JOHANNESBURG, (Reuters) – The strain of living up to  the raised expectations of playing on home soil is the reason  most African countries have underperformed at the World Cup,  Ivory Coast striker Salomon Kalou said yesterday.

Kalou said most African players had put a lot of pressure on  themselves because the World Cup was being hosted on the  continent for the first time.

“Expectations were huge and we owed it to ourselves to  perform well, but the pressure has caused us more stress than  anything else and even inhibited our talents,” Kalou told FIFA  website (www.fifa.com)

“There have been a few players who haven’t been up to the  standard required. Their abilities have been crushed by the  pressure they put on their own shoulders,” a candid Kalou said.
After holding Portugal to a 0-0 draw in their first game,  Ivory Coast lost 3-1 to Brazil.

They now need to thrash North Korea and hope Brazil beat  Portugal to stand any chance of qualifying after the Asians were  walloped 7-0 by the Portuguese.

“When we played Brazil, we defended too deeply and let them  have too much of the ball. You can’t get away with that against  a team like Brazil as it’s difficult to regain possession,” he  said.

“You run after the ball, you start to tire and they  automatically take advantage. Those are the regrets, but that’s  also how you learn,” Kalou said.