Eriksson, who only took over the job less than 3 months ago after an unsuccessful spell as manager of Mexico and although he has not had much time with his men, he was impressed with the way his men did as he wished on the field against Portugal.

Portugal are one of the World’s top teams and the Swede felt that they did well to pick up a share of the points.

The former Lazio and England manager said: “There weren’t many occasions to score, you saw two teams which didn’t want to lose. I thought if one team had won it should have been us, we created more chances than Portugal.

“I was very happy with our discipline and organisation, we were organised for 90 minutes, in the past it wasn’t like that.

“They have a very good team and a lot of very good footballers, but I think we handled it very well.

“Another plus was Didier coming on to play. He’ll be even fitter for the next game.”

Drogba came onto the pitch in the 66^th minute but was unable to tip the game in the favour of Ivory Coast in a game that his manager described as being “tight”.

“It was a tight game and not many occasions to score,” Eriksson said.

“I thought if any team was going to win, it was we. We created some more chances than they did. I am very, very happy with the performance.

“I spoke to him (Drogba) after training yesterday evening and he said he preferred to be on the bench,” said the Swede.

“He said ‘Boss, if you need me, I am there.’ I hoped we would not need him but we wanted to win the game so we did what we did.

“We did not put any pressure on him.”

Ivory Coast are 33/1 to win the World Cup with William Hill, Paddy Power are offering 45/1 and Stan James 50/1.

Although it is not exactly official news, it’s safe to assume that the rumors are now true. Manchester City fans will now have to say goodbye to a coach that many considered an underachiever, and he is to be replaced by Coach Roberto Mancini, the ex-skipper for Inter Milan. With all of that said, quite a few people feel as if the new coach will do the job quite nicely, something that will hopefully improve the team’s record, and make them a real contender for their league.

Many thought that the City would be a very outstanding team, especially considering the Premier League talent that has poured in, yet they have drawed more than any other club this season.