Nigeria Content Online

If any dope cheats
or tokers are among the footballers taking part in the World Cup, they
will have to get past Dr. Pieter van der Merwe and his team at the
South African Doping Control Laboratory.

The facility at the
University of Bloemfontein’s Department of Pharmacology will analyse
urine samples taken from players after each of the tournament’s 64
games.

“We are the only
one in South Africa doing this work and so we were asked by FIFA to do
it for the World Cup,” van der Merwe told Reuters during a visit to the
lab.

The World Cup’s
most infamous doping scandal was in 1994, when Argentina’s Diego
Maradona was sent home from the United States after failing a test for
ephedrine doping.

Maradona, who is in
South Africa this time round as Argentina’s manager, has claimed that
the negative result was due to a power drink.

Scotland’s Willie
Johnston also took an early flight home from Argentina in 1978 after he
was found to have taken a banned stimulant. He also said it was
inadvertently taken.

“Negative results would be nice. The chances that we’ll have a positive are slight. We’ll just have to see,” van der Merwe said.

FIFA regulations
demand that two players from each side give a urine sample, and if
requested, a blood sample, after every game. It can also carry out spot
checks.

The samples will be
delivered to the lab in this city on the plains of central South Africa
by road. FIFA wants to get the results back within 24 hours.

“It’s going to be hard. We’ll be working right through to get the results,” van der Merwe said.

Clean sheets

He has a team of eight assistants, who will work off the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) list of banned substances.

The samples are first taken to a preparation room, then passed through an array of machines for computer analysis.

According to FIFA,
anabolic steroids are not a big problem in world soccer, showing up in
only 0.3 per cent of tests. Use of recreational drugs such as cocaine
and marijuana show up more frequently. But of 33,000 tests done by FIFA
in 2008, only 75 led to sanctions, FIFA said in a statement.

The test results
during the World Cup will be highly secret. It will be up to FIFA, not
the laboratory, to announce any problems, van der Merwe said.

The South African
scientist has a lot of experience in such work for big sporting events.
His laboratory handled the doping tests for the 1995 Rugby World Cup,
which was famously won by South Africa who were also hosts then.

It also worked on the soccer Confederations Cup held in the country last year, when the tested players all had clean sheets.

“That was a nice
trial run working with FIFA, he said.” It’s a big honour for the
university, and we’re looking forward to be part of the World Cup.

“I like sport in general — but I’m more a rugby fan,” he added.

With one match
already played at the ongoing World Cup, the Super Eagles know that
Thursday’s match against Greece is one they need to win to remain on
course to realise the semi-final target handed to their coach, Lars
Lagerback, by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

Nigeria and Greece
are meeting for the second time at the World Cup. Their first clash
came sixteen years ago in Boston during the 1994 World Cup in the USA.
Nigeria ran away 2-0 winners courtesy of goals from Finidi George and
Daniel Amokachi.

That was almost two
decades ago. Today’s Eagles lack the talent and daring of the 1994
squad. Unlike their 1994 counterparts, who went into that year’s
tournament on a high after their triumph at the Africa Cup of Nations
in Tunisia, the present Eagles almost did not make it to the
tournament. They have Tunisia, which slipped up at the last minute, to
thank for their presence in South Africa.

That said, the
present Eagles are not lacking in firepower. Upfront, they have enough
arsenal to cause any defence sleepless nights. In Obafemi Martins and
Yakubu Aiyegbeni, they have two strikers who, under the right
conditions, can wreck a team. Indeed, the Eagles’ qualification for
this mundial was sealed courtesy of Martins’ brace against Kenya at the
Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi.

In South Africa,
the Eagles have a point to prove. Their last outing at the World Cup
was eight years ago at the Korea/Japan edition where they failed to
qualify for the second round. This time round, their aim is to better
that record; and having being handed a semi-final target by the NFF,
they know that to have a chance of achieving that target.

The present Greece
squad like Nigeria’s, lack the robustness of their 2004 squad. Again,
like the Super Eagles, their qualification came at the last minute. The
team, coached by Otto Rehhagel, nicked qualification after a
hard-fought battle in Donetsk where they beat hosts Ukraine 1-0.

Cracking a hard nut

The team under
Rehhagel’s tutelage has become noted for their stinginess at the back.
A compact defensive unit, they can frustrate even the most attacking
side like they did at Euro 2004. What this means that Super Eagles
attackers may have their work clearly cut out. That said, it must be
noted that, with the improvements witnessed under Lagerback, the Eagles
may not allow themselves to be fazed by the Greeks’ resolute defending.

But it is not only
the defence of the Greeks that the Eagles should be worried about. In
Theofanis Gekas, they have a lethal weapon. The striker, who notched up
ten goals during the teams qualifying campaigns for the World Cup, may
be the Eagles undoing if not properly monitored.

Eagles coach,
Lagerback will have to instruct his defenders to pay close attention to
the diminutive forward if his World Cup plans are not to thrown into
disarray.

Every footballer
aspires to feature at the World Cup. For these footballers, it is the
zenith of their respective careers regardless of how successful or
otherwise it is, after all, there are numerous examples of great
players who never got the chance to strut their stuff on football’s
biggest stage.

So it is so
disappointing when after giving their best in ensuring that their
country’s flag gets to be hoisted at the World Cup, these players end
up not going to the tournament for one reason or another, ranging from
a dip in form, change in coaching personnel resulting in the player in
question not found suitable by the team’s new handler, or in the worst
case scenario, as a result of an injury.

Such was the case
of players like England’s David Beckham, the Three Lions’ most capped
outfield player who ruptured his Achilles tendon playing for his loan
club AC Milan in March, as well as Nigeria’s Ikechukwu Uche, who
suffered a ligament injury that kept him out for six months before
staging a return a few weeks to the end of the season by which time it
was already too late to impress new Super Eagles handler, Lars
Lagerback, of his readiness to feature in South Africa.

For some players
however, their injury status isn’t enough to rule them out of the
tournament but will they recover on time to make some sort of
contribution to their side’s World Cup aspirations?

Bounced from the party

Michael Ballack:

The influential
German captain would have been making his third World Cup appearance
but for the unfortunate ankle injury he picked up while playing for his
erstwhile club Chelsea in last month’s FA Cup final win over
Portsmouth. And with age no longer on his side, the last may have been
seen of the German midfield general on the international stage.

Nani:

The Portuguese
winger was ruled out of the tournament on as recently as last Tuesday,
after hurting his collarbone while attempting to do the spectacular in
training in Lisbon. His disappointment was, however, a blessing for
Benfica’s Ruben Amorim who subsequently took the place of the
Manchester United star in Portugal’s World Cup squad.

Rio Ferdinand:

The England
captain’s dream of becoming the first Englishman since Bobby Moore to
lead the Three Lions to World Cup glory was brought to an abrupt end
right there in South Africa after an innocuous challenge from teammate
Emile Heskey in his country’s first major training session penultimate
Friday resulted in a knee injury for the Manchester United star whose
place was subsequently taken by Tottenham’s Michael Dawson, and who
doesn’t look likely to ever get to feature at another World Cup
tournament.

John Obi Mikel:

So much was
expected of Mikel at the World Cup but his inability to recover fully
from an injury he picked up quite a while ago on club duty for Chelsea
means he will have to wait another four years before gracing the World
Cup. But he’s young and can look forward to enjoying a holiday that
will most likely see him having anxious moments in front of his TV set
wondering how things would have gone for the Super Eagles had he not
voluntarily withdrawn himself from the squad.

Michael Essien:

Another Chelsea
player who will be missing at the World Cup is Essien whose absence is
sure to leave a huge vacuum in the Black Stars who are seeking to
emulate their performance from four years ago when they made it to the
second round of the tournament before losing to Brazil. The workaholic
midfielder picked up a knee injury at the African Nations Cup in
January and has failed to recover in time.

Lassana Diarra:

South Africa 2010
was going to be Diarra’s opportunity to confirm his credentials as one
of France’s best players but he won’t be featuring at the World Cup
after being told he needed a prolonged rest, no thanks to intestinal
problems which began while scaling a glacier with his teammates during
France’s week-long training camp in the French Alps last month.

Miroslav Karhan:

Karhan is
Slovakia’s most capped player but a hamstring injury meant he won’t be
playing any part in his country’s debut World Cup appearance in South
Africa.

Gate crashers

Arjen Robben:

Robben sustained a
thigh injury in last Saturday’s 6-1 drubbing of Hungary in Amsterdam
and looked set to miss the World Cup until news emerged that he will be
okay for the tournament but not in time for tomorrow’s opener against
Denmark. Looks set to miss his team’s opening World Cup match against
Denmark due to a hamstring injury.

Didier Drogba:

The next World Cup
in Brazil is too far off for Drogba so he planned on making South
Africa 2010 a memorable tournament for himself and his nation.

Fans of the
Elephants must have thought they will be prosecuting the tournament
without their talismanic captain after he broke a bone in his forearm,
but the fearsome striker underwent a successful surgery and may only
get to miss Cote d’Ivoire’s opening game against Portugal.

Fernando Torres:

The Spanish striker
missed a considerable amount of last season’s campaign as a result of
injuries and underwent a knee operation in April which appeared to put
his participation at the World Cup in doubt. But the Liverpool striker
came on as a substitute in Spain’s recent 6-0 thrashing of Poland in
Murcia and looks set to play a key role, as the Spaniards seek to
finally secure a first ever World Cup title.

Andrea Pirlo:

The influential
midfielder was initially expected to miss the entire tournament after
hurting his calf in penultimate Thursday’s 2-1 defeat at the hands of
Mexico. But the latest news is that he will only get to miss Italy’s
opening game against Paraguay and should be available for the defending
champions’ remaining fixtures.

Harry Kewell:

Kewell has hardly
played since December because of a troublesome groin injury but the
injury-prone winger has been training with the rest of the Australian
team in South Africa and, barring any unforeseen injury, should play a
key part in Australia’s quest to go one better than the second round
appearance they achieved four years ago in Germany.

Germany will today
commence their quest for a first world title in 20 years with a game
against Australia in Durban in an encounter the European side are
expected win.

Not that the
Australians are football paperweights; far from that. But after a
respectable showing at the last World Cup, the football world probably
knows everything the Socceroos are capable of.

“I think we
surprised a lot of teams at the last World Cup. Obviously it’s
difficult a second time around,” recalled Harry Kewell who was one of
the stars of the Aussie team in Germany four years ago when they made
it to the second round before losing to eventual champion Italy 1-0
after a disputed injury-time penalty.

Now, opponents are
“a lot more wary of the players we have, everyone knows the players
individually,” the 31-year-old forward said before adding, “I’m quite
sure now a lot more teams have focused on what we’re capable of doing,
and, yeah, it’s going to be very difficult for us.” It sure looks set
to be a difficult game for the Australians especially if the likes of
Lukas Podolski and Marko Marin have a good day. Both players are
expected to operate from the wings in coach Joachim Low’s favoured
4-2-3-1 formation with Podolski on the left wing and either Marin or
Mesut Oezil on the right.

Klose or Cacau

Although it remains
uncertain whether Low will stick to Miroslav Klose, the top-scorer at
the last World Cup, as his point man, or the Brazilian born Cacau. Just
like the point man, the wingers are also expected to play a key role in
the German team..

“I think the play from the wings will be dead important, that is our game,” said Marin.

“The Australians
will be playing deep and it will be important to ‘tear them apart’, so
to speak, by putting balls in from the wing.

“It is no problem having a lone striker up front, we just have to make sure he is well fed with possession.”

After twenty four years in the doldrums, the Desert Foxes return to the World Cup taking on Slovenia in today’s opening fixture.

This will be the
first international game between the countries. A must win for both
sides, the Algerian coach, Rabah Saadane, says he will bench the side’s
captain Yazid Mansouri for the team’s World Cup opener because his form
is not good enough.

Injury troubles
have certainly wobbled the Algerian camp and a poor run of recent form,
including a harsh 3-0 loss to an average Republic of Ireland and a
slender 1-0 victory over the United Arab Emirates, does not bode well
for a side that many view as Group C’s whipping boys and term as only
making up the numbers.

Algeria and
Slovenia made their way to the World Cup via play-offs; while Algeria
edged out bitter neighbours Egypt to secure a place, Slovenia made it
to South Africa eliminating the highly tactical Russians at the
playoffs.

Both teams are not willing to stop there as they hope to make impact at the World Cup by at least moving into the next round.

Wolfsburg
midfielder Karim Ziani is arguably the most gifted player available in
the Algerian team and has plenty to prove after a poor domestic season
following his big money move from Marseille.

Slovenia would be
counting on Milivoje Novakovicto help do the damage. Novakovic has
already set a target of reaching the second round for himself and
believes his team can start out well against Algeria Defensively, the
Slovenians has proved they could be very solid, conceding only 4 goals
in 10 games counting including the playoffs games.

