When Yaya Toure joined Barcelona, commentators often referred to him simply as “Kolo’s younger brother”. Though clearly in his elder sibling's shadow at the outset, there was always the question of just how long it would take Yaya to make a name for himself.
He soon provided the answer through his impressive performances. He now enjoys his football at Camp Nou and for Côte d’Ivoire, whom he helped qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™. FIFA.com caught up with Toure to discuss the secret behind the Ivorians' success, his own personal journey and next year's world finals.
FIFA.com: Yaya, qualifying for a second successive FIFA World Cup must feel like a big achievement for Côte d’Ivoire. What does this mean to you and your country?Yaya Toure: This is a very big moment for us and the people back home. This World Cup is special for all of Africa. We are the first generation of players in Africa to play the World Cup on our own continent. We are excited, we are glad to be part of this African World Cup. I don’t have guarantees on how things will play out, but I know that we will give our best. We have learned a lot, we have seen our mistakes in previous tournaments. That doesn’t mean we won’t make mistakes again, but we can’t repeat the old mistakes. That means we are progressing, we are going towards a good direction - that is good for Ivorian football.
Côte d’Ivoire played quality football during the qualifiers and you scored the most goals. What has been the secret behind your success?The qualifiers were not easy, all the teams wanted to come to this World Cup. The key for us is that we have been very consistent lately. We had to work harder in all the games we played. For example, Burkina Faso are fighters and Malawi is a very unpredictable team. It’s not easy playing in African qualifiers, with all the travelling that is involved, especially for the European-based players among
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