Greater glory i said because this has been their best ever outing after beating defending champions the USA in the quarter finals.

Nigeria have reached the quarter-finals of the event no less than four times but this is the first time they have made it to the semis.

Against the Americans, i thought they had their work cut out because the USA were a tough side to beat. After conceding an early goal, the Falconets came out for the second half a completely changed team.
The way they took the came to the Americans baffled me, and when they equalised, you knew there was a certain wind behind them. The penalty win was sweet, and the semi final place historic.

Remember when Mr. President ask our super chickens to bring home the FIFA World Cup? if the Super Falconets bring home this cup, then it will be the Presidents orders working still, don’t you think?
Let’s give it up for the Super Falconets abeg.

Samson Siasia will next month be named as the new boss of the Super Eagles. This will gladden the hearts of Nigerians who have been clamouring for the Bayelsa born tactician, and former Super Eagles darling player to be appointed as the Eagles coach.

Meanwhile, former coach Lars Lagerback has formally turned down the offer of a four year deal to continue as the coach of the team.

This much was confirmed by NFF president Aminu Maigari, here isthe excerpt from supersport.com.

NFF president Aminu Maigari said that Lagerback told him he did not wish to continue in his post despite being offered a four-year deal, with Samson Siasia being lined up as a replacement.

“Lagerback told me he could not continue as the coach of the Super Eagles because he feared that he might not be able to pen a four-year deal that would keep him in Nigeria for that long,” Maigari told sports daily Soccer Star.

“He thanked the NFF for the opportunity given him to take the eagles to the World Cup. He said the experience was worth it and that he would always remember Nigeria and her good people.” Maigari added that Lagerback told him that his family played a big role in his decision not to extend his five-month contract.

Lagerback was in charge when Nigeria finished bottom of their first round group at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

However, the NFF agreed to hand the Swede a long-term deal on the evidence of the work he put in within a short time.

The NFF top official also disclosed that Siasia will next month be confirmed as the country’s new coach on a four-year contract.

“We have had talks with Siasia. The talks have been fruitful and all things being equal, he will put pen to paper next month subject to negotiations,” said Maigari.

“Siasia is the coach Nigerians want and we shall give him all the support to succeed in this new job.” Siasia led the national team to the final of both the 2005 Fifa Under-20 World Cup as well as the 2008 Olympics.

The former Lokeren and Nantes striker is currently handling Heartland FC of Owerri in the CAF Champions League.

The NFF also announced that caretaker coach Austin Eguavoen will lead Nigeria to next month’s friendly against South Korea in Seoul, before taking over the Olympic team.

Mikel returns to the line-up after missing out on the 2010 World Cup in South Africa with a knee injury.

The squad, which has been selected by the Super Eagles’ assistant boss Austin Eguavoen, features a large number of locally based players.

Eguavoen is in charge whilst the future of coach Lars Lagerback is resolved.

A final decision on the position of the Swede Lagerback is to be made next week.

Strikers Ikechukwu Uche and Joseph Akpala have also been recalled, after they were left out of the Super Eagles’ party for South Africa.

The friendly is a warm-up for Nigeria’s 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Madagascar on 4 September in Abuja.

Overseas-based players:

John Obi Mikel (Chelsea, England), Dickson Etuhu (Fulham, England), Kalu Uche (Almeria, Spain), Osaze Odemwingie (Lokomotiv Moscow, Russia), Obinna Nsofor (Malaga, Spain), Haruna Lukman (Monaco, France), Ikechukwu Uche (Zaragoza, Spain), Obafemi Martins (Rubin Kazan, Russia), Ayodele Adeleye (Sparta Rotterdam, Netherlands), Daniel Shittu (Bolton Wanderers, England), Vincent Enyeama (Hapoel Tel Aviv, Israel), Elderson Echiejile (Sporting Braga, Portugal), Joseph Akpala (FC Brugge, Belgium).