For opposite part,
the Algerians have shown their limits at the back-line slumming to
heavy defeats against Serbia (0-3) against Egypt (0-4) amongst many
others.

Ask the average
football fan who they feel will win the World Cup and the answer you’ll
most likely get, other than their country of origin which is normal for
those with a great dose of patriotism coursing through their veins,
will be Spain or Brazil.

A lot of neutrals
will even go for England and their army of Premier League stars, as
well as Argentina, affably led by the mercurial Lionel Messi. Some
would even go as far as staking some money on Raymond Domenech and his
under-performing French team.

But it should come
as no surprise to most observers that the above mentioned teams are
most people’s favourites for the title in South Africa, as they
undoubtedly possess the best collection of players in the tournament.
Not only are they the best, they are also the ones with the greatest
market value; the top earners in the game.

Monetary value

If the monetary
value of the players taking part in the World Cup is the only criterion
for deciding who will end up claiming the trophy on July 11, then
European champions Spain should be carting home their first ever World
Cup title as the combined value of the players they have on parade in
South Africa, led by Barcelona’s Xavi Hernandez, is just over half a
billion Euro, which is much more than the value of the Brazilian team,
who will have to be content with second place.

France, with a
combined value of 450 million Euros will settle for third spot, with
England a very close fourth, while current world champions Italy are in
the fifth position. The figures which took into consideration the
appreciation and depreciation in players’ values, as well as their
salaries and other incomes, placed both the Super Eagles and Ghana’s
Black Stars in the 14th spot with a value of 115 million Euros each,
one spot beneath Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions who are the second
highest ranked African side behind the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire who
are just outside the top ten with a value of 180million Euros.

Algeria are ranked
a distant 24th while South Africa are only ahead of New Zealand and
North Korea have to be content with the bottom two positions of the 32
teams at the World Cup.

Capello is don The
South African coach Carlos Alberto Parreira is however the ninth
highest paid coach in the tournament with an estimated annual income of
1.2 million Euros which is a whole lot better than 170,000 Euros his
North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-Hun earns. It’s a figure that’s even
better than those of Argentina’s Diego Maradona and his compatriot
Carlos Dunga who are both on an annual salary of 800,000 Euros.

But Parreira’s
earnings, which is joint ninth with those of his contemporaries from
Australia, Cote d’Ivoire and Mexico, becomes small fries when compared
to those of England’s Fabio Capello who pockets a cool 8.8 million
Euros per annum.

Italy’s Marcelo
Lippi is a distant second behind his countryman Capello followed by
Germany’s Joachim Low and Super Eagles’ Lars Lagerback but the figures
are only based on the gross annual salary of each coach, excluding
bonuses or endorsement deals which, if had been taken into
consideration, would have seen France’s Domenech placed significantly
higher than the 20th position he occupies as he receives a bonus of
30,000 Euros per win and 15,000 Euros for a draw and also received a
prize of 1.1 million Euros following his side’s qualification for the
World Cup.

While winning the
World Cup trophy is the desire of all the 32 countries on parade at
football’s greatest showpiece taking place in South Africa, some
strikers at the tournament hope to add more feathers to their caps by
taking home the adidas Golden Shoe award, reserved for players that
bang in the highest number of goals.

The favourites to
win the tournament include the usual suspects: Brazil, Argentina,
Netherlands and Spain but pundits are yet to agree on who will take the
biggest individual honour home.

A list of contenders shows that the battle for the Golden Shoe in South Africa is too close to call.

Miroslav Klose

The German striker
is worthy of mention even though he scored only three league goals for
Bayern Munich last season and has looked out of form in most of
Germany’s World Cup warm-up matches in recent months. At the last
edition of the World Cup on home soil, he won the accolade with five
goals to his credit even though his country only reached the
semi-finals.

Klose also scored
five goals in his debut World Cup in Korea/Japan 2002 giving him a
total of ten goals in World Cup finals and making him the only player
to have scored five or more goals in consecutive World Cups.

He has scored 48 goals in 96 appearances for the Germans, and in South Africa he is sure to add to that total.

Wayne Rooney

The Manchester
United striker was the toast of many football fans last season scoring
26 Premier League goals before cupping a groin injury.

He would making his second World Cup appearance this year after entering the 2006 edition not fully fit.

If any of Fabio
Capello’s men can emulate Mexico 86 adidas Golden Shoe winner Gary
Lineker it looks more likely to be the Manchester United forward.

He currently has 25
goals in 60 games for the Three Lions and should add several goals to
his total depending upon how far his team can go in the tournament.

Cristiano Ronaldo

The Portuguese
Points-man is the world’s most expensive player and in normal
circumstances the odds of being a top scorer would be high.

However a dip in
form for the national team in which he failed to score a single goal
en-route qualification for the World Cup finals is worrisome.

Ronaldo is a player many do not like, but everyone has to respect his abundant talent and display on the pitch.

However a tough
group containing Brazil and Ivory Coast could send him home early. It
is unlikely he will score many against these sides but there is the
possibility of hitting several against North Korea.

Luis Fabiano

He will likely be
Brazil’s main candidate to finish top of the goal scoring charts having
hit five goals in five games in the team’s FIFA Confederation’s Cup
victory last year.

Fabiano has scored
25 goals in just 36 national team appearances for the Brazilians. The
only thing that might prevent him from taking home the Golden Boot are
his Brazilian teammates who include several other top goal scorers like
Robinho, Kaka and the likes. There might not be enough ball to go
around for a stacked Brazilian squad.

Lionel Messi

Argentina perhaps
has the most potent attack on paper at this edition of the World Cup
with players like Carlos Tevez, Gonzalo Higuain – who outscored
teammate Ronaldo – and Sergei Aguero all in its fold.

However many tip
the Barcelona whiz kid; Messi to emerge as tournament highest goal
scorer if only he can replicate his awesome goal scoring prowess in
Barcelona at the national team. He has 85 goals in 2 seasons at
Barcelona; however his 13 goals in 44 appearances for Argentina does
not inspire so much confidence.

Nevertheless he is
still unstoppable and could tear defences apart making Argentina to
rule the world with a third World Cup win. If he does achieve the feat,
he would be following the footsteps of Argentina’s previous winners;
Mario Kempes – six goals for 1978’s champions and Guillermo Stabile –
eight in the inaugural event in 1930.

David Villa

With Fernado Tores
not 100% fit going into the World Cup, Villa might be entrusted with
the goal scoring duties for Spain who many regard as strong favourites
to win the World Cup.

The 28-year-old
Spaniard made his mark at Euro 2008 when he scored four goals in four
games, propelling his team to the win. He’s the country’s second
highest goal scorer with 36 goals, just eight behind Raul.

His 21 La Liga
goals for Valencia last season earned him a dream move to Barcelona.
With a robust midfield sure to supply the need passes the Barcelona new
signing can sure dream of carting away not just the World Cup trophy
but also the Golden Boots award if Spain indeed goes far in 2010 as
expected.

Didier Drogba

After initially
sustaining an injury which seemed that would knock him out of the first
World Cup on Africa soil; Drogba is set to make his second successive
World Cup appearance.

Emerging as the top
scorer in the English Premiership last season is no mean feat as Drogba
over time have proved to be crucial to both club and country; scoring
vital goals for both.

He is an exciting
player who is a constant threat to score for Cote d’Ivoire side that
some say they have a good chance to advancing out of group play. He has
scored 43 goals in just 66 games for his national team-an amazing
total. If his team advances deep into the tournament, he might very
well take home the golden boot.

Samuel Eto’o

Though Eto’o has
only managed one goal in two World Cup finals, he is quite capable of
mixing it with the best if Cameroon gives him adequate service.

Inter Milan forward
Samuel Eto’o is the best player on the Cameroon team; winning the
African footballer of the year award a record three successive times.
Eto’o has proved himself on the continent in several ways and he is
currently the all time highest goal scorer in the Africa Nations Cup.

He has scored 44 goals in 94 games for the Indomitable Lions and will surely add to those accomplishments in South Africa.

Yakubu Aiyegbeni

A surprise inclusion no doubt, Aiyegbeni is the current Super Eagles leading scorer with over twenty goals to his credit.

The Everton striker
has already made known his intention to make history at the World Cup
as the first African to win the Golden Boot award when he recently
spoke with his club TV (Everton TV). A tall dream no doubt, his current
rankings as one of top scorers in the English Premiership might count
as hostilities continue in the World Cup.

Although the top
scorer is most likely to come for a side that makes it at least to the
quarter finals of the World Cup, odd things can happen.

