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Inter Milan coach
Jose Mourinho will either be sitting in the dugout at the San Siro or
Real Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium next season, the Portuguese coach said
on Wednesday.

“My only options
are Madrid or Inter,” he said in an interview with sports daily Marca,
when asked if he would leave the Italian champions at the end of the
season.

“To get me to leave
this club after two years of incredible work, only Real Madrid could
achieve that. If I go, I will move with a clear conscience having
changed the club.”

Mourinho is on the
brink of a winning an unprecedented treble of trophies for an Italian
side. With the Italian Cup and Serie A titles in the bag, he leads
Inter into the Champions League final against Bayern Munich on
Saturday, at Real’s Bernabeu stadium.

When Mourinho was
asked if he would be coaching Real next year, he replied: “I don’t
know; all I say is that if you are a coach or a great player to not
play in a club like Madrid, leaves a hole in your career. I want to
coach Real 100 percent. If it is next year or later,I can’t say.”

The future of Real
coach, Manuel Pellegrini, is uncertain after he finished the season
without a trophy on Sunday, when they ended up second in La Liga behind
arch-rivals Barcelona.Real director
general, Jorge Valdano, has said the club would sit down and discuss
whether the Chilean would complete the second year of his contract in
the coming days.

Ahead of the
departure of Super Eagles for London to begin the final phase of
preparation for the 2010 World Cup, Joseph Yobo, assistant captain of
the squad has called on his team mates to shape up.

Yobo, who spoke on
Tuesday in Lagos at the unveiling of the world’s biggest football by
telecommunications company, MTN Nigeria, said the time had come for the
Eagles to wake up from and reclaim its place of prominence in football.

Fighting like men

The Everton of
England defender said the players owed it to Nigerian football fans who
had invested much emotion in supporting the squad these many years, to
raise their game in South Africa: “In the 1990s and early 2000s, people
talk so much about us. Winning was a habit and we’ve got to get that
winning habit back. That was a great time but, like with any great
team, which cycle had to come to an end, which it did quite quickly for
various reason – retirements, players coming in and out, change of
coaches and players lacking the right motivations.

“So now we’re
facing another terrain where our fans deserve nothing but our absolute
all. We wanted to do that at the Cup of Nations but we just couldn’t
patch things up. A lot of the good work that made the golden
generations needs to return; we must fight and die for our national
colours on the pitch,” Yobo said.

The Eagles
defender’s comment comes at a time belief in the squad is low but he
says that with the right mental attitude, team work and self- belief,
the team can get back to winning ways and once again regain the
confidence of Nigerian football faithful.

Yobo, who has
endured a difficult season marred by injury and a well publicised tiff
with his club manager, David Moyes, is hoping to make the cut when
Eagles coach, Lars Lagerback trims his squad down to the final 23
players by May 30.

Mental toughness is key

Even though he is
just 29 years, he is one of the experienced players in the squad
alongside Captain Nwankwo Kanu. If he gets Lagerback’s nod and gets on
the train to South Africa, Yobo and his colleagues in the Eagles
defence will have their work clearly cut out. They will have to cope
with the explosive pace of the mercurial Argentine, Lionel Messi, who
looks unstoppable at the moment.

“People have talked
about Messi but we need to show we are not there for him to have fun.
He is an incredibly talented footballer but so are all the other
players coming to the World Cup.

“He is special but
we will treat all our opponents with the same determination and
hopefully build a team spirit that will make us Super Eagles again,”
Yobo said.

He maintains that the key to not only stopping Messi but doing well at the World Cup is mental toughness.

“Strong mental
attitude, a great team work and self-belief can take us all the way in
South Africa,” he said. To achieve that he says everyone must be
focused and cast aside every other consideration:

“How much you earn,
where you play, what you have achieved at club level is not an
essential ego to move us forward, now we must prove on the pitch that
we are good then take it forward. All these years we talked more than
we displayed on the pitch, which I think has stalled our success and
growth. If we show that we are good enough, then the fans will be with
us – quite frankly everyone should be given that chance to show what
they are capable of,” he said.

The former
Marseilles of France player calls on Eagles coach, Lars Lagerback to
pick only the best players to represent Nigeria in South Africa.

“I know we are all
too keen on the World Cup but only the best is good enough for the
country. Last time in Japan we did not step out of the group phase, so
if we do that this time it will be a step farther. Then we will take
every game as it comes after that as it will be the knockout stage of
the tournament.”

The Super Eagles will play in Group B alongside Argentina, Greece, and South Korea in the preliminary rounds of the World Cup.

Skipper of the
Ghanaian national football team Michael Essien insists the Black Stars
will be going all out to enjoy their football as they have nothing to
lose at the World Cup in South Africa.

The Black Stars
will be competing at their second World Cup tournament following their
debut outing four years ago in Germany where they made it all the way
to the second round before losing to Brazil. They will be looking to
re-enact that feat this time around in South Africa where they will be
coming up against Germany, Australia and Serbia in the first round.

On paper, the Black
Stars have a realistic chance of advancing to the second round but
Essien isn’t solely thinking about that as he wants the team to have
fun in the process and give something back to underprivileged children
in the society.

Essien made this
assertion while declaring his support for the ‘1Goal: Education for all
project’, which is a project run by the Global Campaign for Education
and which is part of a large global education initiative.

Asked about his fondest World Cup memories, the Chelsea midfielder, who is an ambassador for the 1Goal Project said:

“The only thing I
remember was the last World Cup in Germany. It was our first ever World
Cup. We really had fun and it was a good experience for us and we are
all looking forward to going to South Africa and to enjoy our football
and maybe the kids can learn something from us.”

“Every country
knows how to play the game now so I don’t think there will be an easy
game out there. But like I said it is going to be fun and we’ll all go
out there and enjoy it,” he added.

Education for all

The 1Goal project,
which is backed by FIFA, seeks to get every child into school by 2015
by rallying support from footballers and fans across the world. The
campaign is backed by over 140 of the biggest names in football
including Super Eagles captain Nwankwo Kanu, John Utaka, Alessandro del
Piero, and Rio Ferdinand, as well as entertainment icons such as
Shakira and Kevin Spacey.

An estimated $16
billion a year is needed to make universal education a reality, but
currently only $4 billion is spent on primary education and 1GOAL is
aiming to use the first World Cup to be staged in Africa to help
actualize the United Nations’ target of ending poverty through
providing education for all.

“I think education
is the key to success. I was lucky growing up, my mum worked incredibly
hard to make sure me and my four sisters could get an education. She
did not get the chance to go to school but she gave us the
opportunity,” said Essien.

“It is great to have the World Cup for the first time in Africa. The
continent has been dreaming about it and now the World Cup is coming to
Africa. I think the 1Goal education project will be good for the kids
after the World Cup because we could see a lot more kids in school.”

Barcelona have
moved swiftly to reinforce their squad, snapping up Spain striker David
Villa from Valencia for 40 million euros on Wednesday, three days after
winning a second consecutive La Liga title.

After a Valencia
board meeting, President Manuel Llorente said they had accepted Barca’s
offer for the prized striker, who scored 21 league goals last season to
finish his fifth consecutive campaign as the club’s top scorer.

“There was a big
offer from England that was not from Chelsea but Barcelona’s was the
best for us and the footballer,” Llorente told a news conference at the
Mestalla, without specifying which Premier League club had made a bid.

“Villa has delivered a lot (to Valencia) and he deserves this chance,” he added.

The 28-year-old is
Spain’s second-highest scorer with 36 goals from 55 matches, eight
short of the record held by Real Madrid striker, Raul, and he will be
spearheading Spain’s World Cup campaign in South Africa next month.

Barcelona confirmed
the deal in a statement on their web site (www.fcbarcelona.com), saying
Villa would sign a four-year contract with an option for one more year.

The player, who
Barca said “guaranteed goals”, will travel to the Catalan capital on
Thursday and will take a medical before being presented on Friday at
1130 GMT.

Nicknamed “el
guaje” (the kid), Villa will join a formidable Barca forward line that
already includes La Liga’s leading marksman Lionel Messi, Swede Zlatan
Ibrahimovic, and Spaniards Pedro and Bojan Krkic.

France striker Thierry Henry spent most of last season on the bench and is expected to move on.

Responsible decisions

Barca sporting
director, Txiki Begiristain, told the club’s TV channel on Wednesday,
Villa was a similar player to Messi in that he could play as a centre
forward or drift in from the right wing into goal-scoring positions.

“He has the profile of a player who makes very good diagonal runs and moves very well into space,” Begiristain said.

Valencia have been
forced into the sale by the precarious nature of their finances. They
are burdened with debts of more than 500 million euros. They have a
half-built new stadium, and have yet to sell their current one, the
Mestalla.

“The board’s
principle objective is to make sure we have economic viability for the
future,” Llorente said, adding that he did not rule out further sales.

“We are obliged to
take responsible decisions. Considering our situation, it is
responsible to sell this player. As everyone knows we could have done
this deal last year but we thought at that moment it was best to keep
our squad together to try and get into the Champions League.”

“We have achieved that aim and finished third in the league, and he
has contributed a lot towards this. We think it is good sale and
necessary for the economic situation of the club,” he added.

Barcelona will need
to keep the euphoria in check if they are to hold onto the La Liga
title in what promises to be a nerve-jangling final day of the Spanish
season on Sunday.

The champions are
at home to Real Valladolid (1700 GMT) and have a one-point lead and the
head-to-head advantage over chasing Real Madrid.

At the same time,
their arch-rivals visit Malaga, where a victory and a Barca slip up is
the only way Real can avoid finishing a second consecutive season
without a trophy.

Both Valladolid and Malaga, along with three other sides, are fighting to avoid relegation to the second division.

Last weekend’s
nervy 3-2 win away to Sevilla saw Barca’s players celebrating on the
pitch having overcome what had been considered the toughest obstacle
left for them, but captain Carles Puyol sounded a note of caution.

“It’s a difficult
game against a side that is fighting to stay in the league. It won’t be
a stroll in the park,” the Spanish international told reporters. “We’ll
have to control the anxiety.” Barca have the mixed blessing of playing
in front of their own fans at the Nou Camp but face a wily opponent in
the shape of former Spain boss Javier Clemente, who has been brought in
to try and save Valladolid from relegation.

“Miracles don’t exist in football, but surprises do,” Clemente told daily Sport.

Guardiola, who
played under Clemente with Spain at the World Cup finals in 1994, will
be without suspended playmaker Xavi but could have Andres Iniesta back
from injury as a replacement.

Calculators and pens

A victory for Real
in Malaga would see them finish the season with 98 points which is
enough to have taken the title every year since the league began. But
it will not be enough if Barca also win to move onto 99.

Coach Manuel
Pellegrini is having to prepare for the weekend with the local press
talking up the possibility of Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho being
brought in as his replacement next season.

“I have a year left
on my contract and whether we win or lose (the title) should not
condition Madrid’s future,” the Chilean told reporters.

“You can’t say this
has been a lesser project when you consider how many points we have
achieved.” At the foot of the table, the three relegation slots will be
decided on Sunday (1700) with Valladolid, Racing Santander, Malaga and
Tenerife tied on 36 points, three ahead of bottom club Xerez.

With the
head-to-head rule deciding matters for those who finish level on
points, fans will be reaching for their calculators and pens to work
out the complicated consequences of each goal as events unfold during
the evening.

Lars Lagerback beat off competition from Glenn Hoddle to win the nod as Nigeria’s hastily appointed coach for the World Cup in South Africa.

Parachuted in after Nigeria fired his predecessor Shaibu Amodu in early February, Lagerback will be coaching at his third successive World Cup, but in circumstances far removed from his previous two assignments.

His Scandinavian sensibilities are sure to be tested in the hurly burly of the animated Nigerian camp. Already since he took charge there has been a mini crisis over where the team would be based for the finals and he has had a government commission poring over the preparations.

It is the first overseas job for Lagerback, who came through the ranks of the Swedish football association, coaching first the junior teams and then the national B side.

Former Sweden coach Tommy Soderberg took him on as his assistant at the national team in 1998 and the pair began a joint coaching arrangement the following year.

After a miserable Euro 2000, where Sweden failed to survive the group stage, they qualified for the 2002 World Cup in Asia.

In Japan, Sweden topped a group featuring England, Nigeria and Argentina, only to exit in the second round after losing to upstarts Senegal on a golden goal.

The pattern repeated itself two years later at the European Championship in Portugal where Sweden again headed a tough group, which included Italy, then went out on penalties in the quarter-finals against the Netherlands.

Soderberg stepped down from the dual role to take over the under-21 side, leaving Lagerback to successfully take Sweden into the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany, where they again made the knockout round but got beaten by the hosts.

That was followed by qualification for Euro 2008 but elimination in the group phase.

When Sweden failed to reach this year’s World Cup finals, Lagerback resigned, leaving him free to take up a five-month contract with Nigeria.

Though he was given only weeks to get to know his new squad, the 61-year-old Lagerback was confident, saying last month: “In three weeks you can do a lot.”

REUTERS

According to the
Argentinian news agency, Telam, Diego Maradona has settled on his final
23-man squad for this summer’s FIFA World Cup in South Africa, where
they will come up against Nigeria’s Super Eagles in their opening game,
before concluding their Group B fixtures with matches against South
Korea and Greece.

Regulars such as
reigning world player of the year, Lionel Messi, Walter Samuel, Javier
Mascherano, and Maradona’s son-in-law, Sergio Aguero, all made it into
the final squad.

But the biggest
surprise came with the inclusion of Inter Milan forward, Diego Milito,
and defender, Ariel Garce, whose first cap for Argentina came in the
4-0 demolition of Haiti.

Milito has been in
breathtaking form for Inter Milan this season but the 30-year-old
looked unlikely to make the cut, with Maradona thought to have already
made up his mind on taking five forwards to the World Cup. However, in
a typical erratic fashion, Maradona has pulled a U-turn and elected to
take the Inter man to South Africa after all.

A lesser surprise
was the inclusion of on-loan Liverpool midfielder, Maxi Rodriguez. For
much of the year, the AtleticoMadrid player appeared certain to miss
the World Cup. But he will be breathing a sigh of relief and will feel
vindicated in his decision to find more first-team action at the
English Premier League side.

Seven players,
however, had to make way for the lucky 23 from Maradona’s original list
of 30 players, and they are Newcastle of England defender, Fabricio
Coloccini; Olympiakos of Greece winger, Jesus Datolo; Ezequiel Lavezzi
of Italian side Napoli; and the Argentina-based quartet of Sebastian
Blanco (Lanus), Jose Sosa (Estudiantes), Juan Mercier (Argentinos), and
Juan Insaurralde (Newell’s).

The squad goalkeepers – Sergio Romero AZ Alkmaar (NED); Mariano
Andújar Catania (ITA); and Diego Pozo Colon (ARG). Defenders – Nicolás
Otamendi Velez Sarsfield (ARG); Gabriel Heinze Marseille (FRA); Martín
Demichelis Bayern Munich (GER); Walter Samuel Inter (ITA); Ariel Garcé
Colón (ARG); Nicolás Burdisso Roma (ITA); and Clemente Rodríguez
Estudiantes (ARG). Midfielders – Juan Sebastian Verón Estudiantes
(ARG); Javier Mascherano Liverpool (ENG); Jonás Gutiérrez Newcastle
(ENG); Ángel Di María Benfica (POR); Maximiliano Rodríguez Liverpool
(ENG); Javier Pastore Palermo (ITA); and Mario Bolatti Fiorentina (TA).
Forwards – Lionel Messi Barcelona (ESP); Gonzalo Higuaín Real Madrid
(ESP); Carlos Tévez Manchester City (ENG); Sergio Agüerio Atlético
Madrid (ESP); Diego Milito Inter (ITA); and Martín Palermo Boca Juniors
(ARG).

Atletico Madrid
shook off a debilitating inferiority complex to win the Europa League
on Wednesday and could bury it for good with a triumph in the King’s
Cup final next week.

Atletico are used
to living in the shadow of nine-times European champions Real Madrid,
but relegation in 2000 followed by eight years of under-achievement
back in the top flight have taken their toll on Spain’s third biggest
club.

Their fans had
started to revel in the nickname “the sufferers” and had to look back
to 1996 for their last glimpse of silverware when Atletico won a league
and cup double.

The club even used
the idea to help promote season-ticket sales with a television advert
that saw a child ask his father: “Daddy, why do we support Atletico?”
His father was unable to offer a reply.

“They have been living with a pathological pessimism,” Santiago Segurola wrote in sports daily Marca.

“Now they have the
opportunity to bury the ghosts and their fears. It’s moments like
these, full of happiness, that push them into believing, to progress,
to return to a level that corresponds with their history.” True to
their recent past,

Atletico did not do
it the easy way in Hamburg and needed a goal from Diego Forlan, four
minutes from the end of extra-time to secure a 2-1 victory over Fulham.

“We deserved to win
although we went through some bad moments, but Atletico are like this,”
19-year-old goalkeeper David de Gea told reporters.

Changed fortunes

Coach Quique
Sanchez Flores has been the architect of Atletico’s turnaround in
fortunes, taking over a side that were bottom of their Champions League
group and 15th in La Liga last October.

He kept a low profile in the celebrations: “This is a moment for the players. I prefer to watch from afar.

“I asked them to be
daring and to remember the footballer inside them that dreamed of
winning titles.” He added: “It’s difficult to control (the euphoria)
and I’m not going to try.” Then they have a second Cup final against
Sevilla at the Nou Camp next Wednesday.

Sports daily AS helped out the father who was unable to answer his son from Atletico’s well-known advertising campaign.

“Son, this is why we support Atletico,” they said above their write up of the match on Thursday.

It’s barely twenty
five days to the commencement of football’s greatest showpiece; the
World Cup. Africans and indeed the whole world cannot wait to see the
kick off of the first Mundial on African soil.

They long to see
the sheer display of talents and mastery of the round leather game by
their soccer idols coming in from thirty two countries around the world.

However with a host
of footballing nations already announced their initial World Cup squad;
some stars are already missing in action even before the blast of the
whistle.

Karim Bezenma

Perhaps the biggest
casualty of Raymond Domenech’s surprise preliminary World Cup squad was
Karim Benzema; he is one of Real Madrid’s big money summer signings
priced at about €35 million with the fee rising to as much as €41
million based on incentives The striker was one of the hottest
properties in world football one year ago while playing for French side
Olympique Lyon , but a disappointing season in the La Liga saw him lose
out on a World Cup spot.

Benzema came
through the youth academy at Lyon and has been capped at senior level
for France. He played in UEFA Euro 2008 and was the top goal scorer in
Ligue 1 for the 2007-08 season; just three seasons after making his
professional debut.

This was also his
breakthrough season which saw him earn many awards and a new contract
which resulted in him becoming one of the highest-paid footballers in
France.

Currently linked in
the French media with an under-age sex scandal, coach of the team
maintains his omission has nothing to do with the issue but his lack of
match fitness in his new club Real Madrid. Bezema has eight goals to
his credit having started just 14 games in Madrid.