Nigerian-based players:

Bassey Akpan (Bayelsa FC), Terna Suswam (Lobi Stars), Valentine Nwabili (Enyimba FC), Gabriel Reuben (Enyimba FC), Promise Onuh (Tornadoes FC), Ahmed Musa (Kano Pillars), Solomon Okpako (Kano Pillars), Uche Nwofor (3SC), Gbolahan Salami (Sunshine FC), Taiwo Hassan (3SC), Eugene Salami (Tornadoes FC), Chigozie Agbim (Warri Wolves), Moses Bunde (Lobi Stars), Nnaemeka Anyanwu (Enyimba FC), Emmanuel Anyanwu (Enyimba FC), Chidiebere Okoli (Sharks FC), King Osanga (Heartland FC), John Owoeri (Heartland FC), Femi Balogun (Kaduna United), Ugwu Uwadiegu (Rangers FC), Suleiman Ismaila (Lobi Stars), Fengor Ogude (Warri Wolves).

Here we go again.

The referees have gone with their dubious decisions. 14 cards in a world cup final match was way too high for any referee to even contemplate, no matter the pressure.

England was again over-hyped, they gave us nothing to enjoy, and Maradona did not have to run naked after all. All the spectacle gone, but i still hurt. A continent is still hurt.

That Suarez stopped a goal bound ball with his hands right on the line is hurting, but even more hurting is the fact that FIFA would even have such a stupid rule in the rule book. For me, i think its common sense really. You stop a goal bound ball with your hands, and you are not the goalkeeper, you should be sent off, and a goal given. What is so difficult there.

Imagine how he, Suarez was hoisted high by his team mates after the match, and celebrated back home as a national hero. He used his hands to create history for his country, but denied us Africans our very own history making moment.

FIFA really has to look at some of these rules and change them before some footballers like Luiz Suarez make a complete nonsense of them.

Why i did not believe is because African teams lack the consistency and team spirit to go far in the world cup, but these Black Stars have everything. They are consistent, they have the team spirit, and they believe in themselves.
Look at Andre Ayew, at such a young age, he is not afraid to run at his more older opponents, that is believe.

For me, these Ghanians are LEGENDS, and should be written into all African folklore.
As for the semi final match against Uruguay, i believe they will win, even without Ayew and Johathan Mensah who are both suspended. If that be the case, then we will have Gods in our mist.
Bravo Black Stars, the Lions of Africa.

Soon after South Africa was given the right to host the world’s biggest show, the first on African soil, soccer analyst started talking up the chances of African teams. Some went as far as predicting an African triumph, while others put the semi-final as the farthest an African team would go.

Ivory Coast was particularly singled out as the continent’s brightest prospect of at least making it to the final and possibly winning the coveted trophy. Ghana, after their strong showin at the nations cup in Angola was also mentioned as possibly going as far as the semi-final, while Nigeria who finished 3rd at the nations cup in January was not given much mention. Algeria was even given more a chance of doing well than the Super Eagles
after their conquest of African champions Egypt in the qualifiers.
Cameroun, with a new found spirit and form was also fancied, while host South Africa were considered as Africa’s weakest team going into the world
cup.

Well, after 2 matches of the first round, the mist is getting clearer, and the teams that might eventually make it to the second round from an African
perspective have begun to stake their claim.
So lets take a closer look at the African challenge so far. Have things gone the way they were predicted, or have the bookmakers been proven wrong.

We start with host South Africa.

Going into the pening match against Mexico, the Bafana Bafana were on a row of about 10 or so matches without any loss. A stark contrast from about 3 months to the kick-off when they lost close to 10 matches in a row.
What a cracker of an opening match, and what  a cracker of a goal scored by Tsabalala. Sadly enough, most opening matches always end in draws, and this one was no exception.
I think they played very well, and i felt bad that they did not win that match. But hey, Mexico is no small team. A young, well drilled and very talented team isn’t the perfect opponent for your opening match at the world cup, particularly if you are the host.
Then came the second match against Diego Forlan’s Uruguay.Bafana’s display was shocking, they looked a very different team from the one that almost beat Mexico. Needless to remind us that they lost by 3 goals to nil, and the situation as it stands now is that South Africa faces an early exit from their own world cup, embarasssing. The slight hope they have is if they can beat France by as much as 4 to 5 unreplied goals, and hope that

Uruguay who has a better goals difference than Mexico beat the Mexicans. A tall order, considering that South Africa have a problem scoring goals.By the way, i think Mexico and Uruguay will play safe and go for a draw which will qualify both teams for the second round.
Not a good prospect fo Africa from the South African side of things then.

