World Cup Draw: Eagles Have Nothing to Fear, Says Nwosu

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

Super Eagles legend, Henry Nwosu, insisted wednesday that Nigeria has no reason to have sleepless nights about which of the world leading teams the three-time African champions will likely draw in Moscow friday.

All the 32 countries that qualified for the prestigious FIFA World Cup coming up next year will know their group rivals after the draw ceremony that holds at the Kremlin Palace.

Nwosu, a former captain of the national team, in a chat with THISDAY last night, said the Eagles should not develop cold feet about the prospect of drawing Brazil, Germany, Spain or the hosts nation, Russia.
He said there is no minnows amongst the teams going to the World Cup as all of them are at par.

“There is no superpower in football. Teams that excel at the World Cup are those that are tactically prepared for the big test. The World Cup is not a tea party and our boys should not have problems playing against anybody. There is no minnow at the World Cup; you are there because you are good enough. We can draw Brazil, Germany, Spain, Belgium or Russia. I am not scared of any of them,” Nwosu, who won the Africa Cup of Nations with the Super Eagles in 1980 as a schoolboy said.

The Super Eagles are in Pot 4 and will likely draw two tough teams from the other pots as FIFA used the world ranking to seed the teams into the pots.

Nigeria is in Pot 4 with Serbia, Australia, Japan, Morocco, Panama, South Korea and Saudi Arabia.
The draw sequence will start with Pot 1 and end with Pot 4. There is also a possibility of Nigeria landing in Group 1 with Russia.

Nwosu insisted that rather than worry about other teams, it the so-called big guns that are already fretting about Nigeria, which is not a new comer on the World Cup stage.

Nwosu also tipped Nigeria to finally come of age at the world football summit by reaching the quarter finals for the first time and improving on their best ever performance of the round of 16 attained in 1994, 1998 and 2014 editions.

“What are we afraid of? I am not under any pressure and am projecting a quarter final target for Nigeria, which in honesty, is a realistic benchmark,” Nwosu said.

He added that the present Eagles bunch, coaches and Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) administrators are hugely exposed in football politics and should know what to expect in Russia.