Cambiasso/Zanetti

Diego Maradona left
out two major players from his Argentine squad, both of which come from
Serie A outfit Inter Milan. Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso. They
have enjoyed long careers with their national squads, but they would
not be on the trip to South Africa come June when the Argentines begin
their quest for the World Cup trophy against the Super Eagles of
Nigeria.

Though both players
played key roles for their side during the last World Cup in Korea/
Japan but their places have since been grabbed by younger counterparts.

One would however
question the logic behind this exclusion when you see names such as
Fabricio Coloccini and Gabriel Heinze, a player thought to be in the
twilight of his career making the list ahead of two of the most
sensationally performing defensive midfielders in world football. The
duo however remain on course for a unique treble under Jose Mourinho
who perhaps knows their worth more than their national coach; Maradona.

David Beckham

Glamorous on and of
the pitch, Beckham’s exclusion from the World Cup list is no surprise
after the former England captain got injured March 14 playing for
Italian club; AC Milan.

He was in tears on
that Sunday night when his dream of being the first England player to
appear in four World Cups was wrecked after he suffered a ruptured
achilles tendon.

The former England
captain had struggled to impress England coach’ Fabio Cappello who had
consistently sounded it clear that there would be no automatic shirt
for him.

This informed his
switch to the Serie A from his MLS side Galaxy Stars. However with the
injury set to rule him out for six to seven months, Beckham can best be
a spectator at the South Africa 2010 World Cup Ronaldinho Baring any
serious injury to Dunga’s “preferred” marksmen two-time former “World
Player of the Year” Ronaldinho has no place in the Brazilian squad
which would be gunning for an unprecedented sixth title in South Africa.

For many, had Dunga
turned his back on Ronaldinho a year or six months ago, when the
dazzling footballer was in a slump for whatever reason, it would have
been understandable and even justified.

This season,
however, Ronaldinho had rejuvenated his game to a large extent with AC
Milan and there seems to be every reason to believe he could even step
up his game further in the company of equally talented Brazilian
teammates who he already has some sort of rhythm with.

He has not only
been scoring goals in Milan but also creating scoring chances for
teammate. Currently he has ten goals to his credit and fourteen assist;
the highest in the Milan team.

All this perhaps
counts little with Dunga who has decided to keep faith with the bulk of
players that won the Confederation Cup hosted by South Africa a while
ago.

Luca Toni

Luca Toni, who
played well for Italy during the last tournament where the Azzuri’s
emerged champions made a last minute loan move to Roma from Bayern
Munich in hopes of landing a spot in the Italian team to South Africa.
He was however disappointed by Coach Lippi having been left out of the
Italian pre-world team.

Toni’s niche for
goals and classical finishing styles stands him out having won the
Serie B Top Scorer award in 2004, the Serie A Top Scorer: 2006, the
European Golden Shoe: 2006 and also making the FIFA World Cup All-Star
Team in 2006. He also made his mark in Germany emerging as the
Bundesliga Top Scorer in 2008 and UEFA Cup Top Scorer same year.

For Toni, he would have to watch from the stands as his teammates attempt to defend the Cup they won four years ago in Germany

Patrick Viera

He his another
experienced player that would be missing at the World Cup after
attending three previous editions and winning the trophy in one of
those occasions on home soil (France 98) .

The exclusion more
than likely signals the end of Vieira’s international career, and the
on-loan Manchester City midfielder will have to look back – not forward
– on a glittering international career which has spanned over twelve
years and over one hundred caps under his belt.

His power, Charisma
and motivating spirit would be missed by the French team who
controversially qualified for the tournament after a hand ball by
Thierry Henry secured them a ticket ahead of Northern Ireland.

Other Stars that
would be conspicuously absent includes Arsenal’s Whizkid, Samir Nazri
who was unlucky compared to teammates, Abou Diaby, Bacry Sagna, Gael
Clichy and William Gallas who were included in France’s initial 30, man
list.

There was also no
room for Ruud van Nistelrooy, the 33-year-old striker with such
remarkable feel for close-range goals. Van Nistelrooy left Real Madrid
for Hamburg SV in an attempt to get more playing time, but the Dutch
coach ruled him out due to his ongoing recovery from a knee injury.

