{"id":1147,"date":"2020-04-13T01:36:25","date_gmt":"2020-04-13T00:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/towncryyers.com\/?p=1147"},"modified":"2020-04-13T01:36:29","modified_gmt":"2020-04-13T00:36:29","slug":"didier-drogba-how-ivory-coast-striker-helped-to-halt-civil-war-in-his-home-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/towncryyers.com\/index.php\/2020\/04\/13\/didier-drogba-how-ivory-coast-striker-helped-to-halt-civil-war-in-his-home-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"Didier Drogba: How Ivory Coast Striker Helped To Halt Civil War In His Home Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Olivier Guiberteau (BBC Sport)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al-Merrikh Stadium, in Sudan’s second largest city of\nOmdurman, is not one of the world’s great gladiatorial arenas. Yet this small\nground – known as the Red Castle – became the setting for one of football’s\nmost extraordinary tales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The date was 8 October 2005. The mathematics of\nqualification for World Cup 2006 were simple. A win for Cameroon against Egypt\nwould see them reach their sixth tournament. Anything less would allow Ivory\nCoast, playing in Sudan and just a point behind, to leapfrog them and qualify\ninstead – for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tag “golden generation” can be a substantial\nyoke to bear, but the Ivorian squad in 2005 was just that. They were led by the\nartfully bruising Didier Drogba, with Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue and Didier\nZokora all also shining in the Premier League, a world away in London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yaya Toure, then with Greek side Olympiakos and still\nconsidered raw, was waiting in the wings. This was a squad that could match\nanything on the African continent. Despite having lost twice to Cameroon in\nqualifying, they remained agonisingly close as they took to the pitch in Sudan\nthat evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, while Ivory Coast’s footballing stars stood on the\nverge of history, back home the country teetered on the edge of something dark.\nA civil war that began in 2002 had divided the country, with President Laurent\nGbagbo’s government controlling the south and a rebel faction known as The New\nForces of Ivory Coast, led by Guillaume Soro, controlling the north.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fighting broke out on 19 September 2002 with rebels\nattacking various cities across the country. Sebastien Gnahore, an\nex-footballer who fled Ivory Coast, recalls those times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It was awful. When I called my sister I could hear the\nshooting outside the house,” he says. “They all hid under the bed for\nfour days, and only came out to find food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“All I cared about was whether my family was going to\nbe OK. That’s the only worry I had each morning.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initial violence was fierce but short-lived, as both\nsides became quickly entrenched along a north-south divide. Much of the\nfighting had ended in 2004, but tensions were rising once again in 2005. The\nfuture of the West African country looked bleak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modern footballers can seem a world away from the everyday\nman and woman. The money involved can catapult them into a different realm, and\nthe results can be unpalatable. But the Ivorian players that evening, despite\ntheir multi-million-pound lives in Europe, knew much more was at stake. And\nnobody encapsulated this quite like the man who led their line, and who was\nabout to take centre stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Didier Drogba had arrived at Chelsea in 2004 for a reported\nfee of \u00a324m. His nine-year stay in the Premier League was synonymous with a\nnumber of things – including a brutally effective, bulldozing style of centre-forward\nplay and accusations ranging from unsportsmanlike behaviour to outright\ncheating. Love him or hate him, his achievements in west London were\nunquestionable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four Premier League titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups\nand a Champions League winner’s medal. Arsene Wenger, whose Arsenal side\nfrequently found themselves on the wrong end of Drogba’s brutal style, said of\nhim: “He is a winner and he will be like that until the end of his\nlife.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drogba was indeed a serial winner, but the pressure on that\nOctober night in Sudan was entirely different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cameroon’s match against Egypt in Yaounde and Ivory Coast’s\nfixture with Sudan kicked off simultaneously. Ivory Coast, knowing nothing less\nthan a victory would do, made short work of a Sudanese side second-bottom in\nthe group. In the 73rd minute, Aruna Dindane tucked away his second goal, and\nthe team’s third. An 89th-minute Sudanese strike was no more than a\nconsolation. Events were unfolding relatively straightforwardly – but nearly\n1,600 miles away in Yaounde, the picture was very different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cameroon took the lead in the 20th minute, but the game was\ntight. A 79th-minute equaliser, bundled in by Mohammed Shawky, brought Egypt\nlevel and swung the tide back into the Ivorians’ favour. A draw – so long as\nthey beat Sudan – would see them qualify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With just seconds remaining in Yaounde, and with the score\nlocked at 1-1, Ivory Coast looked set for their maiden trip to the World Cup.\nTheir match in Sudan had finished. Drogba was standing, surrounded by his\nteam-mates. They were all listening to the radio and waiting. Then the crushing\nnews filtered through. Cameroon had been awarded a soft penalty in the fourth\nminute of injury time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For every tale of heartbreak, there must be one of joy.\nPierre Wome’s spot-kick crashed against the left-hand post and flew wide. The\nCameroon players gathered, dazed and despondent in the penalty area, some\npulling their shirts over their eyes. On the other side of the continent, Ivory\nCoast erupted. For the first time in their history, they would compete at the\nhighest level of international football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The whole country – every person, every house – was\nhappy. That day we all forgot the country was still divided,” says Hassane\nOmar, a 20-year-old student in Abidjan at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For all the breathless footballing drama that took place\nthat night, the most seismic event did not occur on the football pitch, but in\nthe cramped away dressing room at the Al-Merrikh Stadium. A post-game prayer\nled by Drogba had become something of a ritual, but this would be different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the celebrations unfolding, a TV camera was ushered\ninto the changing room. The players huddled before it, their arms draped across\neach other’s shoulders. Standing in the centre, microphone in hand, was the\nimposing figure of the Chelsea striker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“Men and women of Ivory Coast,” he began.