On vacation for a few days in Abidjan, Elephants Captain, Didier Drogba, on Monday visited the Ivorian team currently at camp in the Ivorian capital, in preparation for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers against the Scorpions of The Gambia and Tanzania.
Absent from the Ivorian team for the upcoming two matches, Drogba still used his stay in Abidjan to join his teammates for lunch at their hotel and also to lift the atmosphere within the Elephants ranks. The Galatasaray SK attacker has toured the tables, shake hands with all the players and shared his happiness and the pleasure in discovering that new players have been called up to the team.
The former Chelsea forward Drogba, Captain of the team, hasn't featured for the Elephants since their quarterfinal exist at the 2013 Nations Cup in South Africa. He has missed the match against the Scorpions in Abidjan in match-day three and is again dropped for the two matches this month but will be back in the team for the friendly against Mexico in august.
The absence of the former Marseille forward from the Ivorian team was well documented and it also led to the sacking of the Ivorian football association's press employee for daring to criticize the coach's decision ahead of the game against the Scorpions, but it has now been understood that, Drogba's absence from the team was a break that both player and coach was willing to have.
"Didier Drogba and I are in permanent contact. Drogba arrived this weekend and he will come to see the group on Monday" Lamouchi told the media at the weekend. He continued: "He had a complicated season. After the Champions League, there was a transfer in China. He was surprised to see that the level of play was far from the one he expected. He has lost his potential. This is a player who has made significant contributions to the selection, to his country and is an important image of African football". "As a coach, I expected to see both the man he is, the great player he is, and the great competitor he is. He just needs, given the advanced age, rest, repeat the preparation as it knows how to make a season as he can. But from the next friendly match in August, Didier Drogba will be with us. He will help us qualify and will proudly defend the colours of Cote d'Ivoire, as he always do. When I speak with Didier, I speak with an intelligent and professional person, with a competitor who has given so much to Ivorian football, the Ivorian people and continue to give. But with all these moves and changes, it is not the best condition to be 100% physically. For the coach that I am, Côte d'Ivoire needs another competitor like Didier Drogba. This is inevitable" he added.
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I understand that athletes like Ben Johnson.And footballers like O J Simpson.Make millions of dollars out of sports.May be a small percentage of these millions.Could be given to starving and disadvantaged children.Especially in Africa.Peter Carlos Hinds.