Not so good a pospect for Africa too is Nigeria, who are fast becoming perennial failures. Like i said from the start of this post, Nigeria was not given
much of a chance,and true to the bookies’ predictions, the so-called “Super Chickens” have once again lived up to their tag.
Don’t think i am too hard on Nigeria here, i am Nigerian, and frankly, the way we play football will have the greats of Nigerian football weeping and shedding blood for tears instead of water.
They played relatively well against Argentina, and were just unlucky not to at least get a draw. The game against Greece, well, forgetable. The worst game i have seen any team play in international football in a long time. Chances are, only one team play that kind of football, Nigeria.
How did our game ever got to such a dreadful standard. From the defence to the attack, no quality. As far as i can see, we have only one player, and that is the goalkeeper. He single handedly kept us in the game with Argentina, and again in the game with Greece.
You always expect players to be motivated by the heroics of one of their colleagues and pick themselves up.

In the 2 matches we have played so far, one thing was glaring. We have no midfield, our midfielders were just walking around the pitch, not marking
nor making runs off the ball. When the opponent was attacking, instead of puching them back, they prefered to escort them to our goal mouth.
In the game against Greece, the presumed weakest team in the group, our display was shocking. Surely after scoring a goal early in the match, you
would want to go for another one to make life more comfortable for you before halftime. We just sat back, and instead, Kaita gets foolish and commits an unprovoked attack that gets him sent off.

In my own opinion, after getting reduced to 10 men, a team needs to mount some form of offensive to curtail the opponent’s intent of mounting any
sustained attack on your defence. How the hell did we think we could have soaked up all the attack from the Greeks without conceeding any goal.
Frankly, we don’t have any senior national football team, Super Eagles is dead. They died when players like Siasia, Amokachi, Okocha and the rest
got old and retired from the national team. Before we have a team like that again, all the idiots in the so-called glass house, that is the Nigeria Football Federation would have all been killed or buried alive before they can be any hope for Nigerian football.

A nation that is always the first to win for Africa, a nation that is blessed with abundant raw talents. Africa’s first winner of the under 17 world cup,
the olympics gold medal i football, a nation second only to Brazil in terms of football talents, but yet, a nation that cannot even raise a fit team of players who can reresent their country with pride. Players who will play football with all their hearts, players who will rise to the occassion when the need arises, players who should know that losing two consecutive matches in the most talked about soccer football world cup of living memory, players who should have known that when Super Eagles went to their first party at the world cup, beat Greece convincingly,players who should have known that Greece had never ever scored a single goal at the world cup, talkless of winning a match, players who should have known that Greece’s jinx should not have been broken on the sweat of eagles and the GREEN WHITE GREEN, the most sacred and respected national team color in the world. I weep as i type, for this is the saddest time of my life as Super Eagles supporter.

Well, enough of weeping. Lets look at the bright side, if there’s any.
Nigeria play South Korea in their last group match, and technically, Nigeria can still qualify for the second round. Right now,the Koreans have 3 points
and a -1 goals,while Greece has 3 points with a -1 goals difference also.

Argentina with 6 points will definitely win the group as i can’t see Greece
causing any upset by beating Argentina in the last match. This is were Nigeria has a glimmer of hope. With 0 points and a goals difference of -2, if they can beat Korea by 2 goals or more without conceeding any, that will take them to 3 points with a 0 goals or better still a positive goals difference, and they will qualify with Argentina who should definitely beat Greece to claim maximum 9 points and win the group outright.

But be that as it may,  i have sworn not to watch Nigeria’s last group match because i don’t believe that those band of mediocre and unpatriotic idiots will even grab the opportunity to redeem themselves.

Next up is Algeria, who i think did really well in their second match against England after losing to Slovenia in their first match. The Fenecs, as the Algerian national team are called came to this world after a 24 year absence. They won their qualifying group, dumping Egypt enroute. They beat the
Pharoahs in an ill-tempered play off match in Sudan after the two teams were leveled in every aspect during regular qualifying. At the nations cup in Angola, they finished 4th after losing to Nigeria in the 3rd place match.

Considered to be the weakest of the continent’s 6 challengers, Algeria came to South Africa with nothing to lose. It showed in their first match when they lost to Slovenia, but in their second group match against England, we saw a different team as they pushed Rooney and co. all the way and got a deserved draw.
As it stands in their group, Algeria or any of the other teams can still make it to the second round. The permutations might take up a lot of space, but all Algeria needs to do is to beat the USA and pray England beat Slovenia, and they will qualify with the English to the last 16. If they show the same spirit as they did against England in their match with the Americans, then they should make it through. Africa’s challenge from the Camerounian point of view is disastrous. They played very poorly against Japan, and were made to pay with a 1 goal defeat. Talisman and captain Samuel Eto’o did not come to the party, infact the whole team did not play as if there was anything at stake.For a team with such pedigree, their display was really shocking.

Their second match against Denmark was pumped up a 100%, and deservedly, they scored first, be it from a Danish defensive blunder. They
generally looked like a team with a point to prove, then it started going wrong. If they team played well, it was not in defence. It was shambolic at
times, the way the Camerounians defended, and it was no surprise when the Danes equalized. The defense went to sleep, and Romedahl got behind them and cross the ball in for Bendtner to slide home.
The second goal for Denmark was more embarassing. You don’t escort an attacker into your 18 yard box, and then leave him with a cear sight at

goal. Intelligent attackers take full advantage of such opportunities, and that is what Romedahl did to score the winning goal for the Danes.As soon as the goal was scored, i knew it was all over. As it stands now, even if Cameroun beat the Dutch, highly unlikely, the other match between Japan and Denmark who both have 3 points each will never favor them. What a dispair.

Cote ‘d’ Ivoire was rated as Africa’s brightest prospect at this world cup, and you would agree with the bookmakers. With so many players at top European clubs, they play with a lot of passion and commitment, and it takes common sense to tip them to go far. But with 2 matches already played, they have just a solitory point. Don’t get me wrong, they did very well against Portugal, playing for most of the ame without their talisman Drogba. He fractured his arm during a friendly for prior to the world cup. That injury i think is what is really hurting their chances now. They don’t attack,knowing that there is no fit Drogba to finish up front. Drogba himself is so scared of falling and hurting the arm again that he did not commit himself to challenges on the pitch.

Against Brazil, we all expected more from the Elephants as the Ivorians are called. They tried, but defensively very porous,and the moment Brazil scored the first goal, you always had the feeling that more might come. 2 more goals came, including the second goal that was handled twice by Fabiano before he scored. The funniest thing was that i saw the referee telling Fabiano that he handled the ball before scoring, and the question is why did he still allow the goal. I think referees generally turn the blind eye when a bigger team like Brazil is playing, not fair at all.

The Ivoirians are virtually out of it now, with Portugal crushing North Korea by 7 goals today in Cape Town. To qualify ahead of Portugal, the Ivoirians will have to beat North Korea by more than 10 goals, and assuming that Brazil beat Portugal in the last group match.

So, Cote ‘d’ Ivoire are definitely out of it now. Brazil and Portugal might just decide to play out a draw, and then any win for the Ivoirians by any scoreline will purely be academic.

In all, a very bad world cup for Africa. The only consolation is the fact that the fiesta is in Africa, but surely we should have prepared and done better than this. Abissmal. Surely, in Africa’s own world cup, Africa should have done better.

I am a happy man, because the world cup 2010, Africa’s first world cuphas started. I have been counting the days and praying that the show starts, and then today, the wait came to an end.

South Africa are currently playing Mexico and beating them at the moment. The host ae actually playing vey well and wil e delighted that it is they who have scored the first goal of this world cup, he goal by Shabalala was well taken after a break away from midfield by the host.

