The draw for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia has commenced.
The ceremony is taking place at the state Kremlin Palace in Moscow and attended by dignitaries from across the world.
The 32 participating countries including Nigeria will be divided into eight groups of four teams each during the event.
Ahead of Friday’s Final Draw, Spain’s Andrés Iniesta have congratulated Nigeria for qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup slated for Russia. In the same vein, Nigeria’s Mikel Obi congratulated Costa Rica for also qualifying for the biggest football Mundial in the world.
Other key players representing each of the teams that have qualified for the FIFA World Cup™ have taken time to congratulate each other based on the order of qualification for Russia 2018. From host country star Fyodor Smolov to Jefferson Farfán, who booked the last World Cup spot with Peru, all players recorded the following statement – the first part in their mother tongue and the second in the language of the team being congratulated:
Congratulations (name of country) – see you in Russia!
The video features a mosaic of languages and includes, among others, Neymar doing his best to speak Farsi, Robert Lewandowski congratulating Egypt in Arabic, and Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Elneny giving a good account of himself in Icelandic. To see the outcome, check the full video available here on FIFA’s YouTube channel.
“See you in Russia” video
PLAYER/COUNTRY TEAM CONGRATULATED
Fyodor Smolov/Russia Brazil
Neymar/Brazil Iran
Sardar Azmoun/Iran Japan
Yuto Nagatomo/Japan Mexico
Guillermo Ochoa/Mexico Belgium
Axel Witsel/Belgium Korea Republic
Ki Sung-Yueng/Korea Republic Saudi Arabia
Mohammad Al-Sahlawi/Saudi Arabia Germany
Toni Kroos/Germany England
Eric Dier/England Spain
Andrés Iniesta/Spain Nigeria
John Obi Mikel/Nigeria Costa Rica
Bryan Ruiz/Costa Rica Poland
Robert Lewandowski/Poland Egypt
Mohamed Elneny/Egypt Iceland
Gylfi Sigurðsson/Iceland Serbia
Nemanja Matić/Serbia Portugal
Cristiano Ronaldo/Portugal France
Antoine Griezmann/France Argentina
Lionel Messi/Argentina Colombia
Carlos Sánchez/Colombia Uruguay
Edison Cavani/Uruguay Panama
Gabriel Torres/Panama Senegal
Cheikhou Kouyaté/Senegal Morocco
Medhi Benatia/Morocco Tunisia
Youssef Msakni/Tunisia Switzerland
Stephan Lichtsteiner/Switzerland Croatia
Luka Modrić/Croatia Sweden
Andreas Granqvist/Sweden Denmark
Christian Eriksen/Denmark Australia
Trent Sainsbury/Australia Peru
Jefferson Farfán/Peru All teams
Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi and Kelechi Iheanacho of Manchester City are in the running for various CAF Awards.
In the category of Most Promising Talent, Iheanacho is listed with fellow Nigerian Oghenekaro Etebo, Guinean Naby Keita, Elia Meshack of DR Congo and Ramadan Soby of Egypt.
Iheanacho scored in four consecutive matches for the Super Eagles against Mali, Luxembourg, Tanzania and Zambia, and had been quite impressive for his English top tier club, for whom he scored in the UEFA Champions League last week.
Etebo was the hero of Nigeria’s bronze medal feat at the Olympics in Brazil, scoring four goals in the 5-4 thumping of Japan.
The Youth Player of the Year list was headed by Iwobi, who scored Nigeria’s first goal of the 2018 FIFA World Cup race, away to Zambia in Ndola in October. He contests with Ghanaians Eric Ayiah and Sandra Owusu-Ansah, Ivorian Franck Kessie and Mali U20 ace Sidiki Maiga.
Super Falcons’ forward Asisat Oshoala was listed alongside South African Janine Van Wyk, Ghanaian Elizabeth Addo and Cameroonians Gabrielle Aboudi Onguene and Raissa Feudjio Tchuanyo for the Women’s Player of the Year.
Oshoala won the award in 2014, alongside being named Youth Player of the Year.
Cameroonian Gaelle Deborah Enganamouit was named Women’s Player of the Year 2015. Florence Omagbemi, the only person to have won the Women Africa Cup of Nations as captain and coach, contests for Coach of the Year with DR Congo’s Florent Ibenge, Uganda Coach Milutin Sredojevic, Nacer Sandjak of CAF Confederation Cup winners MO Bejaia and Pitso Mosimane of CAF Champions League winners Mamelodi Sundowns.
Nigeria’s Super Falcons will battle for Women’s Team of the Year with Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa and Zimbabwe, while Nigeria’s U23 team, bronze winners at the Olympics, will tug with DR Congo (CHAN winners), Senegal, Guinea Bissau and Uganda (the last two for qualifying for 2017 AFCON). Guinea Bissau is making its debut, while Uganda is back among the elites of African football after 38 years.
Sundowns, Bejaia, TP Mazembe, Zamalek and Zesco United compete for Club of the Year, while Gambian Papa Gassama, Egyptian Ghead Grisha and Senegalese Malang Diedhiou are in the race for Referee of the Year. Incidentally, Gassama handled the Nigeria/Algeria 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier in Uyo, while Grisha was in charge of the first qualifying match away to Zambia in Ndola.
