Ivory Coast captain Didier Drogba has backed new national boss Sven-Goran Eriksson to lead his country to glory this summer.The Chelsea striker has publicly praised the appointment of the former England and Mexico manager and believes his team-mates will now be much more relaxed in the run-up to the tournament.
He told football365.com "This is like a wish come true for me and most of my colleagues.
"For weeks and months we have been pondering over going to the World Cup without a coach, but what we feared most has taken a different twist. Now I don't have to wake up every morning and think about the future of my team without a coach. Surely all things will work in line for us with Eriksson in charge."
Eriksson had been linked with a number of jobs since his departure from English League Two side Notts County, where he held a role as Director of Football. The Swede will now aim for glory with the Elephants in the first World Cup on African soil and Drogba hopes his new boss will help the team better their efforts of 2006, when they failed to progress past the group stages.
"Our performance in Germany was not up to what we set out to achieve. We have to improve and play much better if we want the other teams to take us seriously. This is not a tournament you can go and play just anyhow.
"It has to be better this time round and I hope Sven provides us with that spirit and direction. We are going to South Africa to win big. This is not something I am saying alone. It is the general feeling when you talk to the other boys in our team."
Eriksson has experience on the big stage having taken England to the quarter finals of both the 2002 and 2006 World Cup before being knocked out to Brazil and Portugal respectively.
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