Many people forget this^^^
or try to play it down but the fact remains Nigeria are continental champions.
This is then the part where enemies of progress and their kind come out to condemn the competition and so forth.
There are so many factors and angles we can come forth to justify the point.
From numbers to even fifa rankings even with supposed diminished quality it would not immediately tip the cup in Nigeria's favour and there are many teams going to the world cup who are not continental
champions and have not been ever or for quite some time.
Also i must address it now the critics and the uncle tomish nature of some writers of supposed Nigerian persuasion is becoming a travesty. Division is of no help and it is the same people who are agents of chaos who are clambering for people been labelled chaotic and divisive to the team.
Keshi
i will be the first to commend him on his resolve and he is exactly what Nigeria needs.
Many of these internet coaches would of done an Osaze if they had to endure what Keshi has.
Being fired at from all angles from players turning against you, to your own federation openly believing you will fail(Ivory coast game).
The thing with Keshi is that he could walk any time and become a coach of a nation getting paid more than he is now, with better backing and perhaps a hero's welcome.
The famous saying is that a prophet is not appreciated in his own town and that can be said of some corners of supposed Nigerian fanbase.
With regards to Keshi he has helped usher in a new age of football in Nigeria and with change there is always resistance.
Where youth is being ushered in and the home based players are having a say in the team again
for the time of the internet coach is over, where any player playing Europe is given a pass to walk into the national set up ( no matter what division or if they are still in form).
Many people are criticizing Keshi for his disciplinary approach to players but competition is what we need and people are acting like he is the only coach doing so.
When tevez has been shutout and many know of his quality and it has been reported with France's winning team that they left out stars such as cantona and ginola going in to that world cup.
Also another issue being addressed is the thing with the bench but is Nigeria the only nation with players on the bench is not dzeko mostly on the bench or hernandez/kagawa. So you see this is a problem for many nations and not one to talked down the national team over. That is the price that can be paid playing in a foreign league or with inept managers.
The question is how to deal with this situation and keshi is of the mind that with the little tourney before the real thing he can go through a set of games to get them quickly up to speed.
http://www.goal.com/en-ng/news/4082/editorial/2014/03/26/4675814/world-cup-2014-a-checklist-for-stephen-keshi?ICID=CP_777
In response to this rubbish article^^
a rebuke disguised as help or a compliment is not needed or what Nigeria or African teams need.
How does he repeat weaknesses and profess more weaknesses than strength and bring up his colonial mentality of needing a foreign coach.
Did African teams not do that before the last world cup and fail miserably and yet this obvious tactic to stall improvements is still jokingly being made.
Africa and African football is not an exception to being omitted and being down spoken that we need people in our own camp doing so. I am also tired of this European worshipping do they not have the most amount of places available and some teams claiming world cup places or high finishes in a world cup, the question should be asked who or how many teams where playing.
Qualification spots by continent[edit]
The table below lists the numbers of spots allocated by FIFA for each continent in each tournament. No spots for a continent, such as in the case of Oceania prior to 1966 and Africa in 1950, do not indicate an exclusion of those continents by FIFA, but rather that no country of those continents made an entry to the aforementioned Cups.[1]
A large part of the African territory lived under colonial rule during part of the 20th century, mainly the first half of the century. By 1954, only 3 African countries were affiliated to FIFA: Egypt, in 1923, Sudan, in 1948, and Ethiopia, in 1952.[2] Sudan and Ethiopia made entries for no Cup prior to 1958. Egypt made entries for the 1934, 1938 and 1954 Cups, though not for the 1930 and 1950 Cups. Though an African country, Egypt entered in 1938 and 1954 into the European group, therefore the table below indicates no data about Africa for these 2 Cups.
Places in the intercontinental play-offs count as 0.5 spots. Numbers in bold represent the winners of the intercontinental play-offs. "+C" denotes an additional spot for defending champions. "+H" denotes an additional spot for hosts.
