Conquering Group F

Stephen Keshi has continued to tow the path of luck since he took over the reins as the coach of the senior national football team. I must give it to him, the “gods of soccer” may be smiling on him and Nigeria may actually hit the quarter finals of the World Cup next year in Brazil. 

Watching the FIFA World Cup draw last Friday, I saw the relieve on the faces of Nigerians after being pitched against Argentina, Iran and new comers Bosnia-Herzegovania in Group F. 

Most soccer pundits have handed the draws as “lucky” for Nigeria, others have expressed caution in our approach, while some have urged Keshi and his technical crew to take each game seriously irrespective of the opposition.

At the World Cup, no team will be a push over as all the 32 participating teams will be aiming for the knockout stages, as such Keshi’s statement that he will not under-rate any team in the group has given me much relief that we must work harder, begin the process of our set target with early preparations for the World Cup proper. 

Nigeria’s group games begins on June 16, 2014 while Iran in the city of Curitiba, then we play Bosnia-Herzegovina on June 21, 2014 at Cuoaba  and round up with the big clash against Argentina on June 25, 2014 at Porto Alegre.
The Eagles could never have asked for a better draw when compared to what the Black Stars of Ghana would have to pass through in the attacks of Germany, Portugal.

Obviously, the biggest clash in the group would be the game featuring Nigeria and Argentina and fortunately it would be our last group game.
My simple prayer and wishes is that Coach Stephen Keshi would be the determining factor in Nigeria’s success or failure at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and it all down to the final 22 players he will take to the South American Summer Munchal. 

The Argentina National team currently ranked third in the World according to the last FIFA ranking is the strongest team in the group in 1994, the Eagles played with Argentina at the United States of America World Cup and lost 2-1 to the inspiration of another legend captain Diego Marodona.
It would not be the first time the Eagles would play Argentina at the World Cup, sadly, we have lost in all previous encounters between both teams at this level. 

The La Albiceleste (White and Sky Blue) as they are fondly called is coached by Alejandro Sabella with inspirational captain Lionel Messi currently the highest goal scorer in the side with 56 goals.
Javier Zanetti has the most caps in the team with 145 appearances. Argentina has an intimidating credentials at the World Cup with 15 appearances, the first being in 1930. 

They have won the World Cup twice in 1978 (Argentina) and 1986 in Mexico. They have won the Confederations Cup once in 1993 having appeared thrice. Argentina and France are the two national teams that have won the three most important men’s titles recognised by FIFA – The World Cup, Confederation cup and the Olympic football Gold. 

Their star players include the current World footballer of the year, Lionel Messi who has played 83 times and scored 37 goals. He plays for Barcelona of Spain. Angel D’Maria has featured 44 times for the country and scored nine times. He features for Real Madrid in Spain. Pablo Zabeletta has featured 35times without a goal, though he features in the heart of the defence. He plays for Manchester City in England.

While Javier Mascherano has featured for the country 95 times scoring two goals taking charge of his dirty defensive roles in the midfield. He plays for Barcelona of Spain.
The Iranian National team also called the Princes of Persia is coached by Carlos Quiroz a former coach of Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson and coach of Portugal. The Captain of the team is Javad Nekounem. They are ranked 45th on the FIFA tables. 

Their first World Cup appearance was in 1978. They have been to the World Cup four times, just like the Super Eagles.  Their best performance has ended at the group stages in 1978, 1998 and 2006. 

For Bosnia-Herzegovina, the 2014 World Cup would be in their inaugural appearance. Their greatest expert is Edin Dzeko of Manchester City in England and he had scored 33 times for the national team. They are ranked 21st by FIFA and the team is coached by Safet Susic while Emir Spalic is the team captain. 
They were part of the Yugosllvia national team before the break up years ago.  

Bosnia qualified for the World Cup next  year winning their group ahead of Greece who qualified through a play-off. They are yet to qualify for the Euro Championships.
They lost to Portugal in the play-offs for the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012. They are nicknamed the Golden Lilies. 

Bosnia’s head to head against African countries has been impressive. They have beaten Ghana, South Africa, lost to Tunisia and drawn with Zimbabwe.
The Super Eagles will be Brazil as Africa Champions and the Confederation Cup held this summer had prepared the team for the onslaught that Brazil would provide for teams who fail to prepare.
The Eagles will be in Brazil for their fifth World Cup appearance having featured in 1994, 1998, 2002, 2010. 

Vincent Enyeama currently leads the team and he has had a wonderful season so far with his club Lille of France and the national team. Currently, he is a nominee to win the African footballr of the year early January in Lagos, Nigeria when the ceremony takes place. Nigeria’s best appearance was in 1994 and 1998 it was edged out in the Round of 16. 

Joseph Yobo is the highest capped player in the national team with 95 appearances, Vincent Enyeama 88 caps, Ahmed Musa 36 caps with five goals, Mikel Obi, 55 caps with four goals, Emmanuel Emenike 20 caps with 9 goals, Victor Moses 17 caps with 6 goals, Obinna Nsofor 47 caps with 12 goals and Shola Ameobi with 5 caps and 2 goals just to mention a few of the depth of talents in the team. 

It is expected that the challenge of the Eagles in Brazil as revealed would be the tedious travel arrangement with grueling trips of over 1,700 kilometres from Curitiba after playing Iran to Cuiaba where they will take on Bosnia-Herzegovania five days later. 

The trip to Porto Alegre in the final fixture against Argentina would pose the most threat as they will travel 2,145 kilometres from Cuiaba to Porto Alegre which is close to Uruguay. It is also the coldest of all the venues at the World Cup. 

The Super Eagles will be expected to cover distance of 3,871 kilometres for the group games alone. 

Like 1 stated earlier, there is no need to get excited about the pairings in Group F, we should focus to qualify and the luck of the draw gives the Eagles enough advantage. We should not be over-confident like we finished at France 98 where we under-rated Denmark and looking ahead to a clash in the quarter finals with Brazil failed to materials. 

We need six points to qualify for the second round in Brazil next year and I believe Keshi should by now come out with a great formula to capture those precious six points otherwise; the World Cup may just be over for the African Champions in less than 10 days. We need only the best players. No sentiments please, Keshi.