One thing that really impresses me are the stadia put in place, and boy Soccercity is stunning.

Back to the football, and Mexico have just equalized. The South African defense totally went to sleep, and Raphael Marquez buries the ball low into the net from the right. On the balance of play, a fair scoreline you would say.But they still playing, so  let’s watch!

South Africa misses a glorious chance to win it, but Mphela’s effort hits the upright after the Mexican keeper was beaten. So the opener ends in a 1 all draw.
In all, a fair and lively opener. I think the tone is set for a glorious competition.

I read that the players are very trim and fast and that their ball control is very good. You see, i am a die hard fan, and even when they were not playing like we all know could play, i was still behind them.

So, if this is the sign, then our opponents are in trouble. I have been in many online soccer discussion boards in forums, and you need to see how the team is rubbished. Some people think we will not even get out of the group stage and that Messi will wreck us in the very first match. I like that because it is good for the team. Not being rated highly is the way we like it, it gives us the calmness to play our own game.

Under Amodu, the players were dull and lazy because the coach himself was a dull and lazy looking person, nothing personal.
Lagerback has revived the Nigerian mentality, and i have also heard he is going back to our favorite style of play, wing play. I though doubt  if we have any natural wingers in that team. But hey, professional players can adapt to any style and formation favored by the coach. This is exciting news.

As for Messi, i know he is the best player in the world, but we have an antidote for him, and until that day, we will just watch the space. But i tell you, he is a player with 2 legs just like any other player, with the right mentality, any defender can mark him out of a game and make him useless on the pitch. We have done that to him before and we will do it again.

There are some surprises in the list, of note is the exclusion of  Hull City midfielder Seyi Olofinjana. Another surprise is the recall of John Utaka, the Portsmouth forward who was left out of the Nations Cup. Fit-again Everton striker Victor Anichebe has also been recalled.

Two locally-based players – goalkeeper Akpan Bassey and defender Terna Suswan – are named in the squad, with Lukman Haruna, the under-17 World Cup-winning captain in 2007.

Here is the full 30 man list:

Goalkeepers: Vincent Enyeama, Dele Ayenugba, Bassey Akpan, Austin Ejide

Defenders: Taye Taiwo, Uwa Elderson, Chidi Odiah, Joseph Yobo, Onyekachi Apam, Danny Shittu, Dele Adeleye, Rabiu Afolabi, Terna Suswan

Midfielders: Nwankwo Kanu, Obafemi Martins, Ike Uche, Brown Ideye, Kalu Uche, Victor Obinna Nsofor, Dickson Etuhu, Mikel Obi, Lukman Haruna, Yusuf Ayila, Sani Kaita

Strikers: Yakubu Ayegbeni, Victor Anichebe, Chinedu Obasi, John Utaka, Osaze Odemwingie, Peter Utaka

I don’t want to question the coach’s wisdom, but i am surprise by the inclusion of Yakubu Ayegbeni. Maybe his time, Ayegbeni will be more useful to the team than he was at the CAN.

Don’t get me wrong, Chelsea play fine attractive football these days, but they still do not have the European winning mentality that clubs like Manchester United, Liverpool, AC Milan, Real Madrid, Barcelona and others have that constantly give them the edge in the Champions League. You don’t play the UCL like you are playing the likes of Wigan, Portsmouth and other lesser likes in the English Premier League.

I always feel pity for Chelsea and its teeming fans, particularly in my country Nigeria. Premiership clubs are loved here, and followed in the millions. When Samuel Eto’o scored in the 79th minute, i knew it was curtains for the Blues in this season’s UCL. And how about Drogba’s red card in the 86th minute. Once again he disgraces himself.

For Eto’o, he has proved that he is still the best footballer in Africa, regardless of the sham that is the African footballer of the year award that was given to Drogba. We all know that last season, Samuel Eto’o did exceptionally well with Barcelona, winning every trophy in world football, and also qualifying the Cameroun  national team to the world cup in South Africa.

For last season, Drogba did not merit the award more than Eto’o, and it has shown today. Justice has been served.