Drogba quits after trophyless 12 years

IVORY Coast striker Didier Drogba announced his international retirement this weekend after scoring 61 goals in 103 appearances for his country.

“It is with much sadness that I have decided to retire from international football,” the 36year-old said on his website (www.didierdrogba.com).

The Chelsea forward was a fixture in the national side for 12 years, playing in three World Cups and twice helping the team finish runners-up at the African Nations Cup.

“I am very proud to have been captain of this team for eight years and to have contributed to placing my country on the world stage of football,” he said.

Drogba, who was brought up in France, was an emerging striker at Guingamp when he won his first cap against South Africa in 2002.

He played in eight international tournaments but never as part of a winning team.

Drogba helped his country qualify for the 2006 African Nations Cup in Egypt, but had a penalty saved in the post-match shootout as the Ivorians lost.

In the 2012 final against Zambia, he squandered a secondhalf penalty that would have probably given the Ivorians the continental title.

He was also in the Ivorian side which gave up a last-minute goal to Greece at this year’s World Cup in Brazil to miss out on progressing past the group phase for the first time.

During the past 18 months, Drogba’s talismanic role in the team has been reduced by the decision of coach Sabri Lamouchi, with whom he had a strained relationship, to bench him for key matches and leave him out of others.

Drogba’s decision came just days after the Ivorians appointed Frenchman Herve Renard as their new coach.

It was expected that Drogba, who has signed a one-season deal to return to Chelsea, would agree to stay on for a final tilt at a major title at next year’s African Nations Cup finals.

It is likely, however, that his deal with Chelsea prevented him from spending a month away on national team duty at a crucial stage of the season. —