Nigeria Content Online

Contrary to
expectations that the world football governing body, FIFA, will be
quick to take a decision on Nigeria’s resolution to withdraw it’s
national team from international engagements and the dissolution of the
football federation, the body has instead stated that it is not in
haste to take any action as it will have to study the report it has
before taking any stance.

Addressing a
briefing in South Africa yesterday, FIFA spokesman Nicolas Maingot
confirmed that Nigeria’s government has officially notified FIFA of its
action. “We have been now officially informed of that and we are
looking at this case,” Maingot said. “We need a little bit of time.”
FIFA over the years have maintained a strong stand on government
interference in football insisting that football should not be mixed
with politics.

The rules

According to FIFA
rules, national federations are required to manage their affairs
independently or face suspension from world football. In the event of
suspension; national and club teams cannot play in international
competitions, and football officials are barred from attending
meetings. “This is clearly outlined in the FIFA statutes,” said
Maingot, adding that “we are not at the step of taking sanctions.”
Aware of the possible punishment the country could suffer for its
actions, former Super Eagles player, Garba Lawal, appealed to FIFA to
temper justice with mercy as the government action was only geared
towards improving the country’s football “We all know what the rule
says but I hope FIFA will not be too hard on us, Nigerians love
football and a ban would be a painful thing” he said.

Similarly, Super
Eagles defender, Adefemi Olubayo also added his voice as he opined that
football is a uniting factor in the country and it would not be good to
starve the populace of it. A standoff between the government and FIFA
could threaten Nigeria’s place in the FIFA-run Under-20 Women’s World
Cup, which kicks off July 13 in Germany. Nigerian club side, Heartland,
could also lose its spot in the African Champions League with the team
scheduled to host Egypt’s Al-Ahly in two weeks’ time. The Super Eagles
next engagement is scheduled for early September against Madagascar in
a qualifier for the 2012 African Cup of Nations. Events in the next
couple of days would determine the turn of events.

Reason for action

The Super Eagles
poor performance at the World Cup, and the need to re-organise the
country’s football were some of the reasons adduced for the
presidential action. Nigeria was eliminated from the World Cup with
only one point after a 2-2 draw with South Korea in its last game.
Nigeria lost to Argentina 1-0 in its Group B opener, and was beaten 2-1
by Greece.

Outside this, the
president’s spokesman, Ima Niboro, also revealed that appropriate
authorities will also investigate corruption allegations against the
football federation. “All funds directed toward the federation would be
examined and all those found wanting will be sanctioned,” he said.

Meanwhile, Nigeria is scheduled to receive prize money of US$8 million from FIFA for participating in the World Cup.

No African team has
gone beyond the quarter finals of the World Cup. The two teams to have
reached that stage-Cameroon (1990) and Senegal (2002) fell to their
opponents. Today, the Black of Stars will be gunning to change all
that. Against Uruguay at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg,
they’ll be aiming to enter history books as the first African country
to get to the semi finals of the World Cup.

Journey so far

To get to this
stage of the competition, the Black Stars saw off the challenge in the
Group D where it was placed defeating Serbia by a lone goal in her
opening match, then played out a 1-1 draw with Australia and although
they lost 0-1 to Germany, the team went into the next round. In the
Round of 16, Ghana became the first team to take a match into extra
time at the 2010 FIFA World Cup when ninety minutes failed to separate
the African team and the United States team. The match had started well
for Ghana with Kevin Prince Boateng putting them in front after just
five minutes. Landon Donovan however made things even when he converted
a penalty kick award after a careless tackle on a goal bound American
by Ghanaian defender, Jonathan Mensah. Extra time had hardly begun
before Asamoah Gyan held off two defenders to fire the ball into the
net for the winner and a date with Uruguay today.

Missing men

Ghana is without
suspended players: Jonathan Mensah and Andre Ayew; but striker, Asamoah
Gyan, is expected to recover from an ankle injury he picked up in the
second-round victory over the United States.

The biggest problem for the last African team left in the
competition is the enormous weight of expectations. But Ghana’s Serbian
coach, Milovan Rajevac, says the prospect of becoming the first team
from the continent to reach the last four will motivate his squad. “We
are not thinking about the pressure,” he told fifa.com. “We played very
well at the African (Cup of) Nations so we have already proved that we
are a team that knows how to compete. We will try to relax. You know it
is good for us to be here. We are very happy with the whole situation.”

Wolfgang Stark, the
German referee who handled the Nigeria-Argentina tie last Saturday, has
come under severe criticism from FIFA’s referees’ committee, for
allowing the goal that decided the game in favour of the South
Americans.

The FIFA’s
referee’s committee criticised Wolfgang Stark’s decision not to give a
foul for Walter Samuel’s obstruction in the build-up to the goal.

The Spanish
newspaper, Ole, reports that a FIFA post-match analysis ruled that
there was a foul in the build-up to Gabriel Heinze’s 6th minute
match-winning header, and that Stark should never have allowed the goal.

The FIFA referees’
committee released their findings on Tuesday, as a guide for future
judgments in this year’s tournament. And amongst other rulings, they
made it clear to referees that they must watch for infractions at
corners and free-kicks – specifically attacking players blocking
markers, as was the case last Saturday.

As Juan Sebastian
Veron’s cross floated over Argentine player, Walter Samuel grabbed
Nigeria’s Chinedu Obasi and prevented him from moving, thereby giving
Heinze all the space he needed to head the ball into the back of the
Nigerian net.

Stark should have,
therefore, penalised Samuel for obstruction and awarded a free-kick to
the Super Eagles – a judgment that could have changed the course of the
whole game for the Argentines, who missed several gilt-edged chances
owing to the brilliant form of Nigerian goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama.

Although the ruling comes too late for the Super Eagles, it has
interesting implications for the rest of the tournament; a sign that
FIFA will not tolerate the pushing, shoving, and holding commonplace on
both sides at dead-ball situations, and that in future, such offences
will be punished with either disallowed goals or penalties, in the case
of the defence committing an infraction.

Greece
were disappointing in their 2-0 loss to South Korea, but they say they
are ready to put that embarrassing defeat behind them ahead of
Thursday’s match against the Super Eagles who they believe they are
capable of beating.

According to
striker, Dimitris Salpingidis, they have the quality to bounce back
from their opening defeat and stay alive in South Africa. “We have
quality, and we’re not out of the tournament yet.

There’s still two
games to play. We still have dreams and we’ll do our best to make them
continue,” said the Panathinaikos star. “Like us, Nigeria lost their
opening match. They’re a very good team, very physical, strong and
fast, a quality outfit. Nigeria work well as a team and created chances
against Argentina. They’re very good when they play the ball in attack.
But we have also shown in recent years that in big matches we have a
compact defence with a quick counter-attack, that’s the way we play.”

Overcoming the jinx

If the Greeks
defeat the Super Eagles, it will be their first ever win at the World
Cup, even though they also remain in search of their first World Cup
goal having failed to hit the back of the net at their only other World
cup appearance back in 1994 when they scored none and conceded 10,
including two to the Super Eagles.

The team’s coach,
Otto Rehhagel, faced rare criticism from the Greek media after
Saturday’s loss but Salpingidis down played those criticism, saying:
“Statistics are for the media. On the pitch you don’t think about past
results, but in every match you try to win. We’re playing in the
greatest tournament in the world. We’re trying to be happy and enjoy
the competition and give the fans something to cheer about.”

His teammate,
Vassilis Torosidis, however played down the prospect of his country’s
revival at the World Cup, saying a “transformation” ahead of the key
match against Nigeria is not possible. The 25-year-old Torosidis said
the defence-minded Greeks will redouble their efforts for Thursday’s
encounter at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein but are unlikely to
undergo any radical change.

“To be honest, there can be no transformation in five days, not for
any team,” the defender said. “What we need to be is very stubborn and
to show this on the pitch. Even if we don’t win, we won’t be
disappointed as long as we play well.”

South Korean
players believe they have a chance of victory in Thursday’s game
against Argentina, with Manchester United midfielder, Park Ji-Sung,
insisting they are capable of causing an upset against the South
Americans.

Park, who was the
man-of-the-match against the Greeks, said his side have nothing to fear
if they can play with the same intensity they produced against the
Greeks in last Saturday’s 2-0 win.

“Argentina are the
best team in our group, but if we play as a team like we did (against
Greece), we’re capable of getting a result,” said Park, whose views
were backed by the team’s coach, Jung-Moo Huh.

Huh, who participated at Mexico 1986 as a player where he faced Diego Maradona, his rival in the dugout on Thursday, said:

“We’ll give it our best shot, because my players can only grow in stature against opponents of their calibre.

“Argentina are
among the favourites, but we have good players, too. In football, the
lesser teams are always capable of beating the bigger ones,” said the
55-year-old.

Stopping Messi

On Thursday, the
Koreans will be up against Argentine superstar, Lionel Messi, who
proved more than a handful for Nigeria’s defence in their opening game.

The current world
player of the year is someone who is capable of deciding the outcome of
matches all by himself and reports suggest that Huh, who used a 4-4-2
formation in the game against the Greeks, will switch to a more
defensive 4-2-3-1 line-up when his side face Messi and company on
Thursday.

With only Chu-Young Park expected to be up front against Argentina, it is obvious the emphasis will be on stopping Messi.

“We are scared of
Messi. We think that the only way to stop him is breaking his leg,”
joked South Korean goalkeeper, Sung-Ryoung Jung, in anticipation of
facing the Barcelona star.

Huh, on the other hand, invoked the story in the Bible of David and Goliath in giving his team a fighting chance.

“We all know what the bible says, and who fell. If we can defend
well, we do not have to give up the match as a lost cause,” said Huh.

Neither the globe’s
most expensive soccer player, nor one of its most prolific marksmen
were able on Tuesday to remedy a worrying shortage of goals at Africa’s
first World Cup.

Both 80 million
pounds striker Cristiano Ronaldo, and goal machine Didier Drogba drew
blanks when Portugal and Ivory Coast played out a goalless Group G
encounter to add to the paucity of goals in South Africa so far. After
13 matches the net has bulged just 20 times, an average of 1.54 per
game, way below the 2.30 average for the whole of Germany 2006 and
higher figures in previous years. Portugal’s Ronaldo came closest when
he hit the post in Port Elizabeth with a thundering long range shot,
and Drogba came on as a second half substitute for the Ivory Coast
despite a fractured arm.

The day’s earlier
match produced only two goals when Slovakia and New Zealand drew 1-1 in
a Group F game. That clash of the outsiders in Rustenburg gave each
their first points in a World Cup as cold temperatures and pouring rain
hit the only winter edition of the tournament since 1978, even
extending to the tropical port of Durban.

Exceptional Germans

Only the German
side has shown real World Cup class so far with a 4-0 drubbing of
Australia on Sunday that will have surely struck fear into their big
name rivals. While South Africans continue to exude pride and
excitement at hosting the tournament, there was tragic news from
elsewhere on the continent. Residents of anarchic Somalia said Islamic
militants had killed two people and arrested 35 for breaking their
strict ban on watching the tournament on television.

Fairly Peaceful

While this
tournament has largely been problem free and filled with joy despite
the lack of goals, about 2,000 stadium stewards in Durban who clashed
with riot police in a protest over wages early on Monday were paid off
on Tuesday. Police said they were taking over security at Durban,
Johannesburg, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth stadiums because of the
dispute.

Dispute hasn’t been
restricted to labour issues, however, and controversy is growing among
players and coaches over the World Cup’s new ball, called the Jabulani.
Crosses, free-kicks and long-range shots have been skying over their
targets in the thin air. Another issue is the incessant whine of the
vuvuzelas with teams now experimenting with sign language, especially
when goalkeepers are trying to organise a defensive wall.

