Nigeria

Nigeria played their first game of this year’s tournament on Saturday afternoon against a well-respected Argentine side. The Nigerian team, known as the Super Eagles, didn’t manage to pull off an upset, but can hold their heads high after a narrow 1-0 defeat as the Argentine side is well recognised as one of the most skilled and dangerous teams in world football.

The other teams in Group B are Greece and South Korea. Greece are the team in form at the moment, with a current FIFA ranking of 13, but suffered a surprise 2-0 loss to South Korea in the opening game, casting doubt on their pre-tournament status as favourites for the second qualifying spot (almost certainly behind Argentina). While their showing in the 2008 European Championship left little to write home about, the 2004 European Champions will still be disappointed if they don’t make it to the last 16.

South Korea, for all that they are relatively unknown as a footballing nation in the West, still field a strong national side. The 2002 World Cup semi-finalists and 2010 runners-up for the East Asian Championship will be looking to build on their recent form and have already given their fanatical support base something to shout about in this tournament with a 2-0 victory over Greece on Saturday. A player to watch out for is Captain and midfielder Park Ji-Sung, who plays for Manchester United and scored their second goal in this year’s tournament.

The Argentine team is widely expected to lead the group, and with one look at their team roster, it’s easy to see why. Their entire team is rife with first- choice players for top-flight European clubs, and not just on the pitch- the Argentine bench is as scary as a lot of first teams here at the tournament!

For all that though, the Argentines have had a bit of a rough patch in qualifying, and footballing icon Diego Maradona’s coaching credentials have yet to come through a major test. They also labour under the pressure of being a favourite to do well in the tournament, and football is a game well-known for unexpected results.

Nigeria aren’t exactly short of the sort of talent needed to take advantage of that either- with players like Everton’s Yakubu Aiyegbeni and Joseph Yobo in the side, they are ranked a respectable 21^st in the World according to FIFA, the third-highest ranking African side after Egypt and Cameroon. They are also the only African side to have made it to the last 16 of a World Cup on more than one occasion, qualifying in two of their three appearances in 1994 and 1998. Their group in 2010, in fact, presents them with some familiar faces- in 1994, they beat out Greece and Bulgaria to qualify second to Argentina! They will certainly be hoping for a repeat performance here, though their ambition will aim to lead them even further.

Nigeria itself has one of the largest economies in Africa, and one of the fastest growing economies in the World. It has a very influential presence in West African politics, all of which means that its relative stability since its return to democracy in 1999 is a good thing not just for Nigerians, but also for all of West Africa. However, the internal and international disputes that surrounded the 2007 elections, and the death of President Yar’Adua earlier this year, have served to indicate how fragile that stability still is- Nigeria has huge potential for growth and is one of the economic powers of the future, but it does labour under some heavy burdens.

While Nigeria’s economy is strong, for example, it is also the eighth most populous nation in the World, and roughly seventy per cent of its hundred and forty nine million citizens live in poverty. Nigeria’s natural resources are rich- it is an oil producer, among other things, and a member of OPEC- but problems with corruption still persist, and with the standard of education being generally poor, few Nigerians have the skills necessary to take advantage of the skilled jobs that foreign investment brings. That is one thing that we at Computers 4 Africa will be hoping to change, with your help, over the next few years.