World Cup: Argentina Downs Ivory Coast in Debut

Photo Courtesy: specials.rediff.com

HAMBURG, Germany - Still haunted by the last World Cup, Argentina really needed this victory. And a determined Ivory Coast team made the two-time Cup winners work for it.

Hernan Crespo and Javier Saviola took advantage of some shaky defense to score first-half goals, and the Argentines hung on for a 2-1 victory Saturday night in the first game of what many think is the tournament's toughest group.

"It was savage," Crespo said. "We were nervous, so much wanting to do things well. This is the first step."

Didier Drogba, a key to Chelsea's consecutive English Premier League titles, got Ivory Coast's goal in the 82nd minute. After he just missed a header, the ball was cut back in front, and Drogba converted a left-footed shot for his 24th goal in 33 international appearances.

Argentina, whistled at by the crowd of 49,480 for its delaying tactics, won its fourth straight World Cup opener and next plays Serbia-Montenegro on Friday, when Ivory Coast meets the Netherlands. The Dutch face Serbia in their Group C opener on Sunday.

Argentina fans in blue-and-white-striped shirts filled the other corner of the stadium and brought along drums for some extra noise. Dressed in an Argentina jersey and watching from stands was Diego Maradona, who led his country to the 1986 title.

"This is a young Argentina team," coach Jose Pekerman said. "Many are playing their first World Cup, and a debut like this is going to give them confidence."

Ivory Coast, which got past African power Cameroon to qualify for the first time, was dressed in bright orange jerseys, and so were its fans. The supporters serenade the team with "When the Elephants dance, it's the ground that suffers" after wins, but they didn't have much to sing about.

"I think maybe we deserve something better than what happened tonight, but Argentina's players were very good," Drogba said. "They played very well, and I think they scored when they had to score. That was the difference between them and us. We had a lot of chances, but we were unlucky to not score."

At the 2002 tournament in Japan, Argentina beat Nigeria, lost to England and tied Sweden, its worst performance since failing to qualify for the 1970 tournament. Players were ridiculed back home, where newspapers took a photo of the team's defensive wall and superimposed handbags draped on the players' arms.

"We haven't achieved anything yet," Argentina captain Juan Pablo Sorin said. "But it was key to start in this way with three points."

Ivory Coast outshot the South Americans 13-9, with Drogba getting off four shots alone, and Argentina was whistled offsides six times to none for the Africans.

Argentina nearly went ahead in the 14th minute, when Roberto Ayala had a powerful header from about 10 yards off Juan Ramon Riquelme's corner kick. The ball bounced off the hands of goalkeeper Jean-Jacques Tizie, ricocheted against his right goalpost, then came back at least partially — and maybe completely over the line. Tizie, his back to the field, bobbled it before gathering it in, and Argentine players argued after Belgian referee Frank De Bleeckere failed to signal a goal.

"It would have been a lot easier if that had counted," Crespo said.

Crespo, Drogba's Chelsea teammate, scored in the 24th off a free kick by Riquelme. The ball bounced off a leaping Drogba and bounced into the penalty area, where Crespo kicked it in from 5 yards for his 30th goal in 56 international appearances. Drogba argued to no avail he had been fouled by Gabriel Heinze.

Saviola is known as "El Conejo" ("The Rabbit") and he used a quick move to score in the 38th. Breaking behind the defense to receive Riquelme's through ball, Saviola was challenged as Tizie came out, and he slotted the ball in from just to the left of the penalty spot for his 10th international goal.

Kader Keita had Ivory Coast's best chance in the first half, a point-blank header in the 35th minute from 6 yards after a flick header by Drogba, but goalkeeper Roberto Abbondanzieri stopped it.

"In the game, there was not much difference between the two teams," the Elephants' Bonaventure Kalou said, "but I think experience made the difference."

Notes:@ It was the first World Cup match at the venue since June 22, 1974, when East Germany upset West Germany 1-0 on Juergen Sparwasser's 77th-minute goal in a politically charged first-round game before 60,350 at the old Volksparkstadion. The stadium, now known as AOL Arena, was rebuilt at a cost of about $100 million while the local team Hamburger SV played at it, and it reopened in September 2000. ... Lionel Messi, Argentina's rising 18-year-old star who plays for European club champion Barcelona, didn't even get into this game, which featured entertaining, end-to-end action

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