Drogba must retire the No.11 jersey

As Didier Drogba stepped up to take the penalty against Zambia in the Africa Cup of Nations last night, he must have tried hard not to remember his penalty shoot-out miss against Egypt in the 2006 final.

Gervinho tried to breach Zambia’s defence, with 22 minutes left on the clock, as he tried to dribble past two players from the right towards the goal before being brought down in the box.

Replays showed that Zambia’s No. 8, Chansa, nudged Gervinho from behind. However, Zambia’s defender, Nyambe, was shown the yellow instead.

Drogba had the chance to give his side the lead and probably the Cup for the first time since 1992. Three quick strides and a shot struck by his right foot, sent the Zambian keeper the wrong way and the ball flying into the stands.

Had the penalty been converted, it would have been enough for Ivory Coast to walk through till the end, but the game went into extra-time and then penalty shoot-out’s.

Drogba converted his spot kick but Kolo Toure and Gervinho fluffed their chances. This was probably the last chance that Ivory Coast’s golden generation had, to win a trophy.

With no international achievements to his name, Drobga is staring at the amount of stoppage time left on his place with the national team. At the club level only Chelsea gave him the honour of winning every domestic title at least twice. However, this time again like last season, there is a prospect of Chelsea not winning any silverware for only the second time since Drogba joined the club.

When he returns to Chelsea’s training ground from Africa, he will find a riled up dressing room working overtime to repair Chelsea’s falling bridge. After the Cup tie against Birmingham this weekend, the blues will break bread with Napoli in a week’s time from now.

Drogba might quickly adjust to the left forward position filled in by a misfiring Torres. Some of Drogba’s best performances have come from the left in previous seasons. He comfortably plays the dual role of being the provider and the scorer for Chelsea. The Napoli tie will play a role in deciding the futures of both Villas-Boas and Drogba.

Villas-Boas has retired the No. 39 shirt of a relatively younger Anelka at least a year before his sell-by date. He will be ejected from his seat if Chelsea’s run in the Champions League ends in failure. And Drogba will be cast aside as Chelsea will upgrade to another version built by another manager who promises to bring the Champions League trophy to the Bridge. Even if Villas-Boas manages to save his neck from Roman Abramovich’s axe, Drogba will feel the noose tightening around his neck after each passing game while Villas-Boas pushes for more youth players over the pensioners.

Perhaps we have already seen the best of, Drogba, in the 2009/10 season when he scored 29 goals in the league in 31 starts. Drogba lasted four managerial regimes since his first season in 2004 and he never threw in the towel despite a few big money signings threatening his place in the squad.

This might well be the last of what we see of the Ivorian on the international scene and at club level.

Maybe it is rather early to write an eulogy about the two time African footballer of the year, but he must be allowed to exit in his own way than let Villas-Boas ask him to train with the reserves.