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The magical trimming of the Super Eagles squad has been done and
the provisional squad list for the upcoming FIFA World Cup is finally out.

Forty four players had earlier been pencilled down by Super
Eagles handler Lars Lagerback from which he planned to select his team for
South Africa 2010. But weeks after unveiling that initial list, the Nigeria
Football Federation (NFF) have been unable to arrange a friendly match for the
Super Eagles to make the job of selecting the final squad for the World Cup
much easier for the Swede.

The shortcomings on the part of the NFF hasn’t however deterred
Lagerback from carrying on with the job of preparing the Super Eagles for the
World Cup, as his provisional list for the tournament was made public last
night, which was also the deadline for participating countries to submit their
provisional squad list for the tourney which gets underway on June 11.

No surprises

However, there were a few surprises. The only major surprise was
the exclusion of Seyi Olofinjana, who has been a regular fixture in the
national team for over eight years. He was not included in the list probably
due to his inability to secure a first team shirt at relegated English Premier
League side Hull City, particularly in the second half of the season. The
former Stoke City mid fielder made only 19 appearances in all competitions for
the Tigers.

However, Danny Shittu, who didn’t get to make a single
appearance all through the season for another English Premier League side,
Bolton Wanderers, and Elderson Echiejile, who only made a single appearance for
French side, Rennes, were named in the provisional squad list along with Rabiu
Afolabi who is staging a return to the Super Eagles on the back of an
impressive season with Austrian club side SV Salzburg.

Dele Adeleye, who was dropped from the team to the last African
Cup of Nations in Angola, was also included along with Portsmouth’s John Utaka
who will be fighting for a World Cup shirt along with his younger brother Peter
who has found the back of the net 28 times this season for Danish side OB
Odense.

Olubayo Adefemi, whose season with relegated French Ligue 1 side
was hampered by injuries was dropped from the list, as well as Groningen of
Holland’s Femi Ajilore, and Club Brugge of Belgium’s Joseph Akpala, who grabbed
10 goals in 42 appearances for the former Belgian champions.

Usual suspects

Most of the Nigerian-based players in the initial 44-man list
were also dropped except for Terna Suswan of Lobi Stars and Bayelsa United’s
Bassey Akpan, a goalkeeper who will now fight for the three available goal
keeping slots with ‘usual suspects’ Vincent Enyeama, Dele Aiyenugba and Austin
Ejide.

Ikechukwu Uche, and his elder brother Kalu, were included in the provisional
list as well as the France based duo of Haruna Lukman, who has had a
breakthrough season with Monaco, and former Flying Eagles star Brown Ideye of
Sochaux.

There is a general
belief among football pundits that the team that will triumph at this
year’s World Cup in South Africa may be the team welded by a collective
spirit.

Together a team bound by a collective team ethics often achieves more than a team, which is just a collection of stars.

In Nigeria’s case,
fortunately or unfortunately, this depends on how you look at the
situation – our Eagles are far from being a collection of stars, maybe
a bare sprinkling of some galaxy dust.

However, the key to
a successful outing at the Mundial rests on the outcome of its opening
match against Argentina on June 12. The match is one that is giving
Nigerian football fans the chills. The spectre of having the little
genius, Lionel Mess, Carlos Tevez and Sergei Aguerro unleashed on the
Eagles defence is one football faithful in the country dread. For many,
here in Nigeria, the South Americans are as good as victorious.

But Garba Lawal
thinks that may not be the case. Lawal, was a former Super Eagles
player and scorer of a World Cup goal against Spain at France ‘98. The
Eagles recovered in that match to beat the Spaniards 3-2. He was also a
part of the team that won that historic Olympic Gold medal at the
Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games.

While he cannot say
that Nigeria will win the World Cup, he is also sure that the team will
not be disgraced – you can choose to read in between the lines. Lawal
said: “Everybody is talking about Argentina as if they are the only
team we are going to play against in South Africa. If the Eagles
prepare well and present a good team against Maradona’s men, then they
stand a chance of getting a positive result from that opening match.”
“Anything is possible in football. Nigeria beat Brazil in the semi
final of the Atlanta 1996 Olympics; that was unexpected but it
happened.” That reinforces the fact that Lars Lagerback must foist a
siege-like mentality in the team and place them in a space where they
will play out of their skin. The first match against World Cup
favourites, Argentina is very important. The Eagles must do all they
can not to lose this match. In a three-game group, losing the first
match might just mean crashing out of the tournament. In the two
editions that the Eagles have gone on to the second round, we won our
first matches.

