Brazil v Ivory Coast

Group G, 18:30 GMT, June 20, 2010

Soccer City Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa

Five-time world champions Brazil had to give a bigger effort than expected to defeat North Korea 2-1 in their opening game, but it was a performance that galvanised the team and secured three points for the Group H leaders. Brazil boss Dunga played four out-and-out attackers ahead of two holding midfielders and he is expected to do the same again against Ivory Coast.


Robinho outshone Real Madrid's out-of-sorts playmaker Kaka to create seven goalscoring chances for his team-mates, which was more than any other player in the opening round of fixtures at the 2010 World Cup. Robinho was involved in everything that was good about Brazil and he can expect more space against Ivory Coast than he did against North Korea's five-man defence.

Ivory Coast drew their opening match against Portugal 0-0, and with A Seleccao expected to beat the Koreans, they cannot afford to lose against Brazil. The good news for the Elephants is that coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has hinted star striker Didier Drogba will be fit to start.

Drogba broke his arm in a World Cup warm-up match against Japan but he made a miraculous recovery to feature off the bench against Portugal while wearing a special FIFA-approved protective cast. Drogba wasn't his usual bustling self, but his talismanic status in the Ivory Coast team means his inclusion against Brazil would surely lift the African side.

If Drogba does play, Eriksson will probably drop Gervinho from his three-man front line and shift Chelsea team-mate Salomon Kalou out to the left in a 4-3-3 system.

Brazil player to watch: Kaka - The squeaky clean Brazilian arrived at the World Cup following a pretty poor first season at Real Madrid and there are still question marks over his ability to get back to his best. But team-mate Robinho is backing the former World Player of the Year to come good saying: "When Kaka plays well he can decide any game. He is very important to us."

Ivory Coast player to watch: Aruna Dindane - The striker, who spent last season on loan at Portsmouth, was one of the few bright sparks in a dull draw with Portugal and will be charged with providing the bullets to Drogba's gun. Played on the right of the front three he will almost certainly be asked to whip crosses in for Drogba and his ability to do so with accuracy could hold the key for Ivory Coast.

Key battle: Lucio v Didier Drogba - The bulldozer of a forward will provide a focal point for Ivory Coast and he will almost certainly ruffle the feathers of Brazil's cultured defenders. The only problem is that he will be up against Brazil skipper Lucio, who shackled the Chelsea striker so well when playing for Inter Milan in the Champions League. But Drogba didn't end the season as top scorer in the Premier League by backing down from a challenge. This will be a grudge match to keep an eye on.

Trivia: Brazil have won all of their five World Cup matches against African teams, keeping a clean sheet each time in the process.

Stats: Ivory Coast scored an average of 3.2 goals per game with Didier Drogba in the qualifiers for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, compared to 1.9 without him.

Odds: Brazil (1.66), Ivory Coast (6.00), the draw (3.60) are all on offer at Bet365. But Ivory Coast have kept eight clean sheets in their last 16 competitive matches and the Elephants to win 1-0 will get 12.00.

Prediction: This Ivory Coast team are hailed as the most talented African side since the 1990 Cameroon side that reached the quarter-finals, but they will really have to pull out all the stops to beat Dunga's organised Brazil so the draw looks tempting.