2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Match 08 Group C Ivory Coast Vs Japan Sunday June 15,2014

 

Ivory Coast Vs Japan at Arena Pernambuco, Recife

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

• Japan have won two of their three previous meetings with the Ivory Coast, which came on home turf in friendlies in 1993 and 2008.
• The African side won the most recent encounter, beating the Blue Samurai 2-0 in a World Cup warm-up game in Switzerland in June 2010.
• Didier Drogba and Kolo Toure got the goals, but Drogba broke a bone in his arm, an injury which severely hampered him in South Africa.

Ivory Coast 
 

• Didier Drogba played a combined total of 384 minutes at the 2006 and 2010 World Cup, and had only two shots on target - both of which he scored.
• Drogba is the Ivory Coast's record goalscorer with 63 goals in 101 games.
• They kept just three clean sheets in qualifying - no team who made to Brazil had a lower total (Ghana's tally was also three).
• The Ivorians have scored in all but one of their six previous World Cup matches. Their 0-0 draw with Portugal in 2010 was the only game in which they failed to net.

Japan

• The Blue Samurai have only won four World Cup matches, half of which came against African opposition. They beat Tunisia in 2002 and Cameroon in 2010 - their only previous games against sides from Africa.
• The Japanese are unbeaten in their previous six matches (all friendlies), winning the last five.
• Keisuke Honda has been directly involved in three of Japan's last four World Cup strikes (two goals, one assist). 

 Ivory Coast beats Japan 2-1 at Arena Pernambuco,Recife
Goal Scorers
For Ivory Coast - Wilfried Bony(64) and Gervinho(66)
For Japan - Keisuke Honda (16)

Headers by Wilfried Bony and Gervinho just 98 seconds apart ensured Ivory Coast got off to a winning start at the World Cup with a come-from-behind victory over Japan in Recife.

The Elephants left captain Didier Drogba out of the starting line-up but it was his arrival off the bench after an hour which coincided with the African nation finally converting their chances.

Japan's star player Keisuke Honda had put them ahead with an impressive strike after 16 minutes and, as Ivory Coast continued to miss chance after chance, it seemed their bid to qualify for the knockout stage for the first time would take an early hit as Colombia had beaten Greece in Group C earlier in the day.

Managers

Sabri Lamouchi(Ivory Coast)
Alberto Zaccheroni(Japan)
 

Squads

Ivory Coast

• 01 Barry
• 17 Aurier
• 03 Boka (Djakpa - 75' )
• 20 Gonzaroua Die (Drogba - 62' )
• 05 Zokora Booked
• 22 Bamba Booked
• 08 Kalou
• 09 Tioté
• 12 Bony (Ya Konan - 78' )
• 19 Y Touré
• 10 Gervinho

Japan 

• 01 Kawashima
• 02 Uchida
• 05 Nagatomo
• 17 Hasebe (Endo - 54' )
• 06 Morishige Booked
• 22 Yoshida Booked
• 09 Okazaki
• 16 Yamaguchi
• 18 Osako (Okubo - 67' )
• 04 Honda
• 10 Kagawa (Kakitani - 86' )