In 1994, against
all odds, the Eagles beat Bulgaria complete with Hristo Stoichkov 3-0,
and in 1998, Nigeria beat European heavyweights, Spain 3-2. In 2002,
where we failed to qualify for the second round, Argentina beat the
Eagles 1-0 courtesy of a goal from Gabriel Batistuta. We have to
qualify at least for the second round to justify the huge $1.5million
paid to Lagerback for a contract that will end after the World Cup.

‘Chindo’ – as Lawal
was fondly referred to by admirers during his playing days- recalled
the unexpected defeat that Inter Milan handed to favourites, Barcelona
in the Champions League and used it as an analogy of the Nigeria versus
Argentina match.

The only way forward

Lawal believes so
much on the unpredictability of football. “Anything can happen on match
day. In the present collection of players that make up the ‘Super’
Eagles, the most potent weapon that we have is explosive pace and
unpredictability.” That is saying something for how Lagerback should
prepare his team. Football is an instinctive game and can be taught
(not the skills needed) by simulation of procedure and make-up. So
players can be taught to press opponents, how to push skilful players
away from danger zones and how to be tactically arranged at set plays.
This has always been a weakness of all our national teams.

Set plays

This is one
important area where Nigeria is sorely deficient. The Eagles are not
particularly fond of getting results from free kicks, corner kicks and
even penalty kicks. Equally worse is our ability to defend from these
set pieces. On occasion the Eagles have been particularly vulnerable.
Against Argentina at the Korea/Japan 2002 World Cup, the goal that gave
the South Americans victory over Nigeria came off a corner kick. The
Argentines had repeatedly tried the same experiment until it paid off.

Lawal says good
coaching could solve that problem. “Only 11 intelligent and obedient
players can get the desired result in South Africa, starting with the
first game against Argentina on June 12.” The implication of Lawal’s
statement is that Lagerback should ensure that he has a set of ‘robots’
ready to carry out his instructions and plans to the letter.

In the defence against Argentina

Given the array of
attacking options the Argentines have, the intelligence Lawal referred
to has to be in good supply in the Eagles defence.

“While I am not
trying to prejudge the mind of the coach, there are some players that
apparently show that they are not intelligent. The best defenders in
the world are the ones who are always well positioned, read the play
very well and can dispossess the attacker without committing fouls,”
Lawal continued”.

Joseph Yobo, on
his good day, is a dependable defender, blessed with physical presence,
speed and aerial ability. The only problem -and this will be a big
challenge for Lagerback -is the fact that he regularly loses
concentration, which makes him, take up positions that put him on the
back foot against very nimble strikers. Put Yobo up against the likes
of Adriano, Carlton Cole and other big men and he would look awesome
but against attackers like Tevez, Owen and Rooney, he has been found
wanting on many occasions.

Argentina has these
small nimble strikers in abundance. If he plays in the opening game he
will come up against Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguerro and
Gonzalo Higuain, who is not the biggest of strikers. The advice to the
team is Joseph Yobo should not be found dead making these players,
which must be the job of one of the two sitting mid-fielders. He can be
played as the libero, bringing the ball out of defence.

Apam Onyekachi is
believed to have better marking skills and is faster, and like he
showed in Beijing in 2008, he will not be fazed by the fact of facing
the classy Argentines.

Pressing mid-fielders

Here is certainly
the crux of the matter and the stature and deployment of personnel will
be key to slowing down the pacy Argentines. While Lawal likes the
hassling spirit of Sani Kaita, he has come to realise the need for the
physical bulk and experience of Dickson Etuhu of Fulham. Lawal said of
Etuhu:

“Watching the
1.90metres, 82kg hulking player in Fulham’s Europa Cup adventure to the
finals, the Nigerian player has shown that though he is not a box to
box mid-fielder, he is very tactically efficient. What he does may look
simple, guarding the defence and being the first line of attack -we
need all the tactically efficient players that we can find – just like
Inter Milan did to Barcelona.” In the UEFA Champions League, Thiago
Motta and Esteban Cambiasso were ingenious in denying space to Xavi
Hernandez and Lionel Messi. If Nigeria can do the same to Argentina,
then we could be singing for an unlikely win. Etuhu should be
complemented by another giant – Mikel Obi. Obi has more attacking flair
than the Fulham man so he can play in front of him. This is
presupposing that the Eagles play with two holding midfielders.

