Will Luck Smile on Eagles as Draw Holds in Russia?

Starting from 4pm Nigerian time this evening, three-time African champions, the Super Eagles and Nigerians, will begin to have a whiff of the fortune that awaits their darling team at the FIFA World Cup 2018 Draw in Russia. The State Kremlin Palace is the venue where the race to the ultimate trophy will begin in earnest.

Eagles who qualified first as one of Africa’s five representatives at Russia 2018 will watch with anxiety, just like all the other 31 countries, which group they are going to be paired in.

Will mother luck smile on Nigeria to get a soft group? Will they be unfortunate to get tough pairing like it happened in the African qualifiers when they drew reigning champions Cameroon, past AFCON winner Zambia and Algeria that stretched eventual winner of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Germany, to the limit before being subdued? Nigeria survived and even finished the series unbeaten and first to pick a ticket in the continent.

But the World Cup is a different ball game. It is the summit of the global football. Any country that made it to this stage cannot be called a minnow. Algeria proved it against the German Machines. Way back, Nigeria even as debutants in 1994, almost upset the apple chart, stretching Italy into the dying minutes of regulation time. Four years later, Spain with legendary Zubizaretta in goal fell to Nigeria in France. There are countless upsets in the history of the Mundial way back to the early days in the 1930s.

It is against this backdrop that Gernot Rohr’s tough talk of not scared of any of the teams may not be empty sound.

Speaking from the Crowne Plaza World Trade Centre, Moscow yesterday morning after he landed in the Russian capital for the showpiece event, Rohr insisted that there is no weak squad in the 32-team field, and anyone hoping to play so-called ‘average teams’ in the group phase is only guilty of wishful thinking.

“All the teams that are in the Final Draw, except the host nation Russia, played qualifying matches. They all emerged from tough encounters and therefore, none can be tagged ‘weak.’

Friday evening, we will enter the State Kremlin Palace for the Final Draw and a couple of hours later, everyone will know their opponents. There is no apprehension. If you have to be listed among the best, you have to conquer the better teams and even beat some of the best,” observed the Franco-German gaffer who was recently rewarded with a fresh two-year deal in-charge of the emerging powerhouse in global football.

The Russians who battled image problems due to dope infractions involving their top stars in other sports, have promised to make tonight’s show a memorable one. Russia is determined to topple whatever has been done previously in the final draws in the past 20 editions.

To start with, the Draw Ceremony is being held inside the State Kremlin Palace – the Parliament of the Russian Federation, which served the same purpose when the country was a much bigger, more intimidating Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).