Thaindian News

London, Mar 31(ANI): Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has welcomed the appointment of former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson as the Ivory Coast coach and predicted he can help them “win big” at this summer’s World Cup in South Africa.

Ivory Coast are in the toughest pool after having been drawn in Group G with Brazil, Portugal and North Korea, but Drogba believes that Eriksson can help his team make an impact when the tournament gets under way in June.

“There is no doubt Sven will succeed. This is someone who knows the game inside-out,” The Daily Express quoted Drogba, as saying.

“I have every belief in his ability to take us far. With the little I saw of him while he was in England and what I have heard, read and watched, I think Sven has come at the right time,” he added.

The 32-year-old further said that all his national team-mates were enthusiastic about the appointment of a new coach.

“For weeks and months we have been pondering over going to the World Cup without a coach, but what we feared most has taken a different twist. Now I don’t have to wake up every morning and think about the future of my team without a coach,” Drogba said.

“We are going to South Africa to win big. This is not something I am saying alone. It is the general feeling when you talk to the boys in our team,” he added.

Eriksson, a Swede who arrives in Ivory Coast after helping Mexico to the World Cup finals, replaces Vahid Halilhodzic, who only lost one competitive match in two years - the one that cost him his job, against Algeria in the quarter-finals of the African Cup of Nations in January. (ANI)