Sharp forwards

Samuel Eto’o, Diego
Milito and Goran Pandev always drove at the Barcelona defence in their
first leg match and the running and harassing of that defence led to
three goals. Every opportunity to score must be maximised for the
Eagles. We may not get too many chances against the Argentines but we
must convert the ones we get.

Lawal believes that
if the Eagles maximise most of the chances that comes their way,
Nigeria may just surprise the South Americans.

“Ik Uche, Chinedu
Obasi, Obafemi Martins and Osaze Odemwingie are blessed with pace,
trickery, intelligence and shot taking. These four must find a way to
synchronise their movements to always be positive. They must commit
their markers in driving for goal at every opportunity.” Manchester
United showed this format well in the 3-2 win over Bayern Munich in the
UEFA Champions League quarter final match at Old Trafford. Nani,
Antonio Valencia and Wayne Rooney were always moving and swapping
places. The defenders of Bayern including World Cup-bound Argentine,
Martin Demechelis were left flailing in the first quarter of that game
and United scored thrice in this phase of the game.

Victory over
Argentina is possible but it will require huge doses of commitment and
desire. All said and done, it will be down to the importance of
concentration and preparation, particularly mental readiness and the
desire to win that will ultimately enhance the Eagles’ chances in South
Africa.

With each passing
day it becomes clearer to even the most incurable optimists that the
gentlemen in the glass house called the Nigeria Football Federation,
(NFF), are operating on a planet different from the rest of us.

Sani Lulu and his
team, particularly the duo of Bolaji Ojo’Oba, the secretary general,
and Taiwo Ogunjobi, chairman of the Technical Committee, seem to be
embarked on a mission, which known only to themselves, is sure to end
in the ruin of Nigerian football, if left unchecked.

From the conduct of
the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, where ignoring the rather obvious fact
that the Eagles technical crew was too insipid to inspire the team to
greater performance and thus nearly imperilled our appearance in this
June’s World Cup, to the merry go round that was the selection of a new
coach for the squad following Shuaibu Amodu’s sack in February, the NFF
has proven to be grossly incompetent.

The Hampshire horror

If the two issues
referred to above can be excused on grounds of the magnanimity of the
Nigerian spirit, the conduct of Lulu and company regarding the
selection of a hotel for the Eagles World Cup campaign in South Africa
clearly cannot be condoned.

That the NFF
leadership could choose a hotel not on the list of those approved by
FIFA, and one that was clearly below acceptable standards, raises
serious questions as to the motive of Lulu and his men.

When this paper ran
photos of the hotel alongside an in-depth report of its location and
available facilities, it was clear to Nigerians that something was
wrong somewhere. Apart from its location, which was awkward for a team
participating in a World Cup and so would need a serene and secure
environment, the Hampshire hotel, without a perimeter fence to screen
off unwanted individuals, posed some danger to the squad.

This point, Sports Minister Ibrahim Bio was to make when he visited the hotel last week to assess its suitability.

Thankfully, Bio,
who since his assumption as the new boss of the sports ministry has not
allowed the cabal ruining Nigerian sports to lead him by the nose, has
scuppered whatever under hand deal must have transpired between the NFF
management that led Lulu and his lieutenants to settle for the facility.

Carrying the can

Still Lulu should
not be let off lightly. After his faux pas, he remains unrepentant. On
Monday in Lagos, the NFF boss, to head off negative reports following
Bio’s decision to discard the hotel arranged a parley with journalist
where he said: “If given the opportunity again, I will go for Hampshire
Hotel.”

“My priority since
I got the mandate to lead NFA is to give the best. We are not to be
blamed for anything. The whole thing is from FIFA. They are the ones
who normally accommodate World Cup teams. But instead, they preferred
to pay $400 per player for a day’s accommodation. It is based on what
we have that we decided to settle in Hampshire which of course was also
approved by FIFA. FIFA is in charge of security and they don’t toy with
it.”

It was Amodu and
Peterside that got the hotel. The first day that I led delegation to
the hotel, I pointed out areas like the fencing and other areas which
the owners of the hotel promised to amend. When the new coach, Lars
Lagerback came on board, he liked the place but preferred Richardson,”
added Lulu.

It is all very nice and convenient for Lulu to shift responsibility for picking the hotel to Amodu.

However, every responsible leader knows that the buck for decisions taking by his organisation stops on his table.

However, allowing
that he deferred to Amodu as coach of the team in approving Hampshire
as Eagles base, why he did he not then respect Lagerback’s wishes and
opt for Richards Bay since the Swede had taken over as manager of the
Eagles?

As it is, his indiscretion will cost us a princely $125,000 (about N19 million) going by FIFA’s ruling.

The NFF must be
made to pay this sum. This can be deducted from whatever subvention is
due to the NFF from the sports ministry. If deducting it inconveniences
the NFF in any way, then Lulu and his cronies should find a way to fill
the void. That is the least they can do to atone for their incompetence.

Ibrahim Bio, the
minister of sports, has been commended by former Eagle, Emmanuel
Amuneke for changing the Super Eagles hotel to a much befitting one.

There had been
widespread criticisms over the choice of Hampshire Hotel Ballito, and
Bio moved swiftly to change the hotel to Protea at Richards Bay.

Amuneke, the 1994 Africa Player-of-the-Year wondered why Sani Lulu and the NFF would go for a hotel still under construction.

“They just don’t
know what to do anymore,” he said. “How can they lodge a national team
in a hotel that is yet to be completed with no fence and adequate
security and expect the players to stay focused and achieve their funny
semi final target?

We will not change
the way we talk on salient issues that affect our football. We are
stakeholders in this round leather game and they should stop deceiving
us with all these ‘no money’ issue.”

Amuneke’s teammate
in the Tunisia 1994 Nations Cup and USA‘94 World Cup, Thompson Oliha,
wondered why the federation did not go for a FIFA -approved hotel,
Protea Waterfront Hotel in the first place.

“I wonder why the
NFF wanted a kind of hotel which was not FIFA approved,” he said. “FIFA
have officially listed some hotels for the 32 teams to stay during the
World Cup, so why they went for the Hampshire Hotel beats my
imagination. They should have kept to FIFA’s regulation and
arrangements for the World Cup.”

Good for the Eagles

“It’s good the coach, Lars Lagerback, went for the new hotel which I hear is a better one than the previous,” Oliha maintained.

Joseph Dosu, goalkeeper for the Atlanta‘96 Olympic gold squad, expressed his relief that Bio changed the hotel.

“They said that
they booked the Hampshire hotel in the first place at the behest of
Shuaibu Amodu. Thank God he (Amodu) has come out to say he was not the
one that booked the hotel,” he said. “The NFF are just running our
football the way they understand it.

I’m happy the
minister waded in to unravel the mystery behind the whole thing. They
are just wasting the tax payer’s money. Now they have been dragged to
the Presidency, by the time one or two of them lose their jobs, the
rest will sit up and do what is right for the good of our football.
It’s just unfortunate”.

The Eagles will now be staying at the 4-star Protea Hotel at
Richards bay with, Coach Lagerback set to release a modified 30-man
list to beat FIFA’s deadline of Tuesday.

Coach of Oriwu
Senior Secondary School, Ogunsanmi Abolore says Gaskiya Senior College
of Ajegunle, which beat his side 3-2 on Saturday in the final of the
2009/2010 Principals Cup at the Teslim Balogun Balogun Stadium, was the
better the side on the day.

“My team was very
bad in the first half. The Gaskiya team had very tall defenders and I
told my players to play long balls behind the defence but they could
not. You saw the second half, the three goals were too much and we
could not make it all the way back. I have been with the team for eight
months and all the players are in SS3.” A game of two halves Gaskiya
were much the superior side in the first half as the Oriwu boys were
reduced to a bunch of nerves. As early as the second minute when Aliu
Jamiu rattled the cross bar from a free-kick from 30 metres. A mistake
by Chibuzor Orji let in Sikiru Yusuf and he scored with an assured
touch.

All play was concentrated in the Oriwu half. The pressure
continued until the 28th minute when from a corner kick from the right,
Tope Komolafe made a sweet connection with his head to give Gaskiya a
deserved second goal. Oriwu were rocking and the pressure did not
relent. In the best move of the half, Ibrahim Fatai picked the ball on
the halfway danced around his marker, passed to Ajao Sikiru, who are
cut in to the box and laid the ball on a plate for rampaging Ibrahim
Yusuf to blast home the third goal and his second goal of the game.

