Ex-France international Patrick Vieira has tipped Ivory Coast as the dark horse for the Fifa 2010 World Cup crown. 'The Elephants' clash against Portugal this afternoon at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in what is their first match in Group G. Vieira, who was born in Dakar, Senegal, believes Didier Drogba and company are good enough to win the World Cup, despite being in the same group as Portugal and five-time world champions, Brazil. "I will love to see Ivory Coast win the World Cup," says the Manchester City midfielder. "It will be fantastic that an African team finally wins the World Cup and if that happens I want that team to be Ivory Coast. I think South Africa also has a good chance of doing well in this tournament, because they are the hosts, but on paper I think the Ivory Coast has an even bigger chance of doing well," he says. Vieira believes it is the quality of the Ivorians that sets them apart from the rest of the African representatives in the tournament. "Their players play in the big Leagues in Europe and every single one of them has been really successful and when you have a leader like Didier Drogba in your team it will give you the confidence and the belief that you can go on to beat any team. I hope even if Drogba is not fit for the first game he will be fit for the second one to help them have a very good World Cup," Vieira continues. According to reports, Drogba, who is recovering from a fractured arm, a result of a challenge in a recent warm-up against Japan, may take on the Portuguese today after he trained with the team yesterday. However, head coach Sven-Goran Eriksson says he will leave the matter entirely to Drogba. Meanwhile, Vieira has defended the so-called 'noisy plastic horn' that is the vuvuzela as debate rages on to whether it must be banned or not. "It is not a problem for me at all. I tried to blow it once and it is really difficult so I have to get more practice. But this is Africa… I hope the noise will continue to be there in every part of the country, because this is a part of this continent and we all love it," he adds. Source: Kickoff.com