Ivory Coast are hoping for another North Korean defensive meltdown in their final Group G match on Friday if they are to avoid another early African exit at the World Cup.

Didier Drogba's Elephants must register a comprehensive win over the North Koreans at the Mbombela Stadium and hope group leaders Brazil punish Portugal in Durban for them to have even a remote prospect of reaching the last 16.

Ivory Coast's fate is out of their hands after their 3-1 loss to the Brazilians at Soccer City, exacerbated by Portugal's 7-0 blitz of the hapless Asians in Cape Town.

The Elephants are conceding a massive nine goal difference to second-placed Portugal heading into Friday's decisive group matches, and the odds and logic are firmly stacked against them.

Their only recourse is to deluge the North Koreans with goals with Drogba, the Chelsea superstar, leading the way.

"It's going to be hard for us to qualify now because our fate's no longer in our hands," said Drogba, who is playing his way back to full fitness after breaking his right arm in a warm-up match and is wearing a controversial protective cast.

Ivory Coast defender Arthur Boka says his team needs a miracle if it is to reverse Africa's lack of success at South Africa 2010, with the hosts, Cameroon and Nigeria already eliminated from the tournament.

"If we win this match maybe a miracle can happen," Boka said. "We will try to win our last match and we must believe we can still do it (reach the last 16)."

Manchester City defender Kolo Toure said for Ivory Coast to have any chance they must be more clinical in front of goal.

"We need to be a bit more clinical and do a better job of finishing off some of the counter-attacks than we have," Toure said.

"We can't afford to waste counter-attacks like we did against Brazil, it's unforgivable.

"We've got no margin for error in our next match, we need to be more compact and put away our chances."

While Ivory Coast have only a slim chance of reaching the knockout phase, for the North Koreans their second World Cup is over and the final group game is one to salvage some pride after their shambles against Portugal.

Coach Kim Jong-Hun took full responsibility for their very public humiliation, admitting he got his strategy wrong.

After holding Portugal for almost 30 minutes, and even creating chances of their own, the Chollima collapsed, unable to stop the carnage as they were bounced from the tournament.

"Our players played to their full potential but tactically speaking it fell apart and we could not block their attacks and that's why they scored so many goals," Kim said.

"As a coach, it was my fault for not playing the right strategy.

"As the game went on, Portugal became more aggressive and after we conceded the first goal, the desire and wish to equalise led to my team's collapse."

The last 45 minutes was not a pretty sight for the Koreans, and their drubbing was made worse with the match broadcast live into their Stalinist homeland - the first live game shown there in a year.

Japanese-based striker Jong Tae-Se has put a positive slant on North Korea's last appearance at the South African tournament.

"I'm sure that our last game against Ivory Coast will be a well-balanced match between two teams in the lower half of the standings," Jong said.

"We've still got a chance to pick up our first three points and that's what we'll we trying to do."

KEY TO MATCH

Didier Drogba will be aiming to redeem Ivory Coast in what could be their final appearance at this year's World Cup. He will shoulder most of the responsibility of scoring the hatful of goals the Elephants need to bring off their improbable qualification for the last 16.

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