adminDIDIER DROGBA was an icon for Cote d’Ivoire but he couldn’t win a trophy. Yaya wants to change that.
As big as Drogba was, and with some thinking he’s probably of a bigger stature because of what he has achieved, Yaya Toure is under very similar pressure to lead the Elephants to a cup.
It’s only that one trophy in 1992 the Ivorians have won.
“Again, it will be difficult because all teams out there are good and worthy winners,” said Yaya in a recent interview.
Drogba retired from international football a legend in Europe, but just a nearly-man in Africa. Yaya is steadily following that script, too, so far.
Yaya has won league titles in his country, Greece, Spain (twice) and England (twice). He has also won the FA Cup in Greece, Spain and England, as well as the Uefa Champions League and the Fifa Club World Cup.
But in Africa, nada.
Says the four-time African best player: “We’ll have to fight hard and give a bit of extra and match the big boys — we have Ghana, Algeria, Senegal and many other big teams, but as the saying goes, to win trophies, you have to beat the big teams, and that is what we hope we can do.”
Yaya will have Drogba’s almost-got-it status in mind — the Chelsea star led the 1992 African champions to top reckoning by reaching the 2006 Nations Cup final, where they lost to hosts Egypt on penalties, and qualified for three World Cups — 2006, 2010 and 2014.
Drogba also got to the 2012 final. Nearly men, always, they lost.
The Elephants are always on top at the individual level but fall short as a team and the 31-year-old Yaya has a big job of rallying his troops out of Group D which has Mali, Guinea and Cameroon. — SuperSport
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu