–

FOR the next 31 days, the world’s attention will be focused on Brazil, the host of the 20^th edition of the Federation of International Football Associations, FIFA’s, world cup tournament, which kicks-off on June 12. Stars of the 32 teams that emerged as finalists from different continents, will be on parade. It is a championship that soccer stars worth their salt would not want to miss. That probably explains why some players who had looked forward to being on parade at the championship feel very bad when they are dropped from the 23-man list of players that their national coaches submitted before the competition as required by FIFA. In Nigeria, it was not an easy task for Stephen Keshi, coach of the Super Eagles, to come up with his 30-man list which was finally pruned to 23. Almost every Nigerian soccer fan wanted his or her idol to be included in the final list. That explains why his final list of 23 players bound for Brazil has been a subject of intense debate with some applauding the maturity of his selection while others have continued to condemn it.

As usual, those whose idols were not favoured in the selection will await the performance of the team to see if Keshi’s selection was professional. But should the players fail to perform well, theywill be the first call for his head. Overall, the general feeling is that the Super Eagles will put up an impressive performance to survive the group stage and graduate to the group of 16, otherwise known as the knockout stage. For that to be possible, the Nigerian national team must, at least, beat Iran and Bosnia Herzegovina before its last encounter with Argentina, the overdog, in Group F. But while many Nigerian fans are unduly raising their expectations on the Super Eagles’ performance in Brazil, some realists like Segun Odegbami, former Nigerian captain, have advised incurable optimists in Nigeria to play down their expectations because winning a world cup is not like sharing a piece of cake.

Already, there seems to be an unchallenged tradition that no country outside Latin America has ever won any world cup competition staged in South American soil. For this reason, soccer analysts have tipped Brazil or Argentina as the possible winner of the cup. However, there are those  who believe that if Brazil, a Latin American country, could break the jinx by winning a world cup tournament staged in Europe, it is also possible for a European team to win the 2014 world cup in South America. Tipped to perform this feat are Spain, Italy or Germany. Spain, the reigning world and European champion, is going into the championship with an eye on history. If it wins the cup back-to-back, it will be the first European country to follow in the footsteps of Brazil, which won it in 1958 and 1962. It will also be the first European country to win the championship in a South American soil. That is the beauty of the championship which is always pregnant with   expectations. That is why the four weeks that the competition will last, will be a period of great anxiety for participating teams and their supporters. In Nigeria, it is usually a period when everybody forgets his or her differences as Nigerians in order to support the national team especially if it displays signs of impressive performance. We look forward to an impressive outing for the Super Eagles and other participating teams from Africa.

In keeping with our tradition, our cover story for this week is focused on the world cup. Olu Ojewale, the general editor, is the author of the story entitled “2014 World Cup: How Far Can Nigeria Go?”He has done justice to it. It is a piece you will like to treasure for a very, very long time. Enjoy it.

Mike Akpan
Editor-in-Chief

mikeakpan2003@yahoo.com | 08023880068

— Jun. 16, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT