Didier Drogba World Cup betting

After pipping Wayne Rooney to the Premier League’s golden boot award, Didier Drogba heads to the World Cup in South Africa hoping to spearhead the Ivory Coast past the group stages. The Ivorian played a pivotal role helping ‘The Elephants’ qualify for this summer’s tournament. The Chelsea man scored 6 goals in 5 qualification games and more importantly the equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Malawi, which secured only his country’s second appearance at the World Cup Finals.

In the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Drogba’s Ivory Coast were drawn in a ‘group of death’ with Serbia and Montenegro, Argentina and the Netherlands. But Drogba still managed to grab the first World Cup goal of his career and of his country’s history against the Argies. With Didier in the ranks, Ivory Coast are favourites at 11/8 with Bet365 to go further than any other African country in the competition.

At 32 and the peak of his career, this could well be the last time we see Drogba grace the world stage, but can he add to his solitary World Cup strike in South Africa? Well, Ivory Coast’s inspirational leader can be found at a long 28/1 with SkyBet to finish as the 2010 World Cup top goal scorer. Don’t be surprised if he sneaks into the places for the Golden Boot in SA, but this bet may be best left alone.

He will lead his country out in a difficult group which includes former World Champions Brazil, Portugal and Korea. But when on form, Drogba’s strength, awe-inspiring figure, pace and goal scoring prowess have accumulated in him becoming one of the best strikers on the block at present. Some would even argue that his ability to score not only with ease, but with alarming regularity makes him almost impossible to stop.

Drogba made his professional debut at the age of 18 for Le Mans in the French second tier, before signing his first contract aged 21 with Ligue 1 club Guingamp. After scoring 17 goals in 34 games for Guingamp and making his international bow for the Ivory Coast, he caught the attention of then Marseille manager Alain Perrin who paid £3.3 million for his services in 2003.

But his glittering career only began to take off here at the Stade Velodrome, where he finished as the league’s third highest scorer and scooped a UEFA Cup runners-up medal. The following season Jose Mourinho splashed out a record breaking £24 million for Drogba making him the most expensive Ivory Coast player in history. In Chelsea blue, he has finished as the League’s top goal scorer on two occasions and was named African player of the year in 2006 and 2009.

A fit and raring to go Didier Drogba has proved time and time again that he is capable of terrorising the very best of defences, and it will be interesting to see how the Ivorian and ‘The Elephants’ perform under the stewardship of former England head coach, Sven Goran Eriksson.

Didier Drogba Golden Boot odds

Didier Drogba's chances of being Golden Boot at the 2010 World Cup are 28/1. Whilst this may seem generous, punters must consider that Ivory Coast are drawn in the so called group of death alongside Portugal, Brazil, and North Korea. Whilst this means there is potential for Ivory Coast not to make it past the group stage, there is just as much chance of Drogba baggin against a hatrick against North Korea. Drogba is also widely regarded as a big game player, and is more than capable of scoring against the defence's of Portugal and Brazil - neither of whichare regarded as World class.

Back Didier Drogba to be World Cup Golden Boot at 29.00 with BWin.