Infantino said on Friday in Moscow that Russia 2018 has been the best World Cup so far and it has only confirmed his belief and that of FIFA.

“It’s been a great adventure here in Russia and all of us, both here and outside Russia, have enjoyed it. Particularly, a lot of pre-conceived opinions have changed.

“In my opinion and that of those around me and those I have come across, this is the best World Cup so far,’’ he said.

The FIFA president said the event had been well organised beyond all expectations, and this had gone on to change the world’s perception of Russia.

“We have seen that Russia has changed from what we all believed. The World Cup has shown a real football country. Football has now become part of Russia’s DNA.

“You can see it in the massive infrastructure put in place, the stadiums built, the beautiful cities and the efficient workforce.

“People have discovered a beautiful country, which has welcomed people of all nationalities, whose people have been eager to help, and which is rich in culture and history.

“The legacies of all this will no doubt help put FIFA on the top in football, and we in FIFA will be there by Russia’s side to ensure football continues to live in this country,’’ he said.

Infantino went on to praise the volunteers and other members of the competition’s workforce, saying they provided the soul for the event.

“There are more than 100,000 people who have been involved in one capacity or the other. They are, with their smiles, the heart and soul of this very successful event.

“It has been the best ever, especially because of the volunteers, and FIFA is grateful to all, particularly the Russian government and people of Russia, for proving us right,’’ he said.

The FIFA president also said apart from the organisation of the event, Russia 2018 has broken some barriers and would be making the job of Qatar, the next hosts, harder.

“Here we have seen stadiums being filled up at the rate of 98 per cent and more than one million spectators traveling from abroad.

“With over 3 billion viewers on television, 11 billion views on social media and seven million visitors to the Fan Fests, I think we have gone beyond expectations.

“Moreover, the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was a success, the anti-doping programme was with unprecedented number of tests and we had negative results.

“Our anti-discrimination campaign is on in a new way, and only one game here ended goalless. Many games ended with a lot of emotions.

“There was a tremendous high level of success in the organisation, infrastructure, security, hotels provision and transportation.

“The level of execution and delivery was impeccable, in spite of all we were told before,’’ he said.

On the 2022 edition of the World Cup in Qatar, Infantino said it was still early to make conclusions on the preparations.

“We are always having dialogue, and we will continue with that. But things are going on well as expected,’’ he said.

The 2018 edition of the FIFA World Cup will come to an end on Sunday in Moscow with France taking on Croatia.

The post Infantino, FIFA President says Russia 2018 best World Cup ever appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

Therefore the Euphoria that greeted the qualification of Nigeria for its sixth world cup appearance is understandable. But if the truth must be told there is nothing outstandingly historical or big in the qualification of Nigeria for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. It is almost ordinary.

Indeed it has a deja vu ring imprinted boldly on it. Yes, we have seen it before; the qualification is not yet a big deal. The only time our qualification in this epoch came with the ring of monumental achievement was in 1994 when the Super Eagles led by Late Stephen Keshi gave Nigeria its first ticket to the Mundial. And it was also at USA ‘94 that the benchmark of second round qualification was reached. And since then, in spite of four appearances, it has never been surpassed. So Russia will remain just another World cup adventure if something more than a second round qualification like the quarter final mark does come from the Super Eagles World Cup Class of 2018.

So now that the euphoria of Nigeria’s qualification for the 2018 world cup in Russia has been tempered by the arduous task that will confront the Super Eagles in that cold but boisterous region of the World its time to set forth at dawn to use the words of the Nobel Laurette, Professor Wole Soyinka. Either by accident or design or both Nigeria has found itself in a group many pundits have described as one of the most difficult in the pairings that was done on December 1 and witnessed by our own Austin J.J Okocha and Nwankwo Kanu, two compatriots whose romance with the round leather game placed in the pantheon of legends.

Unarguably the most difficult match for the Eagles is its 5th consecutive match up with Argentina, the familiar foe. Unfortunately for the Eagles, they have played themselves into trouble with the Argentines. So when they confront the Lionel Messi led squad on June 26th 2018 at the St Petersburg stadium in Russia, the South Americans will be the aggressors. For one they want to take their pound of flesh from the Africans who humiliated them when both sides played in a friendly in the same Russia late in 2017.

The Eagles overawed the Argentines by 4 – 2. Again in previous World Cup encounters Argentina had maintained the upper hand on four occasions. So they want their dominance over Nigeria to continue in Russia. And from the legendry Diego Maradona to Juan Veron who was part of the squad that deflated the Eagles Ego by 1 – 0 during the Korea/Japan world cup in 2002 only a convincing win over Nigeria will be good enough. Maradona is still embittered by the 4 – 2 humiliation of Argentina by Nigeria and has even offered to become part of the technical crew to avenge the defeat. So the match between both countries in Russia will be an all-out war.

However the Super Eagles could make the task against Argentina less arduous if they set forth at dawn at the competition by beating Croatia at the Kaliningrad Stadium on 16th June 2018 when they open their world cup account and Iceland at the Volgograd Arena on 22nd June, 2018. Six points in the kitty will put the Eagles in a good stead. Therefore the Eagles will do themselves and Nigeria a lot of good if they pick between six and four points before the crunchy and crucial encounter against Argentina to ensure a safe passage to the Second Round.

However the trouble is that Iceland and Croatia may prove tougher than even the Argentines. Croatia with a third place finish in France 98 has carved a niche for itself as a major force in the round leather game. Its current crop of midfielders, Luka Modric, Real Madrid, Ivan Perisic and Marcelo Brozovic, Inter Milan and Ivan Raktic, Barcelona, have given the country the appellation of the team with the best midfield in the world. Their Coach, Zlatko Dalic, has started a study of the Eagles claiming that though the Eagles have no real stars, they are always dangerous and unpredictable and as such his team will go all out against them. And the only dark horse of the group Iceland will not be an easy nut to crack either. Even Jose Sampaoli, the Argentina coach has warned that the Icelanders are capable of going all the way with their unpredictability and sense of purpose.

So the way out for Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr, and the crew is to “concentrate more on the physical conditions of the players and tactics rather than the pedigree of the team’s opponent in Russia”. That is the position of Adegboyega Onigbinde who led Nigerian’s 2002 squad to Korea-Japan World Cup. What Onigbinde is saying is that In Russia the Super Eagles should give quality opposition and should be tactically and mentally prepared for the gritty encounters. Onigbinde says in the build-up Rohr should concentrate on intellectual capacity, psychological, medical, physiological technical and tactical fitness of the players .Simply put ,the Eagles, which will be presenting the youngest squad in Russia , must roar from the beginning and must give their all in all the encounters.

Victor Moses, a key member of the squad is already leading the psychological war. The mercurial player says “Argentina are going to be scared of us as well, it’s all about football at the end of the day”. That’s a good mind-set. As Moses himself confessed that his team mates in Chelsea have written off the Super Eagles. “Everyone at Chelsea was saying we’re going to get a thrashing and we are not going to make it through the group stage,” he said. That means the Eagles are seen as the underdogs in their group in the eyes and permutations of pundits. Moses is unfazed by this denigration. He maintains that the Eagles will give a good account and will not be scared of the calibre and quality of opponents. “We’ve got to go and play our football and see what happens,” the Chelsea star declares.

Hopefully, the Solomon Dalung led Ministry of Sports and Amaju Pinnick led Nigerian Football Federation will also play their own role creditably well and facilitate a credible appearance in Russia. Already there is talk by Dalung to mobilise a very strong Federal Government delegation that will support the team because sports is also about number. According to him “the number of people you have on the ground can also give support to the players and intimidate.” But if past experiences are anything to go by this could also become an albatross and constitute a great impediment to the progress of the team. There have been occasions when some very important personalities visited players at odd hours causing division in the team through incentives shared inequitably and along ethnic and religious lines.

It should also not be said that so much efforts is spent on the welfare of the delegation to the disadvantage of the team. Already sports administrators are said to be asking the Federal Government to cough out billions of Naira to prosecute the Russian affair. This is troubling since the Federation of International Football Association, FIFA is giving Nigeria 12.5 Million dollars (N4.5Billion) and the Confederation of African Football CAF will top it with 500 thousand dollars (N900Million) to fine tune its preparation for the event. Of FIFA’s $12.5 Million dollars, $2.5 Million will be released as training and preparation grants. Therefore the bulk of the money the sports czars in Nigeria are asking for could become a major source of crisis that may eventually derail the prosecution of the World Cup.

