Sven Goran Eriksson is used to a challenge in football, but getting his Ivory Coast side fully prepared for next month’s World Cup will be among the sternest tasks he’s ever faced – the former England boss hasn’t even met most members of his squad as yet.
Eriksson will have to wait until Monday to gather all of his players in one place for the first time. Then he has just one week to cut this squad down to his final World Cup party of 23. The best betting site odds suggest Ivory Coast could cause an upset, but these uncertainties won’t help their efforts.
Speaking about the situation, Eriksson admitted that he will “have to be quick” with his decision making and that the players will need to be aware that they have a very small time period in which to impress their new manager.
At present, the Swede has only 13 players with him at the team’s training camp in Montreux – four goalkeepers and nine defenders. The other 17 players, who Eriksson admits he has “never worked with”, will join them next week.
This really isn’t the best preparation for a tournament as big as the World Cup is it? Presumably Eriksson would have done his research on the players yet to join up with the squad, but there is no doubt he will have to use every second of the week he has with them before naming his final 23.
Then, when it comes to the World Cup itself, Eriksson has another big challenge on his hands – getting Ivory Coast out of a group containing Brazil, North Korea and Portugal. This will be a tough task, and Eriksson is aware that expectation is high. Anyone with a betting system could look at these problems as a good reason to oppose the team in the World Cup.
The one time Manchester City manager says that “people in Ivory Coast expected more than what the team has delivered”, so the current crop will have to try and rectify this over the next couple of months.
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