Onigbinde told Goal.com yesterday that he tipped the country’s based on the calibre of players they have in their squad, who he believes are experienced and capable of competing with the best in the world.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) technical committee member further said he fancies the Ivorians to do far better than any of the other African countries at the World Cup.

He premised his submission for singling Cote d’Ivoire as Africa’s hope at the World Cup on the fact that most of their players have played alongside some of their opponents in Europe.

Onigbinde believes that irrespective of the difficult group in which the Ivorians have been drawn, he tips the West Africans to qualify for the next round after which anything could happen.

Cote d’Ivoire are drawn to play in the preliminary round against two-time world champions, Argentina, Holland and newcomers, Serbia and Montenegro.

“I have that strong conviction that Cote d’Ivoire could turn out to be Africa’s biggest performers at the World Cup though they will be playing in the most difficult group against established sides.

“If you take a look at all the African countries at this year’s World Cup finals, the Ivorians have been very consistent since qualifying for the World Cup at the expense of Cameroon. They reached the African Cup of Nations final and have showed class against countries like Spain, Switzerland and Slovenia in their warm-up matches.

“Besides, they have very good players who have played against some of their opponents. The likes of (Didier) Drogba and (Kolo) Toure can make the difference for them.

“On the other hand, you can’t rule out Ghana. They have not done very badly so far in their build-up, as they are capable of springing a surprise or two. But their progress will depend on their first gameanyway,” he said.

The Black Stars of Ghana are drawn in Group E alongside Italy, the United States of America (USA) and Czech Republic.

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