However everything must be done to prevent the ugly incident and international embarrassment that happened in 2010 in South Africa when the Super Eagles boycotted training preparatory to a crucial world cup match after disagreements with sports administrators over bonus and other payments. While support by the ‘Federal Government Delegation” ,some of whom will seize the opportunity of the free ride to Russia and fat estacodes to go on shopping sprees rather than appearing at venue of matches, is good, it should be done in such a way that it does not constitute a clog in the wheel of progress. At the end of the day what really matters are the 11 players on the field of play and their psychological .readiness, physical fitness and technical knowhow and sense of hunger for victory. They will give their best if the administrators provide the right conditions and incentives.

And this class of Eagles has a tall order. Not even qualification from the group stage will be good enough since the classes of 1994, 1998, 2014 qualified from the group stages and got to the second round where the journey ended. For the 2018 world cup to become a really big deal of landmark proportion the Super Eagles must not only qualify for the knock out stages but must get to at least the quarter final stage to equal the feat of Cameroon , Senegal and Ghana who all made the quarter finals in 1990,2002 and 2010 respectively

The Federal Government and its sports administrators must provide the enabling environment for the country’s ambassadors in Russia so that they can fly the green-white-green flag loftily before the whole world and give their beleaguered countrymen and women something to cheer in these challenging times.

Adebanjo, former sports editor of TELL Magazine who covered the 1994 World Cup in USA, sent this piece via obanijesu@yahoo.com

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Other teams in Group D are Iceland and Croatia.

The Super Eagles have played against Argentina in the group stage of all but one of their five previous World Cup appearances, and both sides will once again meet at next year’s tournament.

They lost to the South Americans in 1994, 2002, 2010, and 2014.

Nigeria will, however, open their campaign in Russia at next year’s FIFA World Cup in Russia with a tough tie against Croatia on June 16 in Kaliningrad before taking on Iceland six days later in Volgograd, and then Argentina on June 26 in St Petersburg.

On paper, it is a tough group, and it is a fact that is not lost on Super Eagles striker, Odion Ighalo.

“It is a tough group. It is a tough group but even the other teams will be wary of us,” said Ighalo, who was instrumental to Nigeria’s qualification for the World Cup, shortly after the draw in a live TV programme on SuperSport.

“It is a tough group but we have what it takes to qualify.”

Nigeria recently defeated Argentina 4-2 in a friendly match played in Russia, but have never beaten the Argentines in a competitive fixture.

Iceland, meanwhile, will be making their first appearance at the football tournament. They are the smallest nation to have ever qualified for the World Cup but their heroics at last year’s European Championship, where they eliminated England on the way to a historic semi-final appearance, means they won’t be pushovers.

“Iceland are doing well,” continued Ighalo. “We all saw what they did to England at the last Euros, and they are not going to be pushovers.

“We will have to be at our best to get anything out of this game as well as all the other games.”

The Russia 2018 Draw
Group A: Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Uruguay

Group B: Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Iran

Group C: France, Australia, Peru, Denmark

Group D: Argentina, Iceland, Croatia, Nigeria

Group E: Brazil, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Serbia

Group F: Germany, Mexico, Sweden, Korea

Group G: Belgium, Panama, Tunisia, England

Group H: Poland, Senegal, Colombia, Japan

The post Nigeria draws Argentina, Iceland in Russia 2018 Group D draw appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

The gang up against Nigeria is not because it qualified from its group even with a match to spare. It’s also not because in its round robin encounters with Cameroun, Algeria and Zambia, super powers of the round leather game on the continent, it did not taste defeat. Nigeria is in trouble because after qualifying for the showpiece event, the Super Eagles went on to do the unthinkable.

Yes, the Nigeria Super Eagles are actually the architect of their own trouble. They played themselves into trouble when they went to Russia on November 13 and decimated one of the Super powers in the sport Argentina 4-2 with the whole world watching proceedings.

The legendary Diego Maradona described the defeat of Argentina by Nigeria in the friendly match thus, ‘I am angry because they have taken away our prestige”. Indeed, that famous victory has cast the Super Eagles in a new light and football aficionados across the world, including coaches and players who will be playing in the world cup now see Nigeria as a formidable opponent which should not be trifle with. So Nigeria’s opponent in Russia will not take matches against the Super Eagle with levity. They will go all out and fire from all cylinders to humble this team that humiliated Argentina in Russia.

