Sports
2010 W/Cup: S’Africa Fears Nobody – Parreina
Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira claims that his South Africa side will “fear nobody” at the World Cup, despite predictions that they will be the worst ever host nation.
Parreira made his comments after watching his side complete their pre-tournament warmup programme with a win over fellow finalists Denmark.
The Brazilian said Bafana Bafana, ranked 83rd in the world and previously tipped to be the worst host team yet in the 80-year history of the World Cup, had shown themselves ready for the tournament, which kicks off on Friday.
“Everyone has to respect us and we fear nobody,” said Parreira as South Africa looked ahead to a last week of preparation having beaten the Danes 1-0 in Pretoria last weekend.
“I believe the team has shown itself ready for the World Cup. We will go into the tournament with confidence and now we can start to dream about a position, about achieving something,” the former World Cup winner said.
Katlego Mphela’s late goal handed South Africa a third successive win and stretched to 12 games their unbeaten run since Parreira returned to coach the team in November last year.
“This was a very special win because it was against a good team with lots of experience. We played with confidence and showed we were willing to compete.
“The path we chose for the World Cup has been proven to be the right one. The players bought into the vision that they could play the ball on the ground, keep the shape and be well organised.”
South Africa open the World Cup against Mexico at the cavernous Soccer City and Parreira was quick to temper any bold predictions of success in the tournament’s first match.
“Mexico have proved they are a very good team. It’s a very difficult group that we have and we have to take each game as a final. But the competition is open and we will go into it with confidence.” They also meet Uruguay and France in their group.
Parreira also had a word of praise for a sudden surge of support for the team, reflected in capacity crowds at all their home matches over the last two months.
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.