Nigeria Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi says Africa can with the World Cup

African sides are as good as any at the World Cup and one could end up winning it in Brazil, Nigerian coach Stephen Keshi said on Sunday ahead of his side's opening group game against outsiders Iran.

And if Nigeria were to get that far, against the current odds, expect at least one reporter to be running for cover.

"I will love it. I will kiss you all over," the former Nigeria captain turned 'Big Boss' assured a news conference at the Baixada arena, where his players kick off their campaign on Monday.

African champions Nigeria are one of five representatives from the continent competing in Brazil - the others are Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana and Ivory Coast - and face a tough task to get through a Group F that also includes Argentina and Bosnia.

However Keshi said their chances should not be under-estimated.
Asked how close he felt Africa was to winning the Cup for the first time, he did not hesitate: "Very close.

"Because they (the African sides) are good. As good as any other teams that are here. I think this tournament is an open tournament. We just have to do what we have to do," he continued.

Ghana's Black Stars were a penalty shootout away from becoming the first African side to reach the semi-finals at the last World Cup in South Africa in 2010 while Nigeria have twice previously reached the second round.

Cameroon made it to the quarter-finals in 1990 and Senegal in 2002.

"This team is growing, it's like a baby," Keshi said of his current crop of players, when asked to compare them with his class of World Cup debutants 20 years ago. "This team is just a year and a half-old. The team of 1994 was almost five or six years old.

"In 1994, the spirit was very high, we didn't care where the (opposing) team was coming from, we knew we are going to go out there and win the game. Here, we're building that, we try to bring the same spirit.

"Once we get the spirit, trust me, it's going to be two times as strong as 1994."

One of two African coaches at the finals, the other being Ghana's Kwasi Appiah, Keshi said it was time the continent nurtured home-grown managerial talent.

"We haven't been given enough chances or opportunity or time to show what we can do," said the coach, who qualified Togo for the 2006 finals only to be ousted before the tournament.

"The biggest problem is that once you do the dirty job of getting the team qualified as an African coach, when you come to the big stage that's when they think that you're not experienced and they need a European coach to come in."

When Nigeria competed at the 1994 tournament in the United States, the coach was Dutchman Clemens Westerhof. In 1998, it was the turn of Serbian Bora Milutinovic after Frenchman Philippe Troussier had secured qualification.

"I think this is wrong," said Keshi. "A lot of African seasoned coaches that are there and can make Africans proud are not being given opportunities to do so."

Reuters

Related stories: Video - FIFA World Cup 2014 Team Profle: Nigeria Super Eagles

Video - Nigeria Super Eagles putting faith in young squad for 2014 World Cup

Increasing possiblilty that kidnapped schoolgirls may never be rescued

It's now been two months since terrorist group Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 Nigerian school girls in the country's unstable north.

Despite new aerial patrols from U.S. drones, no progress has been made in locating them. This past week, former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo said some of the girls may never return home. And ordinary Nigerians are accusing the Nigerian government of trying to stifle their pleas to keep the situation top of mind.

In an op-ed on Project Syndicate, former British PM Gordon Brown goes a step further, discussing the gruesome reason for why the campaign may have already been lost:

...it is likely that in the month since Boko Haram released a video of the girls flanked by gunmen, the girls have been split into groups of 40-50. If one group is rescued by force, the others will be murdered, creating a serious tactical dilemma for the Nigerian government’s special forces.

And, as the world’s attention shifts to other global trouble spots, such as Iraq, intense international scrutiny is giving way to what seems like silent acceptance of the girls’ fate. The fight to maintain global support has become an uphill one for Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, despite his direct appeal to the whole world for help in securing the girls’ release.

A Times of India report says the Nigerian government has now turned to the Sri Lankan government for advice in counteracting the movement, given the latter's experience defeating the Tamil Tigers. That campaign resulted in tens of thousands of civilian casualties. So it seems like whatever , the price for doing so may be extreme.



Written Rob Wile

Business Insider

Related stories: Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo says some of the 200 abducted schoolgirls may never be found

Boko Haram disguised as military execute christians in church

Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo says some of the 200 abducted schoolgirls may never be found

Nigeria's former President Olusegun Obasanjo warned Friday that half of the over 200 abducted Nigerian school girls may never be found, in comments that will surely raise fears among the parents and guardians of the girls.

“It’s inconceivable to get all of them back. If you get all of them back, I will consider it a near-miracle. Do you think they will hold all of them together up till now? The logistics for them to do that, holding over 200 girls together, is too much,” Obasanjo told the local Premium Times newspaper.

