Nigeria Is Going To Be The First African Nation To Reach The Semi Finals In The World Cup

By  Azeez Said I am sorry for this week's late post. I have been busy with family stuff and you know how expensive gaining access to the Internet could be in my country. Well, don't worry about anything cos I will be with you for at least another 1 month. Enough of the excuses, now let's get down to business. I had been anxious all week (before the World cup draw) to see who our lovely Super Eagles would be pit against in the World cup. I was hoping for a favorable draw and yes, we got one. Facing the Messi inspired Argentina, Quieroz led Iran and new comers Bosnia whatever. Although, there is the saying that "to be the best, you have to defeat the best", but trust me you don't want to have Argentina, USA and Netherlands grouped together with Nigeria. I will gladly play them in the latter stages.  Nigeria have a similar Confederation cup schedule where the first two matches are the most winnable. This isn't to say that we fear any opponents especially after seeing the way we played against European heavyweights, Spain and Italy. Nigeria must win their first two games to have any chance of qualification to the next round and avoid making the same mistakes that kicked them out in the group stage of the Confederations cup. The Super Eagles play Iran in their first match of the World cup and we could not ask for a better side to have played first. The Iran team are known for their physicality and their good counter attack which is been orchestrated by their star man Javad Nekounam who is also a set-piece specialist, scoring some free kicks on his way to becoming the highest goal scorer for Iran in the World cup qualifiers. They would be led to the World cup by coach, Carlos Queiroz (you probably know him from his time at Manchester United, Portugal or Real Madrid). My verdict: They must not be underrated. Next for the Super Eagles is new comers Bosnia whatever. Whenever you think Bosnia, you think Dzeko. Bosnia qualified for the World cup having topped their group. Though tied on points with Greece, Bosnia had a superior goal difference to 2nd placed Greece (+24 to Greece's +8). They have a potent strike partnership in Manchester city's Edin Dzeko and Vedad Ibisevic with 18 goals scored between them (Dzeko scoring 10 goals and finishing as the European 2nd highest goal scorer in the World cup qualifiers). The 21st ranked team will also be buoyed by players like Misimovic and Miralem Pjanic. My verdict: They could hold the key to the Super eagles qualification to the next round. When we were drawn out of the pot and placed in group F alongside Argentina, I thought, "for how long are we going to continue facing Argentina in International competitions". It's not that I am actually scared of them, and looking at our past meeting in our last 2 World cup appearances and other Junior tournaments they have only defeated us by little lack of concentration, penalties or even ill luck sometimes. Though they have got one of the most mesmerizing attack in Messi,Aguero, Higuain, Di Maria among others but they lack defensively due to the little or no defensive cover this attackers offer. They are also one of the tournament favorites. My verdict: I hope we would have already clinched qualification before this match but I have no problem defeating them to gain qualification to the next round. I also hope we don't need an Enyeama inspired performance to gain that result. There is a saying that "you take every match as it comes" but I can't help but look ahead of the group stages cos we would be facing a team from Group E-asiest, so I see Nigeria in the quarter finals already. As much as I want to be optimistic, facing either Germany or Portugal in the quarter finals would be a real test of how far we have gone in the past year or so but Yes, I think we can do it. My verdict: The semi-final is a realistic target for the Super Eagles, and who knows, maybe even win the trophy but we have to start with a good preparation and not underrate any team.