■IVORY COAST 1, LAUSANNE 1
AFP, NYON, SWITZERLAND
Injured Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba stayed out of the public eye on Tuesday as his teammates missed a host of chances in a 1-1 World Cup warm-up draw against Swiss second division club Lausanne.
Drogba, who fractured a forearm in a warm-up match against Japan last Friday, was not seen during the game at Colovray Stadium in Nyon, Switzerland.
The Ivory Coast soccer federation had signaled more than day ago that the Chelsea player was expected to follow the squad from the touchline, after an operation in a hospital in Bern on Saturday.
Lausanne went ahead completely against the run of play in the first half with a low header by defender Guillaume Katz, in one of their only chances in 90 minutes.
Ivory Coast kept the bulk of possession in a slow-paced game the day before the squad is to fly out to South Africa after a two-week training camp in the Swiss Alps.
Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson fielded all his remaining strikers in the match in Drogba’s absence, but the West Africans were defeated by wayward finishing and last-ditch blocks, despite at least half a dozen clear chances.
Ivory Coast suffered from the lack of a clear pointman until Lille’s Gervinho spared his side some blushes.
Ivorian spokesman Ouattara Hegaud said on Monday that no decision has yet been taken on 32-year-old Drogba’s fitness for the World Cup.
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