It was the most pessimistic comments made on the chances of the girls being rescued safely since their abduction exactly two months ago Friday (13June).

PANA reports that an international coalition that includes the US, UK and Israel is working with Nigeria to find and rescue the girls, but there has yet been no breakthrough.

The terror group Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the abduction and vowed to release them only in exchange for their members who are being detained by the government nationwide.

But there are fears that the girls may have been scattered and taken outside Nigeria, which will make it difficult to get all of them released.

Obasanjo, who said the best option now is to negotiate with the abductors, also disclosed that he is willing to reach out to the Boko Haram leadership through a channel he had established, but would only do so if given the go ahead by President Goodluck Jonathan.

“If they (government) agree to negotiate then we can begin to talk with them (Boko Hara),” he said. “Nobody can do anything alone. You cannot do it alone, it is not a one man mission, it’s not even a two-man mission. It’s a collective mission. It can even be an international mission,” he said.

PanaPress

Related stories: Nigerian military claims to have found location of kidnapped schoolgirls

Boko Haram disguised as military execute christians in church

World Cup opening ceremony uses wrong flag for Nigeria

The opening ceremony organizers displayed the wrong flag while announcing Nigeria on Thursday. Instead of Nigeria's flag, it projected an image of Niger's flag onto the globe at midfield during the ceremony.

Twitter user Cameron Laws pointed out the blunder.

Nigeria's flag features three vertical stripes, with a white stripe sandwiched between two green stripes.

Niger's flag features three horizontal stripes. The top stripe is orange, sitting above a white stripe and a green stripe. There is an orange circle in the middle of the white stripe.

The neighboring African nations share a 450-mile border and maintain friendly relations. Nigeria is currently ranked No. 44 in FIFA rankings. Niger is ranked No. 112 and did not qualify for the World Cup.

This isn't the first time the wrong flag has been displayed during a major sporting event. In the 2012 London Olympics, a women's soccer match between North Korea and Colombia was delayed because the organizers showed the South Korean flag while introducing the North Korean team, and the players refused to take the field.

Yahoo

Related story: Video - FIFA World Cup 2014 Team Profle: Nigeria Super Eagles

Northern Nigeria police warn football fans - World Cup screening venues possible targets for Boko Haram

The authorities in Northern Nigeria are warning soccer fans that venues showing live coverage of the World Cup starting today may be targets of bomb attacks.

Police spokesman Frank Mba urged people “to exercise a lot of caution” and said in a statement yesterday that the security agencies will step up surveillance around viewing centers such as outdoor bars. The government has been battling militants loyal to Islamist group Boko Haram for the past five years.

A suspected suicide bomber killed three people on May 24 when his explosives detonated while he was driving toward a viewing site for the European Champions League soccer match between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid in the central Nigerian city of Jos.

During the 2010 World Cup, the al-Qaeda-linked militia based in Somalia, al-Shabaab, killed more than 70 people in twin bombings in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, at venues where crowds had gathered to watch the final on television.

Soldiers have closed venues preparing to screen World Cup matches in the northeastern Nigerian state of Adamawa to protect people from potential attacks, Ahmad Sajoh, a spokesman for the state governor, said yesterday. Adamawa has been under a state of emergency since May last year.

“Terrorists have previously targeted places where football matches are being viewed,” Britain’s Foreign Office said in its most recent travel advisory, issued on June 10.

Suicide Bombers

“Most suicide bombers are strangers in areas they are trying to attack and that is the reason why most often they ask questions about directions, especially if they are the ones driving themselves to the scene,” Mba said.

The World Cup kicks off at 9:00 p.m. Nigerian time today when host Brazil plays Croatia.

Boko Haram’s April 14 kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok, 386 miles (622 kilometers) to the northeast of the capital, Abuja, sparked international outrage and prompted the U.S. and the U.K. to send help to Nigeria to rescue them.

“Boko Haram remains primarily focused on delegitimizing the Nigerian government and terrorizing the Nigerian population, Muslims and Christians alike,” a U.S. State Department official, who wasn’t authorized to speak on the record, said on June 9.

Suspected Islamist militants abducted 20 women from near Chibok on June 8. Ethnic Fulani herders received a ransom demand of 40 head of cattle for each of those women, a local vigilante group leader said.

Bloomberg

Related stories: Video - FIFA World Cup 2014 Team Profle: Nigeria Super Eagles

Nigerian military generals court-martialed for aiding Boko Haram