Nigeria
The Road to the 2018 FIFA World Cup
The Super Eagles faced a ‘group of death’ in African qualifying, being drawn with Cameroon, Algeria and Zambia. The battle was expected to go to the wire, but ultimately Gernot Rohr’s team qualified in relative comfort, topping the group with one game to spare.
Qualifying was far from plain sailing on the coaching front, however, with the team changing manager several times. In February 2016, Sunday Oliseh resigned and, before Rohr was named manager, the team worked with two local caretaker managers: Samson Siasia, who played at the 1994 World Cup, and Salisu Yusuf.
Stars
Nigeria have boasted past greats such as Nwankwo Kanu and Jay-Jay Okocha. Today the team has right wing-back Victor Moses, who has revitalized his career at Chelsea. He was Nigeria’s top scorer in qualifying with three goals, even though he only played in four matches. Moses was part of the team that won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations and he also played at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Ahmed Musa’s bright performances for CSKA Moscow earned him a move to 2015/16 Premier League champions Leicester City, but the rapid forward spent most of his time on the bench and in January returned to CSKA on loan in the hopes of gaining more game time.
Leicester also have two other Nigerian internationals on the books: forward Kelechi Iheanacho, on loan from Manchester City, and defensive midfielder Wilfred Ndidi – both of whom are young but more than capable of making their mark at Russia 2018.
Another emerging player worth mentioning is 21-year-old Arsenal winger Alex Iwobi, who sparked a tussle for his allegiance between England and Nigeria when he broke onto the international stage, having dual citizenship of both nations and even playing for England’s youth teams. Eventually, Iwobi opted for the country of his ancestors – something no doubt made easier by the fact that Jay-Jay Okocha is his uncle.
Coach
German Gernot Rohr, 64, is mainly known in Europe for his tenure with Bordeaux, having spent most of his playing career with the French club before becoming manager. As a young coach he led the Girondins to the 1996 UEFA Cup final, where his team were beaten by German giants Bayern Munich.
Rohr later worked with other French clubs, but a silverware-free period saw him move on to Africa. Since 2008, the German has been working on the continent almost without interruption, managing Gabon, Niger and Burkina Faso. While Rohr didn’t achieve much of note with these teams, he guided Nigeria to the World Cup at the first time of asking.
Past Achievements
The 2018 World Cup in Russia will be Nigeria’s sixth appearance at the Finals. Since debuting at the World Cup in 1994, the team’s best result is reaching the round of 16. That USA ‘94 team were knocked out by Italy, despite leading until the 89th minute, before Roberto Baggio rescued the favorites by scoring the equalizer and then grabbing the winner in extra time.
Four years later in France, Nigeria went on to the knockout stage once again. But on that occasion they were routed by Denmark 4-1. In 2014 Nigeria, with Musa and Soviet-born Peter Odemwingie, faced France in the round of 16 and lost after a goal by Paul Pogba and an own goal by the experienced former Everton man Joseph Yobo.