Chelsea striker Didier Drogba: Cote d'Ivoire have shown character at 2012 Afcon

The Blues' talismanic forward praised his team-mates for putting up a strong fight in the continental showpiece, leading them to the semi-final stage

By Kent Mensah

CAN 2012 : Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast)
Panoramic
Cote d’Ivoire captain Didier Drogba has applauded his team-mates for showing a great deal of character in securing a semi-final berth at the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.

The forward insisted it is about time the Elephants broke their 20 years continental trophy drought and said sustaining the tempo will be key to earning them their second tournament prize.

The Chelsea talisman missed a penalty in their quarter-final game against co-hosts Equatorial Guinea but recovered quickly to slot in two goals which gave his side the win. He was grateful to his colleagues for spurring him on.

“My team-mates encouraged me and were very supportive,” the 33-year-old said. “I had to get back in the game and I owe them these goals. I'm glad I did it for them and I am proud of my team-mates.”
 
“In 2006, we were in the final and lost. In 2008, we scored many goals but failed to reach the final. Here we have shown character,” Drogba said.

The Elephants will square off with Mali on Wednesday in the semi-finals.


 
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England 1-0 Belgium, Netherlands 2-0 Northern Ireland - follow all the international action LIVE! ahead of Euro 2012
With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.

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19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.

"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.

"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."

"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."

Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
19:35 BST
And another point from today: Eden Hazard wasn't great. Don't think you can judge him on one performance though. What do you think? Is it just a case of too much hype around the Chelsea-bound Belgian?
19:32 BST
We're getting plenty of people saying it was boring. PLENTY. But Spain scored seven goals in eight games at the World Cup and I didn't hear too many of their fans complaining. Or as Fran Stinchcombe points out on Twitter: "If we had lost but played free flowing attacking football would these people still have moaned?"
19:24 BST
No, no, no. I'll have none of that Emile Heskey shouting anymore! Hello, it's me, it's me, it's that D-O-Y-L-E. Yes, I'm Joe Doyle, and I'll be here for all the reaction to that England game. First things first, how did everyone see that game? Good performance? A touch boring? Let me know on Twitter.
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