Stephen Okechukwu Keshi is normally a calm person; it’s only under the most testing moments that you get a rise from him. In the main, he just quietly chews his gum which he assures this writer, with some mirth, is not a lucky charm in an encounter sometime ago.
But a recent question regarding which teams he would like to avoid in the group stage for next summer’s World Cup seems to get the Big Boss flying off the handle.
2014-World-Cup-DrawThe draws for the Brazil 2014 Mundial takes place today, and Nigerians have agonised about the likely oppositions Super Eagles will be drawn alongside.
“Look Nigerians will always worry. Even though we are drawn to play Uzbekistan or Malta, Nigerians will still worry,” Keshi retorted to the seemingly innocuous query.
He continued: “We should just learn to support and back our team always no matter what instead of worrying about the teams we will be drawn against.”
The draws hold today in Salvador, Brazil and Nigeria are in Pot B with all the other African qualifiers, namely Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Algeria and Cameroon. The pot is completed with non seeded South American sides Chile and Ecuador and a European team to be moved out of Pot 4 in a pre-draw.
Pot A is made up of seeded teams, all of which are the top seven ranked sides in the world: Spain, Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Belgium, Uruguay and Switzerland. Hosts Brazil are also in this pot even though they’re currently ranked outside of the top ten.
Pot C is comprised of the Concacaf and Asian qualifiers: USA, Mexico, Costa Rica and Honduras, Japan, Iran, South Korea and Australia. The final pot is made up of the other European qualifiers: the Netherlands, Italy, England, Portugal, Greece, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Russia and France.
Given this arrangement, the Super Eagles will not be paired with teams from pot B, but will get one of the teams from pot A, C and D, which means Eagles could draw Brazil, Mexico and Italy in a worst case scenario. They can also be grouped with say Switzerland, Honduras and Bosnia in another scenario which Nigerians will obviously prefer.
But if the past draws are any guide, Nigeria may again be grouped alongside Argentina as they have thrice in the past. In their last two appearances in 2002 and 2010, Argentina proved to be a hurdle too difficult for Nigeria to scale. In Korea/Japan a one nil loss thanks to a Gabriel Batistuta goal sealed the fate of Nigeria. Their second game against Sweden also ended in a loss making the 0-0 draw against England in the last group encounter just a formality.
Similarly in 2010, Nigeria were again drawn against Argentina in their first match which they again lost thanks to the goal of another Gabriel(Heinze). This loss placed their progress from the group in jeopardy just
like eight years earlier. Nigeria lost their second tie against Greece 1-2 even though they had gone ahead just like in Korea/Japan. The last group match, a 2-2 draw against South Korea was also inconsequential.
With this in mind, Nigerians would obviously want to avoid Argentina, not only because they (Argentina) always get the better of the Eagles, but also because of the jinx which seems to follow in subsequent group matches after the opening loss to the Argies.
However, if a team must compete at this level, they must be prepared to tangle against the very best says a former Super Eagles midfielder Waidi Akanni.
This he insists is without prejudice to hoping to get a group that is not so tough.
“If you are playing in the World Cup, you are going to come against the very best teams in the world at some point or the other,” notes Akanni.
“So the Super Eagles must be ready for any team. Of course no teams will want to be drawn against Brazil as there are obvious disadvantages playing against the hosts in the early stages, and I won’t want us to meet them so early.
Frank Ilaboya agrees no less. The veteran sports broadcaster and Vice Chairman Edo Football Association says a team has no choice but to play against those sides placed before it.
“When it comes to the World Cup you don’t have a choice as to whether you will be in a particular group or not,” begins Ilaboya.
“My hope however is that we don’t get to start in a tough group. You pray to be in a group where you can manoeuvre, and at least get to the second round.
“But this is the World Cup so we must be ready for any opposition even though I’d prefer not to meet the defending champions, the hosts, Germany etc. at least in the early stages. So I do hope we get a ‘soft’ draw if there is anything like that.”
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