before Nigeria play their next crucial match against Mali on Friday otherwise the Super Eagles could be licking their wounds back home before the end of the month. Berti Vogts has been told by the Nigerian FA that he will lose his job unless his team are crowned the champions of Africa. Better start packing, Berti.

Kaveh Solhekol

Comments

[paul renna]

Yes Drogba was way below his usual input, but one has to understand and admire his desire to represent his nation in this tournament. He and his teamates simply want to reverse last tournaments final, and be crowned Football kings of Afrika!

Wait until British and French children of Africa prefer to invoke their right of descendency and put themselves forward as wishing to play for their ancestors nations?