After Qualification, What Next

The Super Eagles of Nigeria face the Ethiopian national team in the second leg encounter of the final World Cup qualification match on the 16^th of November.

Having won the first leg encounter played in Ethiopia two weekends ago most people (actually, everybody except the most optimistic of Ethiopians) expect Nigeria to win the match and proceed to the World Cup talking place in Brazil next year.

If not because of the agony I suffered during the last World Cup Nigeria failed to qualify for I would have said qualification is only a postponement of our misery.

I really want Nigeria to qualify. The point I’m trying to make is that it is almost certain that Nigeria would not go beyond the group stage of the competition.

The last time Nigeria went beyond the group stage was in 1998 only to suffer a humiliating 4-1 defeat to Denmark. Having qualified for the 2^nd round after beating highly rated Spain and Bulgaria during the group stage most people had written Denmark off. As usual, Nigeria failed to deliver and it’s been a downward decline from there.

As a matter of fact, the last World Cup match Nigeria won was the second group match against Bulgaria in 1998.

The record has not been impressive for other African teams either. Statistics show that out of over a hundred World Cup matches played by African teams they have only won 37 - Less than half.

Administrative problems, lack of commitment from players and almost insurmountable political and economic problems are usually responsible for these poor performances.

I am looking forward to the World Cup but I’m not holding my breath that the present class of Super Eagles will surpass the record set by their predecessors and advance to the quarter-final stage of the competition.