From all indications this will be Nigeria toughest World Cup ever. Forget the fact that by African standard, the country has done relatively well in the competition. From the first appearance in 1994, the Eagles led by the Late Stephen Keshi almost created the biggest upset when they faced Italy in the second round and led by 1-0 until the very last moment when a momentary lack of concentration prevented them from caging the Roberto Baggio led squad in the second round. Italy eventually prevailed by 2-1.

Prior to that, the Eagles had humiliated Greece, Bulgaria and virtually retired Andoni Zubizarreta, the Spaniard all-time great goalkeeper who fumbled with the ball and allowed Eagles to run away with 3 – 2 win over Spain. After USA’94 the Eagles had managed to put up mainly respectable, and at times shambolic, performances in subsequent appearances at the world cup in the first round almost always qualifying for the second round.

That’s where they always stopped. And that is why the Eagles are in greater trouble with their compatriots who follow the game with dizzying passion. So this time around, the Super Eagles and their handlers must know that second round qualification is not enough. The success at Russia 2018 will be measured by at least a quarter final berth. Anything short of that will be tantamount to a successful failure. And these Eagles Class of 2018 have what it takes to shake the world. They have as Technical Adviser a man who seems to know his onions and has weathered the politics of the Football Association and the interference from high and low quarters. Yes, Gernot Rohr has been inspiring and has engineered the team to deliver at critical times. He cannot afford not to deliver in Russia. And luckily for him, he has a group of experienced players and new intakes who want to show that they have all it takes to become world beaters.

The Captain of the team, John Mikel Obi, is a veteran of sorts and he has shown that he has the support of his mates which is critical and the character of a team leader off and on the field of play. The likes of Victor Moses, Ahmed Musa, Ogenyi Onazi, Odion Ighalo, Abdulahi Sheu, Alex Iwobi have enough experience and fire in their belly to hold their own against any opposition. And of course emerging key players like Kelechi Ihenacho, Leon Balogun and William Troost Ekong and new kid on the block Brian Idowu could also contribute to an anticipated success story in Russia.

However, as in the past extraneous forces and matters must not be allowed to infiltrate the team and preparations. Before long, those who played little or no role in the qualification race will want to reap from where they did not sow and through subterfuge and influence peddling will create division in the team. And of course, even ethnic jingoists and religious zealots are waiting in the wings to canvas for ethnic balance and religious equity. Such inanities and aberrations must not be imported into the march to Russia. Rohr must be given the free hand to select his team. The role of the Football Association must be limited to contingency support from the background while government officials who have enough money to go to Russia must confine themselves to designated spots.

Former Super Eagles Chief Coach, Adegboye Onigbinde, has this advice for Rohr and his boys, ”The Eagles have a technical team employed to ensure they do well at competitions and I believe they should know what to do after seeing the way the team played both halves against Argentina. The team can go on to win the World Cup next year if the right things are done-part of which is giving them quality matches to play to prepare them for the task ahead.

“No two games are the same, and the same Argentina we beat 4-2 may meet us at World Cup and beat us silly. The team look good but they need reinforcements to enable them to keep up the performances and do better. The players should guard against being overconfident because they have defeated Argentina.”

Certainly, a timely advice to steer Nigeria off the path of trouble in Russia.

Adebanjo, former sports editor of TELL Magazine, sent this piece via obanijesu@yahoo.com

The post Russia 2018: Nigeria In Trouble By Adegbenro Adebanjo appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

Yusuf made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) while speaking on the team’s preparation for the Algeria match.

He said that the match would enable the coaching crew to not only try the reserves but also select players for the final in Russia.

“Some of the players have not been opportune to play, so this match will offer them such opportunity

“We know there is nothing to be scared of because we already have the world cup ticket but our interest now is to have a blended team,“Yusuf said.

The coach, pledged that the super Eagles would not lose any of their matches, adding that they were ready to win the game against Algeria.

The super Eagles currently leads Group B with 13 points and will slug it out with the Algerian side on Nov. 11, in Algiers.

NAN reports that FIFA has confirmed Gabonese Eric Castane as the centre referee while Aboubacar Doumbouya of Guinea and Burkina Faso’s Seydou Tiama will serve as his assistants.

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