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

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

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

Brothers in arms

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

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

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

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

New kid on the block

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

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

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

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

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

Sibling pair

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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