I want to digress for just a moment to make a suggestion to any of the readers out there (assuming that my wife isn’t the only one reading this) who do not currently consider themselves fans of soccer but are interested in getting into it for this World Cup: The absolute best way to get into soccer, and especially a tournament like this one, is to chose a team, or a couple teams, make them your own, and root for them with reckless abandon. I would definitely say that everyone should root for the United States, otherwise you’re just an unpatriotic communist, but you should also choose at least one other team. Maybe start with your heritage; if you’re French, root for France; if you’re Dutch, root for the Netherlands; if you’re Slovenian, well, sorry about your luck, both for your heritage and your soccer team because they suck, so root for Australia or something. When you have something vested in one of the teams it makes it a lot easier to really get into the sport and truly enjoy it.
Group B
Argentina
Nigeria
South Korea
Greece
Nickname: Super Eagles
Colors: Green and White
Current World Ranking: 21
Manager: Lars Lagerback - Just instated as the head coach in February 2010. He is replacing former manager Shaibu Amodu who after a poor showing at the African Cup of Nations (they placed 3rd) decided to step down. Lagerback has huge experience of international coaching. He was co-coach of Sweden at the UEFA Euro 2008 and led the team as head coach from the summer of 2004 through 2009. He resigned from Sweden after failure to qualify for the World Cup with them.
History:
-Nigeria is in the CAF Federation and has been to 3 World Cups (1994, 1998, 2002).
-The official Nigerian National Team played their first game in 1949 as a British Colony.
-Biggest rival is Cameroon. They have met many times in the African Cup of Nations and been beat out of an African title 4 times by Cameroon. They also narrowly missed qualifying for the 1990 World Cup because of losses to Cameroon.
-1994 was Nigeria's first World Cup appearance. They came out #1 from the group stage (Bulgaria, Argentina, Greece) and almost made it to the quarter finals but ended up losing to Italy in extra time.
-1998 World Cup was much like the first where they made it out of the group stage (Spain, Bulgaria, Paraguay) but didn't advance after Denmark knocked them out.
-2002 World Cup they didn't make it past the group stage (Argentina, Sweden, England)
-Nigeria was strong in World Cup Qualifying beating out Tunisia, Kenya and Mozambique.
-Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa meaning they have a lot of players to choose from, most of whom play in European leagues making them very competitive with the top European nations.
-They also came in 3rd in the 2009 Africa Cup of Nations giving them momentum going into the WC and the boost of being on "home soil." I think all the African teams will benefit from the South African venue.
Players:
Nwankwo Kanu - Forward
The captain and veteran of the team with 81 caps is forward Nwankwo Kanu. He currently plays for Portsmouth in the English Premier League and this World Cup will be his last (he participated in the 1998 and 2002 WC teams). He has also played in Italy and Denmark picking up league titles and Champions League Gold. He was also on the Nigerian Olympic Team who won gold at the 1996 games in Atlanta. Despite his age (33) he brings great experience and with 13 international goals is one to look out for.
John Mikel Obi - Midfield
As one of the youngest on the team (22) he has the chance to make an impact for Nigeria and create a name for himself on the world stage, however he will have to keep his cool and stay on the pitch. Mikel isn't afraid of controversy and has a history of losing his cool but he has also put in some great performances for Chelsea in the EPL (it pains me to say that). Mikel is undeniably the Nigerian player with the most promise to perform at the World Cup.
Prediction: As you could see above, Nigeria and Argentina are no strangers to one another having met in the ’94 and ’02 Cups. Argentina won both of those matches and we probably should expect the same here. The interesting thing is how similar this Cup’s group looks to the ’94 group, which also had Greece in it. Nigeria thrashed Greece 4-0 and consequently Greece finished last in the Group without a single point or goal to their name and 10 goals scored against them. Again, don’t be surprised to see that happen here again. Nigeria should advance easily behind Argentina but don’t count them out against Argentina. It’ll be the first match of the tournament for this group, Nigeria is practically playing on home soil, they qualified strong and performed well in the Africa Cup of Nations, while Argentina was anything but brilliant in qualifying. One big question mark for Nigeria though – how well will a brand new foreign manager settle in with the team with so little time ahead of the Cup?
[Thanks to the Cristiano Ronaldo of Columbus for putting together everything about Nigeria in this post]
No comments:
Post a Comment