Russian striker,
Oleg Salenko scored five goals in one match against Cameroon in USA
1994 and was joint top scorer despite his side Russia bowing out in the
first round.

The above are just
some of the contenders, there are of course many more that could throw
in one or two surprises to emerge as the tournament’s goal king.

If you an African,
then you have to be proud of what Danny Jordaan and his team have done.
Eight years of painstaking work, of toil and slaving, finally came to
an end two days ago when the First World Cup on African soil kicked off.

It was a great
moment for me seeing the tournament finally begin, despite the cynicism
of a rabidly anti-South African Western media, which waged an
unremitting war against the organisers through skewed publications,
which tended to infer that South Africa could not guarantee the
security of participants as well as visitors to the tournament.

I must commend FIFA
for remaining committed to the project; for resisting subtle and overt
blackmail of Western media. The faith reposed in not only Jordaan and
his team but also in the ability of the South African nation to rise to
the challenge of hosting such a global event, has been repaid. It is
early days yet in the tournament but no one can fail to applaud the
organisation that went into the opening ceremony.

Few opening
ceremonies at previous tournaments can match up to it in terms of
colour and panache. Besides the ceremony, the opening game of the
tournament gave off a whiff of the quality of football to expect at the
tournament. The young South African players and an equally youthful
Mexican side certainly gave football fans that thronged the Soccer City
Stadium much to cheer.

As is often said,
the die is cast and there is no going back for the hosts. In the coming
days, there are going to be challenges to be faced.

The doubters in the
West, whose noses have been rubbed in the dirt by the near flawless
take off of the tournament, will be scouring the different match venues
in search of tales that would reinforce their belief that South Africa
does not have the capacity to ‘swing’ it.

Given the magnitude
of the tournament and the sheer volume of individuals that have arrived
South Africa, there are bound to be developments that may appear
unsavoury but they should not detract from the quality of the
tournament. After all, the bombing at the Centennial Park during the
1996 Atlanta Olympic Games did not dampen the spirits of participants
and spectators alike. The event went on in full swing. Even in the more
extreme case of the Munich 1972 Olympics where terrorists kidnapped and
later killed 11 Israeli athletes, international outcry at the dastardly
act did not lead to the cancellation of the games even when some
countries pulled out.

Weighing in for Nigeria

One of the amazing
things about this tournament is the level of mobilisation of South
Africans by the Jordaan committee. Before the opening day of the
tournament, the fever around Johannesburg and other key cities in the
country was contagious. In every city, people spilled out onto the
streets in the yellow and green colours of the Bafana Bafana, their
national team. It was as pleasing to the eye as it was thought
provoking.

Here in Nigeria,
support for our own Super Eagles has not been as solid as would have
been be expected. In place of patriotic fervour has been mounting
cynicism. A good many Nigerians simply do not believe the Eagles have
it in them to excel at the tournament. While they cannot be blamed
given the team’s recent history, it still does not prevent them from
wishing the team well. Football is played over 90 minutes and sometimes
it does not just come down to talent for a team to win. Sheer grit and
tactical ingenuity on the part of a coach have on occasion propelled
nondescript teams to achieve great things. Greece did it at the 2004
European Championship where they whipped the continent’s top teams to
become champions. Two years before that feat, Korea stunned the world
with an excellent run at the 2002 World Cup, which took them to the
semi-final of the tournament.

Our Eagles may not
have had the best of preparations, no thanks to an incompetent football
federation, which frittered away valuable time and thus left the squad
with little time to play quality friendly matches, still, we have the
players that can turn a game round.

All said, even if
they do not fire on all cylinders in South Africa, they are our flesh
and blood and so we must line up behind them. Let us learn from the
South Africans.

Organisers expect
up to 450 000 foreign fans in South Africa for the month-long
tournament which started on June 11, while tens of thousands of local
supporters are expected to watch games at fan parks across the country.

Blessed with good
looks and a sweet humble personality, Lolade Adewuyi, 29, a journalist
with TELL magazine, is Nigeria’s representative at the BUD HOUSE, a
reality show that is celebrating the spirit of the World Cup in South
Africa this year. The organizers, Budweiser, have selected a candidate
from each of the 32 countries participating in the tournament to fly
the flag of their countries during the tournament in a production that
is being screened online at the website.