The awards ceremony is slated for January 5 in Abuja.
John Obi Mikel has insisted that Nigeria cannot afford to miss the 2018 FIFA World Cup following their failure to reach the 2017 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Gabon.
The Super Eagles will host Algeria at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium tomorrow, and the captain of the team believes that the unity in the team will help them conquer the Greens when both sides clash this weekend in Uyo.
“Missing out on the 2017 Cup of Nations in Gabon means there is an extra motivation to win our group and go to Russia. Everybody knows Algeria have great players, but we also have really good footballers and a family-like atmosphere within the squad,” Mikel told media.
“It is nice to play with young footballers who are hungry and want to establish themselves as first choices. I am reminded of my early days in the national team, playing beside stars like Jay-Jay Okocha and Nwankwo Kanu. It was a great pleasure playing with them.
“It is the same with guys like Alex and Kelechi. We enjoy representing our country, creating scoring opportunities and following the instructions of the coach.”
The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday was optimistic that the Super Eagles will qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
He spoke at the National Stadium, Abuja when he paid a surprise visit to the team and the Super Falcons during their training sessions.
The Super Eagles is billed to play World Cup qualifying match against Algeria on Saturday.
The Super Falcons also is preparing for the 10th Women Africa Cup of Nations taking place in Cameroon later in the month.
Arriving the venue of the training session when the players were rounding up for the day, Osinbajo commended the Super Eagles for their patriotism and commitment to the cause of the nation.
He hailed the team for winning their away match against Zambia.
With the victory, he noted that the players had shown their determination to conquer their group and qualify for the World Cup.
He said: “I want to assure you that the government and people of Nigeria are behind you in your quest to qualify for the World Cup.
“I believe that you will certainly pick the ticket from your group to make it to the World Cup finals,” he added.
The team’s captain, Mikel Obi, thanked Osinbajo for the visit on behalf of his teammates.
During the session with the Super Falcons, Osinbajo also expressed optimism that the players, as defending champions, will retain the trophy in Cameroon.
“I am happy that you girls are the reigning African champions, and I believe you will go to Cameroon and retain your trophy.
“The whole nation is behind you. You must start by beating Mali and then going all the way so as to bring the Cup back to Nigeria,” he said.
The team’s captain, Evelyn Nwabuoku, thanked the Vice-President and promised that the Falcons are committed to retaining their continental title.
Super Eagles captain, Mikel Obi, has set his sights on qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup with Nigeria.
Mikel, who led Nigeria’s U-23 team to win bronze medal at the just concluded Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, believes he can lead the Super Eagles to Russia in 2018.
“Nigeria is a massive country and a footballing country as well, so where we are now in terms of football is not where we want to be,” Goal quoted Mikel as saying in an interview with Newsweek.
“Let’s hope this [the bronze medal] can motivate the national team.
“Now we have the World Cup qualifiers coming up, we have to be ready for that.
“We have to make sure we prepare well and qualify for the World Cup.”
Nigeria, who recently appointed German Gernot Rohr as technical adviser plays in Group B of World Cup qualifying with Algeria, Cameroon and Zambia.
… To play Cameroon, Algeria, Zambia in group B
Three-time African champions, Nigeria, on Friday evening landed in a “Group of Death” in the draws for the third round, 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying, African Zone, held in Cairo, Egypt.
The Super Eagles will play in group B alongside the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, Fennecs of Algeria and the Chipolopolo of Zambia.
The 2018 World Cup qualifiers will begin across the continent in October.
The pairings:
A – Libya, Guinea, DR Congo, Tunisia
B– Zambia, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria
C– Gabon, Morocco, Mali, Cote d’ Ivoire
D – Burkina Faso, South Africa, Cape Verde, Senegal
E – Uganda, Congo, Egypt, Ghana
Nigeria hopes to make history at the 2018 World Cup in Russia by becoming the first African team ever to reach the semi-finals.
The Nigerians had reached the Round of 16 on three of their five World Cup appearances.
“All efforts we are building now are geared towards getting Nigeria to play the semi-finals in Russia,” Amaju Pinnick, the Nigeria Football Federation president, told BBC Sport.
“We have the manpower to do that. The talent in Nigeria is amazing.”
Pinnick’s comments might come as a surprise given Nigeria failed to qualify for this year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea.
Two years ago Nigeria won the title but the decline has been brought about by a mixture of turmoil within the NFF, the sacking and rehiring of coach Stephen Keshi and threats of FIFA bans for government interference in football matters.
Nonetheless, Pinnick, who assumed control of Nigerian football, last September following protracted elections, lists a number of reasons why Africa’s largest country – with a population of 170million people – can finally deliver at the World Cup.
He believes technology, “capacity-building” for Keshi, a better local league, the country’s natural ability and enhanced administration can provide the platform for significant growth.
The NFF boss travelled to London this week with five staff to belatedly tap into long-standing technological applications.
“Our coaches can be technically sound but technologically they were inept, because football for me is driven more by technology than anything else,” said Pinnick.
“We are in the process of acquiring match analysis software, so that when we go back home, we won’t play our matches blindly. We are starting late but we are getting it right – that’s the most important point.
“We now have the match analysis software that can analyse games for us and give us directions because normally we play matches without knowing our opponents nor their strengths and weaknesses,” he stated.