But the plastic trumpet clearly has some fans. An iPhone application
that copies the drone that has been compared to a swarm of giant bees
has been downloaded more than a million times. Even though the
application was designed in the Netherlands, this is unlikely to please
Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk, the tournament’s chief curmudgeon and
most vociferous critic of the South African instrument.

When the Super Eagles step onto the
pitch later today, for their match against Greece, they will be firing
on all cylinders, aware of the fact that only a win will give them a
realistic chance of advancing to the knockout rounds of the World Cup.

Not even a draw will do, so they must
go for a win; something they have not been able to achieve since their
1-0 defeat of Bulgaria back in 1998.

“The match against Greece is so
important now because we simply have to pick up three points. We’re
still in with a good chance,” said Wolfsburg forward, Obafemi Martins,
who was used as a second-half substitute in the 1-0 loss to Argentina.

The loss to Argentina extended
Nigeria’s winless streak in the World Cup to six games, but the former
African champions side still have a realistic chance of qualifying for
the round of 16.

“Even though we lost the game to
Argentina, I believe the boys can bounce back with the next two games,”
said former Nigeria international, Sam Okpodu.

“We played very conservatively against
Argentina and waited for opportunities to counter attack. Either way,
Argentina should have won by a bigger margin,” he added.

Final chance

Indeed, the Argentines ought to have
won by a much more comfortable score line but the Super Eagles also had
opportunities to punish the South Americans, but wasted these chances.

They are now confronted with their last
chance to show they are not in South Africa to make up the numbers, and
will need to show a better attitude and confidence than they displayed
in their loss to Argentina, if they must get the three points from
today’s encounter.

“We created a few chances against
Argentina, but we could have created more,” said England-based coach,
Chukwuma Akuneto. “The Argentine defenders were clearly lacking in
pace, but (Obafemi ) Martins and (Osaze) Odemwingie were only brought
in after the break.

“I expect both of them to start this
time around because the Greeks also lack pace in their defence. This is
something we need to exploit, but we can’t afford to be wasteful this
time around because chances may be few against the Greek,” he said.

The introduction of Martins and
Odemwingie added more bite to the Eagles’ attack as they were able to
carve open the Argentine defence on a few occasions; Diego Maradona was
forced to pull out Angel Di Maria, a forward, and replaced him with
Nicolas Burdisso, a defender.

Greek coach, Otto Rehhagel, is renowned
for his defensive tactics and it won’t come as a surprise to many if
the German decides to play as many as five in the defence, even though
his side needs a win.

But the Greeks have never scored or won a game at the World Cup, and
they will be against a country that defeated them back at the 1994
World Cup. That was the year the Super Eagles made it to the round of
16, which they repeated four years later in France. But they failed to
reach the knockout rounds in 2002 and nothing less than a spot in the
next round will satisfy their fans.

The Super Eagles
head into today’s game against Greece, aware that defeat in
Bloemfontein will almost certainly spell the end of their World Cup
dreams after their damaging opening defeat at the hands of Argentina.

The Super Eagles
went down 1-0 to the Argentines last Saturday in Johannesburg, the same
day the Greeks fell 2-0 to South Korea, which also leaves the Greeks in
a desperate need of points to keep their tournament hope alive.

Super Eagles’
striker, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, believes the solution to overcoming their
opponents lies in an offensive approach to the game.

“We have to attack with panache and at the same time, defend with resolution. There will be no mercy,” he said.

The Everton forward put in a hardworking display against the Argentines and speaking to Fifa.com, said:

“We didn’t play
many warm-up games before we got here, but we got better in each one
and our rhythm has gotten better and better. If we keep the same spirit
and mentality, we can go through to the next round at least.”

Possible changes

Coach Lars
Lagerback hinted at possible changes from the team that started against
Argentina at Ellis Park, but he kept all firmly to his chest as he
addressed the post-training press conference on Wednesday. But Osaze
Odemwingie may likely take the place of Chinedu Obasi, while Obafemi
Martins may take the place of Obinna Nsofor, after coming on as a
substitute against Argentina.

