When the Ivory Coast took on Brazil on Sunday, many fans were wondering if there could be another surprise on the cards for them, as earlier in the day, New Zealand held Italy to a 1-1 draw.

This world cup has thrown up a lot of surprises as the minnows of football continue to surprise the favorites. Italy, France and England have not been able to put in a solid performance and may even get eliminated in the first round!

Brazil came out and played an attacking game from the start and they scored in the 25th minute when Robinho and Kaka combined to create a beautiful opening for Luis Fabiano.

The Elephants were unable to put enough pressure on the Brazilian defense and could not equalize. Drogba was not very effective in the first half and that’s because his mid-field did not create sufficient openings for him to score.

The second half proved to be a lot more exciting. Fabiano scored again in the 50th minute of the game to give Brazil a 2-0 lead. Kaka played very well and during the 62nd minute of the game he put in a dazzling run and created an easy opening for Elano to make the score 3-0.

Ivory looked disappointed as they needed to get one point out of this game if they were to stand any chance of qualifying for the next round. With a 3-0 deficit and time running out, Sven-Goran Eriksson knew that his team was in deep trouble.

Drogba finally came to life and in the 79th minute, managed to get the Elephants a consolation goal to make it 3-1. However, it was towards the end of the game where things really started to happen.

The referee was seen flashing his yellow card at different players throughout the game. In the second half Brazil’s Kaka, was one of the players who picked up a yellow card. Again in the 87th minute, the referee pulled up Kaka for a challenge on Kieta and gave him his second yellow card of the match, which meant Kaka had to leave the field.

The referees in this world cup appear to be very strict and have no second thoughts about giving players a yellow card but Kaka’s decision was a poor one.

Replays showed that Kieta exaggerated the incident and Kaka was unlucky to be sent off. Coach Dunga was furious with the decision and later called the sending off “unjust” but in the end was happy that his team qualified for to the round of 16.