A lot has been said regarding the list with almost every Eagle fan lending a boisterous voice to the conversation as they examined who made and didn’t make the end cut to Nigeria’s submission for the 2014 World Cup. Now considering the fact that in Nigeria this actually may translate into almost everybody, it means that at any given time in the last two weeks more people were discussing our list than some countries have people. The Gala pushing street hawker, the high dazzle Broad Street CEO, and even the sleepy Traffic Cop at your closest Roundabout as well as the average Musa, Chinedu or Hassan have all either gnashed their teeth or wept in open Euphoria over Keshi’s picks. This is because they have either seen their vested interest in Nigeria being the first African team to make the Semi finals, go up in smoke or solidify even more. It all depends on whom you ask. These same fans have not only di and bisected the list, others have actually re engineered it from up to bottom, east to west, and tried to immerse their twenty kobo worth of sense into an argument that may already be so to speak, moot. Nevertheless, supersport set out to randomly sample some of them and throughout the World Cup will continue to do the same picking their brains on pre and post game action. We started off with two Andrews. The first lives in the North of Nigeria. He is Andrew Randa (above) and works crisscrossing the region (oft at great danger to himself) as a pundit, football aficionado and of course for us here at supersport. He wasted no time sharing… One can only assume the Big Boss knows much more than we do,after all he confounded critics by winning the African Cup of Nations in 2013 when no one gave him or the team a chance, serving many a humble pie along the way. We wont mention the Confederations Cup because he was dealt an unfair hand as injuries crippled his team. Nevertheless some things bother me about the list. For starters though Daniel Akpeyi, who is one of the goalkeepers called up to the provisional squad hasnt been able to get into the Warri Wolves side because of Okemute Odahs form- yet he got picked. Then there is the tangerine story of Ikechukwu Uche who also got snubbed. It remains the most prevalent source of annoyance for the faithful. While many will be quick to argue that Carlos Tevez and Samir Nasri were not included for the Le Albiceleste and Le Blues respectively, it’s not the same. While this may be true considering the embarrassment of riches in their positions available to France and Argentina, Nigeria simply can’t afford to be so wasteful or flippant over such a proven weapon. So fact remains that Uche alongside Red Star Belgrades Abiola Dauda, are the leading Nigerian goal scorers in Europe yet both will watch the World Cup from home. Then there is the curious case of Gabriel Reuben. Released by Kilmarnock in the winter, he moved to Belgium with Waasland-Beveren where he didnt exactly light the arena, but has still found his way on to the provisional list. How come? Joel Obi and Nosa Igiebor , who returned in Real Betis last game of the season are just coming back from injuries and we can only hope the pre World Cup camping will do them good. My hunch here is that the preparatory games lined up for the Super Eagles will be the fire walk for a lot of these players and lets hope they can beat the odds and get to the glorious end But this is why football is such a beautiful sport. Nothing is guaranteed and at this moment all we have are the friendly matches to look forward to, a 23 man list soon to be decided and the debate to start all over again. Our second Andrew is Andrew Kunle Aderibigbe who works in Digital Media in the UK. He was just as eloquent in presenting his observations writing….. Except for few tweaks here and there I dont think anyone can say they are shocked by the composition of the recently released Super Eagles 30 man list for this summers World Cup campaign in Brazil by the manager Stephen Keshi. What Keshi has been able to do is give himself a chance to be able to pick his final 23 from a mixture of youth and experience. He has been able to form the bedrock of his provisional squad the majority of the AFCON 2013 winning squad which can only be a positive in terms of continuity and understanding of what it takes to go through a tournament together and come out of it as the champion. If am going to pick any hole in Keshis provisional squad it will be the inclusion of goalkeeper Chogozie Agbim and non-inclusion of Ikechukwu Uche of Villarreal in Spain. Agbim from his showing at the CHAN competition earlier this year, showed he cannot be relied upon at a level like the World Cup because if the unimaginable happens and we lose our first choice goalkeeper, Agbim automatically becomes the second choice, that, is a scary thought for yours truly. While I understand Keshis trust in Nigerias home based players, he should at least chosen the best in that position which I am certain Agbim is not. As for Ikechukwu Uche who has been prolific in front of goal for Villareal this season, I dont think I can think of any rational reason why Keshi could have dropped him except if we are to take what the French manager Didier Deschamps said when explaining why he dropped Samir Nasri from his squad - a good squad is made up of good balance and not necessarily the best 23 players available (paraphrasing). Finally, Keshi has done it with most of these players before and I trust he can and will do it again given the right apparatus and no distractions and I hope whoever he decide to pick in his final 23 give their best in Brazil and make Nigeria and Nigerians proud Carl the Pointman Orakwue(above) is the Head of Sports for Garden City Radio 89.9fm Port Harcourt and everybody knows that he thoroughly knows his Football. So we eagerly asked for his expert opinion and got this in response. A look at Keshis provisional 30 man list is surely in no way awe-inspiring. While this bunch of players are not expected to win the World Cup, lets remember that no one expected them to win the Nations cup either. The majority of the Nations cup winning squad make up this list. Lots of Nigerians would surely have loved to see Ike Uche in the squad but alas only the coach gets to pick the squad. The Garri Master scored more goals as Eagles top striker Emenike in the just concluded season, unfortunately got excluded. Even Odemwingies inclusion fails to convince one of the squads potency. In the defence department, asides Efe Ambrose who has been Nigerias most consistent player in the out gone season and perhaps Sunshine Stars Kunle Odunlami, I wont be so confident of the other lot. I must however add I think Yobos experience could come in handy if he makes the final cut. One important observation also is the ABSENCE of a natural replacement for Nigerias key player, John Obi Mikel. Has anyone noticed that? I guess he will have to play every game. But after all said, who else could have made the list that didnt? Who would eventually make the final list? Well I dare say Nigerians will have to keep faith with the big boss and his wards.( CRedit supersp0rt)
Posted on: Wed, 28 May 2014 06:01:46 +0000