The Cameroon players gathered, dazed and despondent in the penalty area, some pulling their shirts over their eyes. Whether presidential permission was given for Drogba's announcement is still not entirely clear. Standing in the centre, microphone in hand, was the imposing figure of the Chelsea striker. The Cameroon players gathered, dazed and despondent in the penalty area, some pulling their shirts over their eyes. Others say this shows his extreme popularity across the globe.© 2020 MediaMass All rights reserved. Inside the stadium itself, government and rebel troops hurled football chants back and forth. "The one country in Africa with so many riches must not descend into war. Arsene Wenger, whose Arsenal side frequently found themselves on the wrong end of Drogba's brutal style, said of him: "He is a winner and he will be like that until the end of his life. It was a marked change from the violence of the recent past. But he and his team-mates were responsible for something far bigger than just footballing glory. "It felt like more than just football," recalls Omar, who was watching on TV in Abidjan. The clip, available on YouTube, is barely a minute long and ends with the players on their feet once more. The Ivorian football legend did not hesitate to confide in the C’Midi program presented on the Ivorian national television channel where he was the guest. The explosion of noise defied the stadium's modest capacity.The country's messiah wheeled along the running track in celebration, players and supporters streaming in his wake. That day we all forgot the country was still divided," says Hassane Omar, a 20-year-old student in Abidjan at the time.For all the breathless footballing drama that took place that night, the most seismic event did not occur on the football pitch, but in the cramped away dressing room at the Al-Merrikh Stadium.

This was a squad that could match anything on the African continent. With divisions running deep, and memories short, the euphoria surrounding those two matches began to fade. "The initial violence was fierce but short-lived, as both sides became quickly entrenched along a north-south divide. A civil war that began in 2002 had divided the country, with President Laurent Gbagbo's government controlling the south and a rebel faction known as The New Forces of Ivory Coast, led by Guillaume Soro, controlling the north.Fighting broke out on 19 September 2002 with rebels attacking various cities across the country.

"We want to have fun, so stop firing your guns," they sang joyously. "Drogba was indeed a serial winner, but the pressure on that October night in Sudan was entirely different.Cameroon's match against Egypt in Yaounde and Ivory Coast's fixture with Sudan kicked off simultaneously. Drogba remains his country's highest goal scorer with 65 goals in 105 appearances and is the third most capped player after Kolo Toure who has 120 and Didier Zokora with 123 caps respectively. Even the rebel capital of Bouake bounced to the beat of victory that night.For all the revelry, and for all the 'Drogbas' - bottles of beers renamed in the striker's honour - Ivory Coast still woke up the following morning in the same situation, as a deeply divided country.Yet something was stirring and the following weeks and months were to see a dramatic change.

They were led by the artfully bruising Didier Drogba, with Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue and Didier Zokora all also shining in the Premier League, a world away in London.Yaya Toure, then with Greek side Olympiakos and still considered raw, was waiting in the wings.