Drogba hopes World Cup draw is kind to Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba hopes Friday's World Cup draw is kinder to his team than it was four years ago.

At Germany 2006, the Ivorians failed to qualify from the first group stage after matches against Argentina, the Netherlands and Serbia & Montenegro.

"I hope we'll be in a better group than in 2006 when we tried to fight but had no chance to go through," Drogba said.

"Hopefully we will be more lucky this time. We want to avoid the big teams like Brazil, Germany and England."

The Ivory Coast are Africa's leading contenders to win a first World Cup title when the competition is staged on the continent for the first time.

But Drogba's side is only among the third-seeded teams for the tournament in South Africa.

And the Elephants will need to improve dramatically from their showing from their first World Cup appearance when they only collected points against Serbia & Montenegro.

Meanwhile, Drogba will be hoping to go to the tournament as a Premier League winner again as Chelsea lead the standings by five points.

"The lead is not enough, but at the same time it's a good gap," said Drogba, who also won the title in 2005 and 2006 under Jose Mourinho.

"When you are top of the league, it is good - the others have to chase us. They have to produce and do more than us to win games.

Chelsea, though, will have to cope without Drogba in January when he travels with the Ivory Coast to Angola for the Africa Cup of Nations.

"I've no doubt that they will be able to do the job without me," he said.

"At Chelsea, my first two seasons were really good, the team bond was really strong and now this one is a little bit like it was during those years when we were champions under Mourinho."