What are the chances of Super Eagles' of Nigeria at the first world cup taking place on the African continent? My guess is as good as yours or maybe not.

People have been reacting to what they feel would be another disgraceful outing for Nigeria in South Africa, while others believe the team could be the surprise package of the tournament.

Sincerely, I believe that only teams with good preparations and the desire to win coupled with discipline and prayers would go very far. Nevertheless, this is what I would be talking about and maybe at the end of this post, you may either agree or disagree on how far the team can go.

Let's go back in time and see how far the team has come.

Nigeria participated in her first World cup at the USA '94' finals. They qualified as runners up to Argentina, whom coincidentally, they would be facing again this year in South Africa '2010', and were knocked out in the second round  by Italy.

In France '98', they qualified as group winners, playing against the likes of Spain and Bulgaria. They were knocked out again and failed to get to through the second round after suffering an embarrassing 4:1 defeat at the hands of Denmark.

They did not make it past the group stages in 2002 while politics and poor results ensured that Nigeria could not participate in the 2006 edition which took place in Germany.

A steady decline has been in existence from 1994 to 2006 which I’m sure you all agree. Never mind, let's go on.

This time around, the Eagles narrowly escaped disqualification on the last day of the qualifiers. They needed to win game in Kenya, hoping Mozambique would beat Tunisia. That's exactly what happened, and with that victory, Nigeria was able to leapfrog Tunisia and clinch the World cup ticket to South Africa 2010

Preparations are now they key to Nigeria’s' chances at the World cup. However, there is a problem in the lack of cohesion between the generation of older players and the younger ones (coughing sarcastically).

Nigeria has always produced quality players. The likes of Stephen Keshi, Segun Odegbami, Rashidi Yekini, Mutiu Adepoju, Sunday Oliseh, Finidi George, Daniel Amokachi, Emmanuel Amuneke, Samson Siasia,

Christian Chukwu, Friday Elaho, Uche Okechukwu, Celestine Babayaro, Austin Okocha, Late Samuel Okwaraji (God bless his soul) have proven that the country indeed, has produced extraordinary football talents. But, with strikers like Martins, Osaze, Yakubu (I wonder how he made the team), Kalu, Obasi, Utaka, Kanu (Well?), Nsofor and Obasi, Nigerian's would be praying that their eyes for goals would stare the team towards glory during the World cup. The partnership between the strikers is still yet to blossom, regardless of the style and formation the team would be adopting

However, a rebuilding project is now taking place after a new manager (Lars Largerback) has been appointed to replace the erstwhile coach, Shaibu Amodu. Positive signs are beginning to emerge with the Swedish tactician already making changes in the team. I personally believe these are minor indications for Nigerians to believe that the Super Eagles can spring a surprise. After missing out on qualification the last time out, I expect the Eagles to be a team with a point to prove

Let me know your thoughts and until next time, have a great day!

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Watch out for Super Eagles in the final against brazil, dont be suprise if we lift the world cup eventually.

kenny1st:

Watch out for Super Eagles in the final against brazil, dont be suprise if we lift the world cup eventually.

Lol! I believe you and hey, if Obama could be the president of the USA. Who say's Nigeria cant be in the finals of the World cup. Tough call though, knowing fully well that we are not properly prepared. Up Eagles!

Nigeria would be home before the post card,

omar22:

Nigeria would be home before the post card,

Hopefully, the team will prove you wrong.

Nigeria might just win the WC!

to me i think nigeria can go as far as quater final in sa not even argentina can spoil that vcision.

Nigeria is going out in first round, do not rejoice yet. Let the best coach in world come to coach Nigeria.There are some unseen factor that will work against Nigeria, the foundation for that has been laid.

supereagle:

Nigeria is  going out in first round, do not rejoice yet. Let the best coach in world  come to coach Nigeria.There are some unseen factor that will work against Nigeria, the foundation for that has been laid.

Bad belle people.
Go rent flat for hell-fire!

Nigeria's problem has always been lack of discipline and not skillful players, having said that I believe the new coach has brought in some amount of discipline with no one asurred of a starting shirt.

Our problem as a nation is simple, we are not patriotic enough, our support for our team should be constant as nigerians irrespective of how well they might fair at the competition.

yes we all know they havent prepared enought and we would have preffered more time but hey we are where we are and we should support them all they way. i know they will qualify from the group, a win and 2 draws will do it for us, I dont rate argentina too much becuase individually they are good but as a team they can be very average, we all know lagerback is using the same players amodu used, but a raquet in the hands of Federa will give a diff result to one in the hands of Murray

Nice post…Thank you for sharing some good things.

beatin argentina is enough 4 me.Am not xpectin 2 much 4rom dis team

By the end of the 2nd game it will be clear to all how far we shall go.

^^^^How convenient!

Home bound after the second game, the 3rd game will be a mere formality.
Least i forget, with lots of goals conceded.

first round,it is so predictable

there position is not stated there,first group matches,they will come back

I believe we can fly!

All i know is that, Nigeria will reach the quater final, buh "i don't know" if they'll scale through to semi final.

i can bet my ass on it 9JA will return in the first 16 round

we might qualify from our group. Im happy some unpatriotic players(names withheld) are out of the team.

Definitely will crash out at the first round!!

Nigerians are funny and stupid at the same time, how can u expect a team that started preparing barely 2 months to the world cup to compete with teams that have been preparing for years, miracles don't just happen.You need to work hard before favor can locate it.Nigerians,please change this mindset and stop being silly

PRIDE
POWER
NAIJA
I believe in d strong,creative n bold 'spirit of naija' n I believe dis will give d super eagle a good(mit not b brilliant though)outing at SA.
sure we'l make our mark but dont b surprise if we go far in d competition.

they will go as far as there Goals, Dedication, e.t.c will carry them.

cantell:

Bad belle people.
Go rent flat for hell-fire!

True talk!

idealhere:

Nice post…Thank you for sharing some good things.

Thank you. peeps like you give us the impetus to continue doing what we do. I appreciate.

olatosunka:

PRIDE
POWER
NAIJA
I believe in d strong,creative n bold 'spirit of naija' n I believe dis will give d super eagle a good(mit not b brilliant though)outing at SA.
sure we'l make our mark but dont b surprise if we go far in d competition.

kanayo74:

they will go as far as there Goals, Dedication, e.t.c will carry them.

I see very patriotic individuals in here.

Lagerbeer only has 3 international matches left as a coach

PurestBoy:

Lagerbeer only has 3 international matches left as a coach

Lol! Bros , you harsh oh.

football is a game of luck and with goodluck on our side, we will play cheap teams until we get to the finals.

Tcrack:

football is a game of luck and with goodluck on our side, we will play cheap teams until we get to the finals.

And those forget that with GOODLUCK you will need a lot of PATIENCE behind you and patience in the world cup is not available to us and another thing with GOODLUCK, we don't have to play before the world cup will be GIVEN TO US

@Jencejyde

I love your patriotism bro . . .i just hope you don't get too disappointed on D'day