Touré to rely on calming influence of Drogba in final

Didier Drogba may dismiss the captain's armband as "just a strip of cloth", but for his Ivory Coast team-mate Kolo Touré it is the Chelsea forward's leadership as much as his goals that has taken them to this evening's African Nations' Cup final, where they will meet the hosts, Egypt.

"Didier leads the team very well and we are very happy to have him as our captain," said Touré, who has himself had a fine tournament at centre-back. "He doesn't just think about himself. He has experience, he's our best player and he calms down all our young players.

"When you see Didier come back and defend, that's fantastic. We have a good team spirit, and even if he scored 10 or 11 goals, we would need to know that everybody is together. He is a real team man."

At 27, Drogba could be Ivory Coast's oldest outfield player, and the resolve of their young side will be sorely tested in the Cairo International Stadium, where Egypt will be backed by a 74,000 crowd so fervent that, if El Hadji Diouf is to be believed, they influenced the Cameroonian referee, Evehe Divine, into not awarding Senegal a penalty in the final minute of the semi-final. Drogba's response to a question about the refereeing was a spreading of the arms and a non-committal "Ay-ay-ay", but his concern was obvious.

The Confederation of African Football has hardly helped the situation by appointing the Tunisian official, Mourad Daami, to take charge of the game. He was suspended by CAF for 12 months in 2001 following an attempt to persuade the South African referee Robbie Williams to abandon the second leg of the 2000 African Champions' League final when he was part of the delegation from Esperance, who lost the tie to the Ghanaian side Hearts of Oak.

Adding to the paranoia is the mystery over Mido's whereabouts. The Tottenham and Egypt forward was given a six-month ban from international football after an angry response to being substituted during the semi-final, but the fact that he was not seen at Cairo Airport yesterday prompted rumours that the possibility for a late reconciliation lay open. "I still think he will play," said Drogba, who apparently spoke to Mido by telephone on Wednesday.

"We have character, discipline, enthusiasm and hunger," said the Ivory Coast coach, Henri Michel, "and that allows us to turn mountains upside down." Even with Drogba's new-found leadership abilities, they may need to.

* Nigeria finished in third place at the African Nations' Cup after Garba Lawal struck 11 minutes from time to earn a 1-0 win over Senegal in yesterday's play-off.