While the likes of
Pato , Neymar may have to wait for the 2014 edition in Brazil, the
likes of Olofinjana, Sedof Owen Hargraves, Francessco Totti, Raul
Gonzalez may have to kiss ever playing in the World Cup bye.

Every player dreams of featuring at the World Cup. It comes to pass for some while it remains a faraway dream for most.

In less than a
month from now, 736 players representing 32 nations will converge on
South Africa for the first FIFA World Cup to be staged on African soil.
Nigeria will be one of those nations and will be contributing 23
players to the eagerly anticipated spectacle.

A 30-man
provisional squad list unveiled recently by Super Eagles coach Lars
Lagerback, included siblings John and Peter Utaka as well as Kalu and
Ikechukwu Uche who will all be doing their best in the weeks ahead to
confirm their spot in the final 23-man list.

Brothers in arms

Celestine and
Emmanuel Babayaro both appeared for Nigeria at the 1993 FIFA U-17 World
Cup in Japan but no pair of Nigerian siblings have ever featured
together at a senior World Cup. So if Lagerback ends up taking both the
Uche and Utaka brothers to South Africa it will be historic for the
Nigerians.

It won’t, however,
be the first time in World Cup history as it has already happened on
four different occasions with the most recent coming at the last
tournament in Germany where the Ivoirians arrived with a team featuring
the both the Koné brothers (Arouna and Bakari) and the Touré brothers
(Kolo and Yaya).

“It will be nice to
play with my brother and even better if it’s at the World Cup,” said
Peter, the younger of the Utaka brothers.

He then added: “It
has always been my wish to play in the Super Eagles with my big
brother. We talk about it all the time and we will both do our best to
ensure it happens.”

New kid on the block

Unlike the Uche
brothers who have been integral members of the national team for a
couple of years now, the Utaka brothers have never played together in
the Super Eagles. Although John has featured for the Super Eagles since
2002 he has been left out of the side for some months now and even
missed the African Cup of Nations tournament in Angola earlier in the
year, while the younger Peter has only made one appearance for the
Super Eagles in a 5-2 thrashing of Congo DR in Abuja where he even
found the back of the net to make it a dream start to his international
career.

“It was a nice way to start even if it was just a friendly match,” Peter said.

“My target now is to work very hard and make the team because there are so many top players in the Super Eagles.

“Since I was a
child, I dreamt of playing in the World Cup. Now I have a chance to do
that with my brother and in a team that has a lot of great players like
(Nwankwo) Kanu and IK Uche,” Peter stated.

“IK Uche is someone
I want to play with but Kanu is a legend. To me, Kanu is the greatest
Nigerian player of all-time. Just training and playing with Kanu on the
same pitch will be fantastic,” he added.

Sibling pair

Real Zaragoza’s
Ikechukwu was the national team’s leading scorer in the South Africa
2010 World Cup qualifying campaign before a career threatening injury
ruled him out of the rest of the qualifiers as well as the African Cup
of Nations in Angola. He has, however, recovered ahead of schedule and
is looking forward to making his World Cup debut in South Africa.

“It seems like an
eternity since I last played for the national team but I now have a
chance to play at the World Cup,” said Uche.

The younger of the Uche brothers also said he enjoys playing alongside his elder brother, Almeria’s Kalu.

“I love playing
with him. He knows the way I play and I understand him as well so I
look forward to playing with him again,” added Uche.

Uche is equally
looking forward to playing again with John, peter’s elder brother, even
though he doesn’t know much about the prolific OB Odense forward.

“John is a good friend but I don’t know much about his brother,” said Uche.

“I have heard a lot
of good things about him; that he’s a good player and a good scorer,
and I hope to get a chance to play with him.”

That chance may
arrive later in the month when the Super Eagles commence their training
camp in London, England where they already have a series of friendly
matches lined up.