The Greeks, under
Otto Rehhagel, are a pragmatic side and have been known to play as many
as five defenders if necessary in a game. But the German-born coach may
likely start with a 4-3-3 formation today and is expected to recall
centre-back, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, to the starting line-up after he left
the Liverpool defender out of the game against the Koreans.

Italy goalkeeper,
Gianluigi Buffon, could miss the rest of the World Cup with a back
problem after doctors said his recovery time was impossible to estimate
following further tests on Wednesday.

The 2006 World Cup
winner, still widely regarded as one of the best keepers in the world,
has a small herniated disc after suffering a sciatic nerve problem
before Monday’s 1-1 draw with Paraguay in Italy’s Group F opener. The
32-year-old is definitely out of Sunday’s game against New Zealand,
will almost certainly not play in the final group match with Slovakia
on June 24 and could miss much more.

“Certainly on Sunday he can’t be on the field,” Italy team doctor Enrico Castellacci told reporters.

“We have decided he
will stay with us and we will try everything for him to recover. When
talking about a herniated disc, even small, we can’t say how long it
will take.”

Filling the shoes

Injury-prone
Buffon, who has suffered a similar problem in the past, was substituted
at halftime on Monday having first indicated his discomfort in the
pre-match warm-up. Inexperienced keeper, Federico Marchetti, who
replaced Buffon on Monday, is now poised to start on Sunday in
Nelspruit for only his seventh cap. Marchetti was playing in Italy’s
second division just two years ago. Castellacci said Italy had already
asked FIFA for permission to give Buffon special medication to treat
the problem which although small can cause intense pain. Italy centre
back Giorgio Chiellini bemoaned the loss of Juventus team mate Buffon,
but was confident Marchetti was ready.

“It’s obvious how
much he’s worth to the team, and playing with him all season I know how
important the World Cup is to him,” he told reporters. “Marchetti did a
good job when he came on. He’s got a lot of quality and he won’t have
any problem replacing Gigi. Goalkeepers live in their own world, so I
think the best person to help him out is Gigi. The only thing I can
provide is tranquillity. He doesn’t need my advice.”

Midfielder, Andrea Pirlo, who missed the opener with a calf problem,
and will skip the New Zealand game as well, is on course to possibly be
available for the Slovakia clash. The rest of the squad trained
normally in warmer conditions after Tuesday’s biting cold.

Still brimming with
confidence after their impressive showing against former European
champions Greece at the weekend, Group B leaders, South Korea, are
ready to upset two time World Cup Champions Argentina when both teams
clash later today at the Ellis Park stadium, Johannesburg.

Both teams got off
to a winning start with the Koreans more convincing in their 2-0 win
over Greece, while Argentina were lucky to win against Nigeria.

The winner of this tie will be guaranteed a place in the round of 16 following last Saturday’s results.

Argentina have emerged victorious from both of their previous meetings with Korea Republic.

However, Korea
Republic will be encouraged by the solid performance of their
neighbours North Korea, who held mighty Brazil to a goalless draw in
the first half of their match on Tuesday before succumbing to a 2-1
defeat.

Old foes meet

The two coaches are
no strangers to each other having featured in their teams’ meeting at
Mexico 1986, where La Albiceleste ran out 3-1 winners. South Korean
coach Hun Jung-Moo had the unenviable job of man-marking Diego Maradona
that day – a thankless task for anybody in a tournament where today’s
Argentina coach inspired his country to their second FIFA World Cup
triumph.

Twenty-four years
on, they cross swords again with Huh hoping for a different outcome as
he bids to become the first indigenous coach to lead Korea Republic
into the last 16.

Argentina are 41
places higher in the FIFA/Coca Cola World Ranking but Korea Republic
have proved in the past they are more than capable of springing
surprises, a fact borne out when they beat Italy and Spain to storm
into the last four on home soil at the 2002 World Cup.

Their 2-0 victory
over Greece on Saturday should ensure confidence is high in the Korea
Republic camp although they do not have the same wealth of talent in
their fold like the Argentines who have the likes of Lionel Messi,
Diego Milito, Javier Mascherano and Juan Sebastian Veron amongst many
others.