Rampaging Thomas

The second half
started the way that the first half ended with Fatai again bursting
into the box but he fired his shot marginally wide. From then on, it
was a different game. The midfield creator for Oriwu, Kayode Thomas,
who had been a revelation in their march to the finals, woke up and
started pulling the strings.

In the 12th minute of the second stanza,
Thomas split the defence with a slide rule pass to release Samson
Anyanwu who made no mistake in poking home. At this stage, the next
goal was going to be very important. That goal came with 16 minutes to
go and proved the best Oriwu could do.

Eighteen members of
Nigeria’s senior women’s football team; Super Falcons will today depart
the country for a two -match international friendlies’ programme
against the senior team of North Korea.

Team Coach,
Eucharia Uche will lead out the 18 -man playing squad and other
technical officials aboard on Ethiopian Airline flight later today.

The tune-up matches
with the North Korea team is among the planned matches designed to put
the five -time African champions in good shape ahead of their 2010
African Women Championship against Cote d’Ivoire next month.

The Falcons were
dethroned as perpetual Champions of the Africa Women Championships in
the last edition held in Equatorial Guinea and now seems set to regain
its pole position in the continent. Currently the North Koreans are
ranked fifth in the world while the Falcons are twenty seventh.

According to the
team’s coach, the Korean’s would be a quality opposition for the
Falcons as they prepare for the African qualifiers.

She said: “We are
happy this opportunity is coming at this time. North Korea is among the
leading nations in women’s football in the world and their team will
provide us with stiff opposition”.

The first match
against the North Koreans will take place in Pyongyang on Sunday while
the second match will take place on Tuesday next week.

Among the 18
players heading to North Korea are goalkeepers Precious Dede and
Tochukwu Oluehi (Bayelsa Queens), others are Martina Ohadugha (Rivers
Angels), Ulumma Jerome (Rivers Angels), Lilian Cole (Foreign-based),
Josephine Chukwunonye (Rivers Angels), Tawa Ishola (Bayelsa United),
Stella Godwin( FCT Queens), Ebere Orji (Rivers Angels), Gift Otuwe
(Bayelsa Queens), Akudo Iwuagwu (Delta Queens), Loretta Sador( Bayelsa
Queens) and Titilayo Mekuneyi (Bayelsa Queens).

If the Super Eagles
are hoping to pick maximum points against South Korea as part of the
strategy to progress into the next round of the FIFA World Cup in South
Africa, it could turn out to be a mere dream, according to Coach Huh
Jung-Moo.

Huh, a former
national team midfielder, will be leading South Korea to the first
World Cup to be hosted on the African continent and is determined to
make it another memorable experience for his country after Dutchman,
Guus Hiddink, guided them to the semi finals of the 2002 edition, which
they co-hosted with Japan.

“This will be the
last chapter in my football life. I will put in all my energy to
achieve good results in the World Cup,” Huh had said last year shortly
after guiding his side through the 2010 qualifiers.

That could sound
like mere platitudes for our Super Eagles who are still struggling to
put up a solid pre-World Cup arrangement barely 43 days to the
kick-off, but the former PSV Eindhoven of Holland star has reiterated
the Taeguk Warriors are ready to cause their group B opponents trouble
as he looks forward to the tantalising fixtures against Nigeria,
Argentina and Greece.

Hard time

The 1986 World Cup
veteran admits Korea may not enjoy the same level of acclaim with their
opponents but his team will play a major role in how the group will be
decided.

By the time the
World Cup starts in South Africa, the Asian team who will come up
against our Eagles in Durban on June 22 would have played about 10
build-up games against the likes of Cote D’Ivoire, Spain, Ecuador and
Latvia to put them in shape. However, the Nigeria Football Federation
is yet to add to the already confirmed May 30 Colombia friendly for the
Eagles.

“No team is weak.
Greece, Argentina and Nigeria in Group B are not easy opponents.
Objectively, our capacity lags beyond those of our rivals but we are
trying our best to give our opponent a hard time. Our players are ready
to make a stir,” warned the Korea handler yesterday.

Though about half
of the players Korea expect to parade in South Africa are playing in
the country’s domestic league, Huh still worries about the bonding of
his squad before the Mundial.

“The biggest
practical problem is communication between players. Since players are
concentrating on playing in their respective leagues, they lack the
ability to communicate,” he said.

