Sports
Nigerians In South Africa Wear Super Eagles Jersey2010 W/Cup
Officials of the Nigerian Consulate and Nigerians living in South Africa wore the Super Eagles colours, as the country celebrated its last “Football Friday’’ before the World Cup.
Tidesports South African source reports that the world’s most spectacular sporting event will start on June 11 and end on July 11.
Some of the Nigerians also hoisted the country’s flag on their cars as they drove around the city of Johannesburg.
The Nigerian Consulate officials in Johannesburg donned the Super Eagles colours for the day’s duties in solidarity with the team.
The Consul-General, Mr Okey Emuchay, said the Eagles would make Nigeria proud during the football tournament, adding that the consulate’s mission was to make the atmosphere conducive for the Eagles to perform well.
“We are all donning the Eagles colours to mobilise support for the team,” Emuchay said, promising that Nigerians in South Africa were ready to give support to the team.
The Super Eagles played a friendly match against North Korea in Johannesburg on Sunday (June 6) and they were also be hosted by the Nigerian mission in the country.
The team will begin their World Cup campaign with a match against Argentina at the Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg on June 12.
“Football Friday” is a programme in South Africa whereby South Africans don the Bafana Bafana colours every Friday.
As the last one was celebrated on Friday, FIFA President Sepp Blatter officially handed over the World Cup trophy to South Africa’s Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe in Pretoria.
Blatter lauded South Africans for the interest they had shown in hosting the first World Cup tournament on African soil.
He noted that the preparations for the competition were in order, while the teams coming in to South Africa were happy.
Blatter lauded former President Nelson Mandela’s role in securing the hosting rights for South Africa and said that from his interaction with Mandela, the icon wanted to be at the opening ceremony.
Motlanthe said that South Africa had worked hard to ensure that it fulfilled all the FIFA requirements in hosting the World Cup.
He thanked Blatter for believing in South Africa’s competence to host the football tournament amid the pessimism in some quarters.
By FIFA protocol, a Head of State is expected to receive the World Cup trophy before the onset of the football tournament and Motlanthe, in his capacity as Acting President, accepted the cup on behalf of the South African government.
Iwobi spoke to Tidesports source ahead of Nigeria’s crunch playoff semi-final against Gabon on Thursday, November 13, in Rabat, Morocco.
The 28-year-old was reacting to Nigeria’s shaky World Cup qualifying campaign that saw the Eagles finish second in Group C behind South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
“We’ve managed to rescue ourselves from the dead,” Iwobi told Tidesports source.
We know we have the players and the abilities to compete against any other country in the world.”
The Fulham star pointed to Nigeria’s star power, highlighting African Footballer of the Year winners Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen as proof of the squad’s quality.
“We have last year’s African best player (Ademola Lookman), the year before that (Victor Osimhen),” he said.
“It’ll be a shame if we don’t make it, but we have a lot of confidence. We just have to prove it to ourselves.”
Nigeria’s path to the United States, Canada and Mexico has been turbulent, with two coaches departing during the early stages of qualifying before Éric Chelle steadied the ship to steer the Super Eagles into November’s CAF playoffs.
Four nations from the continent – Nigeria, Cameroon, DR Congo and Gabon – will vie for a solitary spot to compete in next March’s inter-confederation playoffs, with a view to joining the already nine qualified African nations at the Finals.
It would mark Iwobi’s second appearance at the World Cup Finals and the Super Eagles’ first since the 2018 edition of the competition.
Back then, Iwobi featured in all three games as Nigeria was knocked out in the group stage.
The Chief Executive Officer(CEO) and Publisher of the Atlantic Bell Online medium, Mr. Celestine Ogolo has advised sports writers in Nigeria to diversify in sports writing and not to concentrate on football reporting alone.
The Deputy National President of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Mr. Bonny Nyong has expressed commitment to support sports development and move SWAN forward.