FRANCE legendary despot Bonaparte Napoleon was renowned for asking if a potential general is lucky whenever he wanted to appoint a new commander of his troop. If the answer was a resounding yes, he went on to promptly appoint the new general.
Every hero needs luck. It’s the only element beyond human control. Yes, it is said great warriors or the brave make their own luck. Truth is luck cannot be made. It’s only endowed by the Divine. And only few are blessed with this essential aura for success in any life endeavour. I’d rather have a lucky general than a competent one.
So I started licking my lips when winners of little Djibouti/Swaziland came out of the hat as Nigeria’s first round opponents in the forthcoming race for the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia.
The first thought that crossed my mind was: ah, the stars must be smiling on Sunny. This is one of the easiest pairings of this round.
Yes, I know Nigeria were among the many seeds at this stage and were expected to get an easy draw. But if you consider that we could have landed Morocco, or Angola or even Sudan, then you know Super Eagles and new boss Sunday Oliseh couldn’t have asked for better opponents than any of the two Lilliputians we got.
Alright it’s not good to underrate your opponents, and new Eagles captain Ahmed Musa made the right noise by warning we shouldn’t underrate whoever we eventually got between Djibouti and Swaziland.
I also note most painfully that Super Eagles rating has dropped so alarmingly that we’re only considered the 10th best team in Africa – ah from world’s No-5 during Oliseh’s playing days to Africa’s No-10! That sums up our alarming decline.
However, even in our dream-walk and current abject condition, we should still make a light work of the Djiboutis and Swazilands of this world with all due respect.
I mean let whoever qualified from the clash between these two minnows go and hire the best players from Germany, Argentina, Brazil and the Netherlands ahead of their clash against Nigeria, they will still be expected to be beaten easily so far as they wear Djibouti or Swaziland’s colours and play under any of those names.
That shows the level of my confidence, really. Sudan might have prevented us from defending our Nations Cup crown early this year; Congo DR might have beaten us 3-2 at home last year with Uganda following suit early this year; and ah, yes we also failed to beat South Africa for the first time in a competitive match at our backyard.
But I refuse to believe we’re now as bad as having to struggle against the African minnows we’ve just drawn in our first battle to secure a ticket to Russia in 2018. Please, tell me I’m not dangerously overconfident!Or am I?
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