“Trust between the
coaching staff and players is important, but trust between players
themselves is also important. When players trust each other while
playing, they can generate true teamwork. Our coaching staff’s top
priority is to ensure players build their teamwork”, Huh added.

Meanwhile Guus
Hiddink who led Korea to the World Cup semi finals in 2002 has told the
Taeguk Warriors they must win their first group game against Greece or
forget about a second round ticket.

The former widely
travelled tactician insists Korea will find it difficult against
Nigeria and Argentina, adding that anything short of victory over
Greece could spell doom for the team in South Africa.

“I think it’s
Greece on the first game, I think this is a key game to win, if not you
might have a few problems against Nigeria and Argentina, so this first
game is really a key game for Korea,” Hiddink said during a press
conference held on Monday, in South Korea, to promote Holland’s bid to
co-host the 2018 World Cup with Belgium.

The new Turkey
national team coach however expressed confidence in the composition of
the Korea squad ahead of their World Cup campaign. “If you see the
selection of the Korean team, then I think there is a good mix between
young promising players who are playing here or even one or two are
playing in Europe,” he said.

“But also there are some remains from the successful team in 2002;
players are around 30, 32 or 33, which means they have gathered a lot
of experience. At the time when we started they were inexperienced, but
now these players they have gone all over the world and that is a huge
contribution,” added Hiddink.

Diego Maradona
recently revealed that he already has an idea of what his starting
line-up will look like for Argentina’s opening match against the Super
Eagles on June 12 in Johannesburg but the Argentine coach has now
acknowledged that he is going to have a difficult time finalizing his
23-man squad for the World Cup.

Maradona, who
captained Argentina to the World Cup title back in 1986, has since his
emergence as the national team’s coach in October 2008 called up over a
hundred players; but he has up until May 11 to submit a preliminary
30-man list to FIFA and the final 23-man squad for the World Cup by
June 1.

And with so many
Argentine players doing so well for their respective club sides both at
home and abroad,Maradona feels he has a torrid time ahead of him as he
gets down to the business of selecting his squad for the tournament
where he will also get to face, in addition to Nigeria, Greece and
South Korea in Group B.

“It’s going to hurt
to leave players off who have given it their all, or who are having a
great season,” said Maradona. “But they gave me a team and I have to
select. When you have to make a choice, someone has to be eliminated.”

Coloccini remains hopeful

An Argentine player
who has been in great form this season is central defender Fabricio
Coloccini who is hoping to force his way back into Maradona’s World Cup
plans following his displays in the colours of English club Newcastle
United, who recently gained promotion back to the English Premier
League.

The 28 year-old,
who has been capped 33 times by Argentina, has not received a call-up
to the national team since last November’s friendly against Spain but
he feels he has chance of going to the World Cup because of the recent
success he has enjoyed at Newcastle United.

“I don’t know about
the World Cup yet,” said Coloccini in an interview posted on his club’s
website. “I think that it’s May 25 when Maradona makes the squad. I
don’t know yet, but I want to go. It’s my dream, but it’s up to
Maradona this season so I have to wait.

I haven’t spoken to
Maradona since we won promotion or the Championship title, but I have
been in touch with the training staff, and they gave me their
congratulations. Maradona will know that we have won here.I think our
success here will help if I go to the World Cup. I have worked hard. I
think I have had a good season, but I have to wait for the decision on
whether I go.”

Favourites in South Africa

Argentine were in
very poor form in their qualification for the World Cup and there was a
lot of pressure on Maradona to resign, but he didn’t and got the job
done in the end.

The South American
country will in South Africa be aiming to win a third World Cup title
and Coloccini feels they will be one of the favourites, along with some
familiar names.

“I think Argentina
could have a chance in the World Cup because it’s a big team, a big
national team,” he continued. “It’s helpful if you’ve already won it
before and everyone needs a bit of luck in a competition like that, but
we know we have a very good team.”

He then added: “There are lots of teams to beat, Brazil, Spain,
Italy, France, England, they are all the better teams and as always I
think one of those teams will win.”

Super Eagles
defender Onyekachi Apam’s days at his French club OGC Nice appears to
be numbered as the Nigerian defender has set his sights on leaving the
first division side at the end of the season.

The 23 year-old
joined Nice in 2005 from Nigerian Premier division side, Enugu Rangers,
and has over the past five years become synonymous with the Cote d’Azur
based club that has won the French Ligue 1 title on four occasions and
lifted the French Cup three times.

