Four years ago, as the Ivory Coast national team were about to participate in the World Cup for the first time in history, the West African country turned orange almost overnight. Gigantic billboards celebrating the players sprang up alongside bumpy roads and roundabouts. Shopkeepers draped their windows with banners, taxi drivers decorated their dashboards with miniature flags, and civil servants left their dark blue suits at home in favour of orange hats and polo shirts.
After the brief 2002-03 civil war and three years of bitter political manoeuvring, Ivory Coast desperately needed something to lift the spirits. The national team, led by their superhero striker Didier Drogba, provided just that. "We'll cheer together and we'll cry together," the then sports minister, Dagobert Banzio, rejoiced. "Football makes us forget our differences." The mood was so euphoric hardly anyone criticised the Elephants for not making it past the first round.
Today, however, the football craze that inspired fresh optimism about the country's shaky future has faded. Finding the national team in the so-called "group of death" with Brazil and Portugal cast a shadow over the World Cup before it had even begun. And the news that Drogba had broken his elbow during a friendly against Japan in the run-up to the tournament all but squashed their dreams of glory.
The satirical weekly paper Gbich captured the fearful mood with a headline on last week's front page: "There is no doubt it will all end in tears, but we are supporting the Elephants anyway." One cartoon featured a fan so nervous he would rather stay in bed than watch the match, asking his wife to wake him if the Elephants score a goal.
The sense of gloom reflects the country's hopeless political situation. While there was much talk of peace and reunification four years ago, the political elite have repeatedly broken their solemn promise to organise presidential elections that can move the country forward. The elections were due in 2005, but Ivorians are still waiting.Few Ivorians have much faith left in what the brazenly arrogant political class continues to refer to as "the peace process". During the 1980s, Ivory Coast was one of the wealthiest and most stable countries on the African continent. Since 2002, the poverty level has risen from 38 to 49%. In layman's terms, this means that many families eat just one meal a day.
Yet there is a saying here that roughly translates as "a real Ivorian does not despair" – découragement n'est pas Ivoirien. So when the team showed an unexpected discipline and a remarkably solid defence in the draw against Portugal, the people were quick to rally around vice-captain Kolo Touré and his team-mates with new-found enthusiasm. Rather than spelling certain defeat, the absence of Drogba gave young players like Gervinho a chance to excel. "I folded up my orange shirt after the Africa Cup of Nations, but I took it out of the wardrobe again after the game against Portugal," says Christian Djago, an unemployed security guard.
Hours before Ivory Coast played against Brazil last Sunday, thousands of orange-clad Ivorians hurried to open-air bars or air-conditioned cafes to cheer for the Elephants. No matter how little money he has left in his pocket, no football fan is prepared to forgo his beloved bottle of beer. A popular local brew is the hefty one-litre bottle of Bock, commonly known as a Drogba. Even the seasonal rainstorms have hardly deterred supporters like Moussa and Achilles from spending the day at their favourite watering hole, an open-air bar with rickety wooden tables and a tiny television set peering down from the wall.
At dusk, the matches are projected on a large screen to lure customers. Despite losing 3-1 to Brazil, Ivory Coast still have a slight chance of making it to the next round, and hopes are high the team will beat North Korea. When asked whether Ivorians are consulting witch doctors to secure victory, Achilles smiles. "We are arguably the best of all the African teams in the tournament," he says. "We have Aruna Dindane, Copa Barry, Kolo Touré – listen, these young men are professionals. We don't have to go to witch doctors any more. Let the players do their job, and God will do the rest."