\n“From the north, south, centre, and west, we proved today that all\nIvorians can coexist and play together with a shared aim – to qualify for the\nWorld Cup.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We promised you that the celebrations would unite the\npeople – today we beg you on our knees.” On cue, the players sank to their\nknees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The one country in Africa with so many riches must not\ndescend into war. Please lay down your weapons and hold elections,” Drogba\nurged. The clip, available on YouTube, is barely a minute long and ends with\nthe players on their feet once more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We want to have fun, so stop firing your guns,”\nthey sang joyously. Back home, the party had already started. There were\nreports of a conga line outside the Egyptian embassy as Ivorians showed their\nappreciation for the draw in Cameroon. Even the rebel capital of Bouake bounced\nto the beat of victory that night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For all the revelry, and for all the ‘Drogbas’ – bottles of\nbeers renamed in the striker’s honour – Ivory Coast still woke up the following\nmorning in the same situation, as a deeply divided country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet something was stirring and the following weeks and\nmonths were to see a dramatic change. The video clip played relentlessly on\ntelevision as if the sheer force of media exposure might be enough to enact\nchange. And change did follow. Both sides moved closer to the negotiating table\nand a ceasefire was finally signed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While any Hollywood scriptwriter would have been proud of\nthis ending, the story was not quite finished. At the 2006 World Cup, Ivory\nCoast had been knocked out at the group stage, losing to Argentina and the\nNetherlands before beating Serbia & Montenegro. It was a respectable first\nperformance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following year, an extraordinary announcement was made\nby Drogba, while touring the rebel-held area of his homeland after claiming the\nAfrican Footballer of the Year award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ivory Coast’s home match and Madagascar, due to be played on\n3 June 2007, would not be played in Abidjan as scheduled, he said, but instead\nin Bouake, the symbolic centre of the rebellion. This would have been\nunimaginable just two years before. Whether presidential permission was given\nfor Drogba’s announcement is still not entirely clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Bearing in mind Drogba is from the south – from\nGbagbo’s area – he was just like a god at the time,” says Austin Merril, a\nreporter who was in Ivory Coast working for Vanity Fair magazine. The\natmosphere that day in the northern city crackled with anticipation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It was completely bonkers,” adds Merrill, who\ndrove behind the team bus on the way to the stadium with a heavy military\npresence. People rode on top of cars, weapons slipped from the grasp of excited\nsoldiers. Inside the stadium itself, government and rebel troops hurled\nfootball chants back and forth. It was a marked change from the violence of the\nrecent past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It felt like more than just football,” recalls\nOmar, who was watching on TV in Abidjan. “Everybody had stopped work at 12\no’clock and was drinking beer or champagne. We were all so happy.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On the pitch, any notion that the script would not be a\nfairytale was dispelled when Salomon Kalou tapped in on 18 minutes. The goals\nkept coming. With just five minutes to go, and with Ivory Coast leading 4-0,\nthe stage was set for the spectacular finale everybody had hoped for. A lofted\nball from midfield dropped behind the defence, into the path of the onrushing\nDrogba. Delicate control and a delightful second touch took him round the goalkeeper,\nand he slid the ball into an empty net. The explosion of noise defied the\nstadium’s modest capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The country’s messiah wheeled along the running track in\ncelebration, players and supporters streaming in his wake. Above him in the\nstands, old adversaries celebrated together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final whistle brought fans rushing on to the pitch, with\nsecurity personnel forming protective screens around the players, most of all\nDrogba. The symbolic gesture of the game in Bouake seemed to have united a\ncountry once again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It was euphoria across the whole country, everybody\ncame together,” says Gnahore. “We had so much hope in Drogba and his\nteam. The Toures from the north, Drogba from the south. It was a true Ivorian\nmosaic.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, what followed was sadly very different. With\ndivisions running deep, and memories short, the euphoria surrounding those two\nmatches began to fade. Just five years later, violence again gripped the\ncountry after disputed elections, resulting in the deaths of 3,000 people and\nculminating in the arrest of President Gbagbo and his eventual trial at the\nHague for crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January 2019, he was acquitted on all charges. One year\non, he remains in custody in Belgium, pending the outcome of an appeal, with\nIvory Coast still in a delicate political state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ivory Coast’s ‘golden generation’ never truly fulfilled\ntheir potential, losing on penalties in the final of the African Cup of Nations\nin both 2006 and 2012. Their star power dwindled in response. Perhaps it was\nsimply impossible to follow on from the seismic events of 2005 and 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Drogba retired from football in 2018 after a glittering\ncareer that saw success in six countries, with a place in the pantheon of\nAfrican greats – if not world greats – already assured. But he and his\nteam-mates were responsible for something far bigger than just footballing\nglory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They showed that we could still live together, that we\ncould be the Ivory Coast that we had been before. It wasn’t about football, but\nrather the unification of a country,” says Omar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drogba and his team-mates didn’t single-handedly stop the\ncivil war. But over the course of two football matches, they did at least give\ntheir beleaguered country a reason to hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Olivier Guiberteau (BBC Sport) Al-Merrikh Stadium, in Sudan’s second largest city of Omdurman, is not one of the world’s great gladiatorial arenas. 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