Their last league title however came as far back as 1959 while their last French Cup conquest arrived in 1997.

In fact, their best
finish in the league since Apam’s arrival was 8th in the 2005/06
season; and they are currently 15th in the 20-team Ligue 1 table with
just four games to the end of the season.

As a result, Apam
feels it is time to call it a day with his only European club to date
as he seeks to further his career away from the Stade Municipal du Ray,
preferably at a club capable of winning laurels and competing at
prestigious European club competitions such as the UEFA Champions
League.

Ambitions

“I want to join a
club that competes for the title and takes part in European
competitions,” explained Apam in an interview with French Football
website. “I want to play at a higher level, and this could be in France
or abroad.Since I started playing here, I have progressed a lot, but I
want to move to a bigger club.”

A host of French
clubs, most notably Bordeaux, Lille, PSG, Rennes, and current Ligue 1
leaders, Marseille, have overtime expressed interest in securing the
services of the versatile Nigerian defender.

Last season, Rennes
reportedly made an offer that was turned down by Nice, but French
Football reports that the current club of Apam’s Super Eagles team mate
Elderson Echiejile could likely be the next destination for the
Nigerian who will, if the deal comes to pass, be reunited with his
former coach and mentor Frederic Antonetti.

But this is by far
not a certainty as the likes of Marseille and PSG, as well as English
Premier League outfit Sunderland have reportedly sent scouts to watch
Apam on several occasions.

“I will leave all
that for my agent (Pierre Frelot), but all I can say is that it is time
for me to move, in France or abroad,” continued Apam.

“I had a chance to
leave last season, but I decided to remain for one more season. I was
also assured by the former president (Maurice Cohen) that I would leave
at the end of the season,” added Apam.

If Apam’s departure
does come to pass, Nice will be in the transfer market for a central
defender and reports suggest they have expressed an interest in
bringing back home French defender Maxim Brillault who currently plays
for Belgian club Charleroi.

French soccer star
Franck Ribery, who is at the centre of sex scandal, will not face the
investigators before the South African World Cup finals, a source close
to the case said on Friday.

The news might help ease the tense atmosphere surrounding the France camp ahead of the June 11-July 11 tournament.

“As the case stands
now, it is not expected Ribery will be summoned by the judge to be
possibly placed under official investigation before the start of the
competition,” the judicial source said, declining to be named.

The source added
that another French international, Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema,
who also faces questioning in the same case, would not be heard before
the World Cup.

Junior Sports Minister Rama Yade said on Thursday that any player placed under investigation should not represent France.

“The French
(soccer) shirt is sacred and cannot be worn by somebody who is under
official investigation,” she told Canal+ television late on Thursday.

France playmaker
Ribery and fellow international Sydney Govou were questioned earlier in
April as witnesses by police investigating a prostitution network.

French media have
said the players were clients of a nightclub in Paris’s posh
Champs-Elysees district that allegedly featured escort girls.

Ribery’s lawyer has
said her client was only questioned about his ties with the leader of
an escort girls network and the player himself has made no comment
about the affair.

Govou’s lawyer and Benzema’s agent deny that their clients had ever been to the nightclub in question.

New twist

On Thursday, the
scandal, which has gripped France, took a new twist after a young woman
involved in the case gave a lengthy interview to Paris Match magazine
about the scandal.

She said Ribery had
invited her to Munich in April 2009 to celebrate his 26th birthday in a
luxury hotel, adding that he had paid her for three encounters last
year.

Zahia, who turned
18 in February, confirmed widespread reports in the French press that
she was underage when she met Ribery, but added that she had not
informed him about her age.

There was no immediate comment from Ribery’s entourage.

Ribery, usually
energetic on the pitch and unassuming off it, is probably the most
popular player in the squad, since Zinedine Zidane, who retired after
his infamous headbutt in the defeat by Italy on penalties in the 2006
World Cup final.

But he has had a
wretched few weeks, hounded by the media over the scandal, suffering
injury and then getting sent off earlier this month during Bayern
Munich’s Champions League semi-final.

UEFA have since suspended him from the final.

Given his various
woes, some sports commentators in France have questioned whether French
coach Raymond Domenech will even select him for the World Cup.

France’s
Immigration Minister Eric Besson said on Friday the case was taking
“undue importance” and that Ribery was entitled to the presumption of
innocence like any citizen.