Adewuyi, Nigeria’s
representative, will spend one month on the show alongside other
representatives, talking about the impact of the World Cup and also
touring the beautiful country of South Africa. They will be meeting
with the football stars, attending matches, as well as participating in
interesting events that will showcase their countries’ beautiful
cultures to the world.

At the start of the
tournament, the 16 female and 16 male participants will sleep in rooms
based on the World Cup group phase pools. The two fans of the finalists
will get tickets for the match.

Feeling honoured

Going into the
house as Nigeria’s representative, Adewuyi said he sees it as an
opportunity to show a positive part of the country.

“I feel so honoured
to represent my country in an international production of this nature,”
he said. “It is not every day that one gets an opportunity to represent
150 million people and I want to use it in my own way to show that
Nigerians are among the most intelligent people in the world and as
much as possible we should be respected for our positives rather than
the negatives.” Adewuyi was born in Argungu, present day Kebbi State on
August 17, 1980.

He studied at Aquinas College, Akure, Ondo State as well as at the Obafemi Awolowo University,

Ile Ife, where he
obtained a degree in English Studies. An avid follower of sports,
Adewuyi began his journalism career as a freelance writer for the Arts
desk of one of Nigeria’s daily newspapers. He then moved to OVATION
magazine as a correspondent, where Dele Momodu took him under his wings
as a budding writer. He moved with the magazine to its Ghana office
where he soon became Assistant Editor of the STAR weekly newspaper, a
sister publication.

In Ghana, his
writings were featured in such highly respected papers like the
nationally circulating Daily Graphic, SHOWBIZ and Business Week. In
2008, he moved back home to join TELL magazine as Country
Correspondent, Ghana.

In this position he
has covered the Ghanaian and Togolese elections, as well as many other
top international events. He also wrote in-depth about Ghana’s striking
of oil and the various measures it is taking to ensure a successful use
of its revenue. He has travelled the length and breadth of West Africa,
writing and attending trainings, in the last year.

For his brilliant
performance on the international scene, Adewuyi was promoted to
Assistant Editor by the bosses at TELL in September 2009, after
returning from a Reuters Foundation training in Egypt. This made him
one of the youngest members of the TELL Editorial Board where he has
consistently proved his mettle.

He is an avid
blogger, photographer and reader. His photographs have been used by USA
Today, BBC Focus on Africa Magazine and Ghanabusinessnews.com.

He is a member of
the Twenty Ten, a multidisciplinary project to strengthen African
journalism. He is also an alumnus of the AFP Foundation. In the last
six months, he has contributed to popular football website, Goal.com,
as expert on Nigerian football.

South Korea and Greece are in the World Cup as dark horses.
However, both teams have enjoyed fairy tale runs in big tournaments with the
South Koreans, posting an impressive performance in the 2002 World Cup, getting
as far as the semi-final, and Greece seemingly coming from nowhere to win Euro
2004.

These two teams will tomorrow clash at The Nelson Mandela Bay
Stadium, in one of tomorrow’s games in Group B, and will be aiming to convince
the world that they are not one-tournament wonders.

Group B is regarded as one of the toughest groups to call due to
the diversity of the teams; all with their own merits, hence pundits believe
this match needs to be keenly watched.

Height versus pace

Greece will look to use their height advantage and set-piece
superiority when they take to the field tomorrow, while the Koreans will rely
more on their pace.

Playing a crunch match in a tough group that also includes a
Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina and the Super Eagles of Nigeria, the Greeks and
Koreans know that nothing less than a win will do if they are to achieve their
goal of qualifying for the knock-out phase of the June 11-July 11 tournament.

“Obviously our advantages are our height, free-kicks and
corners,” said Greece midfielder, Alexandros Tziolis.

“We must take advantage of that,” he said, adding: “South Korea
are very fast, they press a lot, and are a good tactical side.”

But Tziolis said that neither Greece nor the South Koreans held
a real advantage going into the crunch tie.

“No team has the advantage as such. It’s the opening game for
both sides and the South Koreans have the same goals as us – to win.”

Greece qualified for the tournament via the playoffs, beating
the Ukraine to secure their place in South Africa, whereas South Korea, who are
quickly becoming an established World Cup fixture with seven previous
appearances, eased through their qualification campaign, though admittedly the
Asian qualification route was somewhat less demanding than European opposition
Greece faced.

Head to head

No previous meeting between both teams at senior level

Previous Appearances at the World Cup South Korea: 7 Greece: 1