| Continental zone | 1934 (16) | 1938 (15)1 | 1950 (13)2 | 1954 (16) | 1958 (16) | 1962 (16) | 1966 (16) | 1970 (16) | 1974 (16) | 1978 (16) | 1982 (24) | 1986 (24) | 1990 (24) | 1994 (24) | 1998 (32) | 2002  (32) | 2006 (32)6 | 2010 (32) | 2014 (32) | 2018 (32) | 2022 (32) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Africa | 1 | 0 | 0.53 | 0.54 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 +H | 5 | ||||
| Asia | 1 | 12 | 1 | 0.54 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3.5 | 2.5 +2H | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | H | ||||
| Oceania | 0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.255 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | ||||||||||||
| Europe | 12 | 111 +C+H | 72 +C | 11 +H | 9.53 +C+H | 8+4 2×0.5 | 9 +H | 8 +C | 8.5 +H | 8.5 +C | 13 +H | 12.5 +C | 13 +H | 12 +C | 14 +H | 13.5 +C | 13 +H | 13 | 13 | H | |
| North and Central America and Caribbean | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0.5 | 1 | 1 +H | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 +H | 2 | 1.255 +H | 3 | 3 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | ||
| South America | 2 | 1 | 4 +H | 1 +C | 3 | 3.5 +C+H | 3 +C | 3 | 2.5 +C | 2.5 +H | 3 +C | 4 | 2.5 +C | 3.55 | 4 +C | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 +H | ||
| Total | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 |
If we scrutinize the listing look at 1966 out of 16 teams competing having 9 go to Europe and in 98 out of 32 teams having 14 and many are trying to ludicrously judge the entrants from the different regions.
Many will claim south america different from the rule but have they not been mainstay in the tournament from the beginning and how many countries are in south america compared to Europe if anything to those European worshippers they should be ashamed how has Brazil got the most world cups with the amount of teams Europe has afforded themselves.
Also many forget that this is Nigeria's 5th world cup 2 good 2 bad so previously we have been getting acclimatised to the tournament.
With going into to much controversy, Europe worshipping must end and this is what Keshi is ushering in for this is what has been available in the south american play because they have won a W.C and have been there since the beginning.
With regards to federations Asia and North America are in the same boat of breaking the stranglehold and views pressed upon them. For consistency helps build a foundation to spring forth from for the touchy subject of nationality is one which affects these federations the most. Many of you will think Asia really but if we think about it from the internet coach perspective Australia or England the latter would quickly be chosen.
U.S.A or Germany the latter would be chosen but there is always exception to the rule
Julian green being an example.
But Nigerians and Algerians have been on many aside of being dumped for teams of a mainstay standing Sidney snake sam comes to mind off of the top of my head.
Football is a sport played on the pitch but also on paper for many internet coaches have already assigned the world cup to a specific team and assigned the position of teams without a ball being kicked. But the magic of football lies in the fact that who knows what will happen think of France's rise and fall and Senegal's quarter final run.
Many would of claimed like that Senegal had no world class players and no threats and would crash out in the group stages but went on to shock the world. But that was only the paper side of football the hot air and gas portion the praising of players playing Europe. When it is called the world cup not players who play in Europe cup and that's why I loved the tournament the chance to see players i would not be able to see because of the Europe monoply of the teams to watch.
How many players has the world cup made European or otherwise?
So as supporters or writers we must get behind our team and not air out our dirty laundry all the time like we don't have clean clothes.
Have we forgotten that we have been unbeaten for so long and that former world cup winners had a tough time against our b team who just landed in the country to play and we could of won the game.
Also that other nations speak of us as a power house yet we do not build upon doing so, does not England not rest on letting people know they won a world cup.
In conclusion is class dependant on ability or ability being seen with many eyes to be hyped beyond recognition or just playing for a team in Europe. In the World cup we must play our football with our team and our tactics. Some players will miss out that is a fact and we must not let it detract from our efforts or goals. Many are asking for uche or osaze to be in the team.
Personally I wouldn't mind osaze back but i will not shed tears if he misses out and keshi is as shrewd as nick fury there are more at stake here then what is on the pitch. There is politics also to deal with and viewpoints of African teams, coaches and managers. Also in regards to the article above Nigeria do have secret weapons in the age of information which is the npl and he has been investing in it.
Also he has not played to full strength in friendlies or in the confeds to conceal his plans and intentions.
Many would of not noticed like against mexico dismantling a winning team to conceal weapons and playing players not in the place many were asking for. Hype does not help one win a battle or war and keshi for me is more of a strategist than people give credit for keeping cards close to his chest.
Like with the balogun affair or the uchebo call up no body anticipated such moves.
He prefers to be the underdog a bit like mourniho so do not read to much into the friendlies. Also he has instilled in the team if you cannot win then draw mentality which may be very useful in the later stages of the cup.
Lastly Nigeria on getting out of the group can get very various favourable draws to potentially get a deep run.
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