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Greece Defeat Encapsulated Golden Generation’s Flaws
Published: June 25, 2014
For a third consecutive World Cup, the Ivory Coast have fallen at the first hurdle.
Whilst in 2006 and 2010 they were drawn in fiendishly difficult groups, 2014 ought to have been the occasion to break the hoodoo.
When push came to shove, all the Elephants needed to do was avoid defeat against a limited Greece side in Fortaleza. Even this, they couldn’t achieve.
Along with the Ivorians’ summer hopes, the “Golden Generation” tag that has followed a select collection of players for a decade must surely end today. As they proved once again, for all of their magnificent individual qualities and their club-level successes, this feted group of players have never been the sum of their parts when brought together and wrapped in orange.
In the decisive match with Greece, the side’s various failings once again came to the fore. The contest was every failure that this Ivorian team have endured over the years, every missed opportunity, every defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.
In many ways, the final fling in Fortaleza encapsulated many of the Elephants’ flaws.
At club level, Didier Drogba and Yaya Toure in particular have made a habit of rising to the occasion. Toure was influential in bringing not one but two Premier League titles to Manchester City by dragging his team through close clashes and rising above mediocrity to settle a tight match.
Drogba, famously, was almost single-handedly responsible for Chelsea’s sole Champions League win by scoring a late header against Bayern Munich, before netting the winning penalty in the shootout.
To a lesser extent, Gervinho and Salomon Kalou have been known to inspire AS Roma and Lille, respectively, over the past 12 months.
Yet when the Elephants are drawn together, such individual accountability is remarkably rare.
In the la...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football
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