Why Nigeria, not Ghana, must be in Qatar – Message from Idorenyi Uyoe

[FILES] Super Eagles . Photo/twitter/NGSuperEagles

I am writing this on Thursday night. I have to do so in order to meet editorial and production deadlines.

I should naturally be writing about the ‘Big Matches’, the two World Cup qualifiers between Ghana and Nigeria, (one came up yesterday in Kumasi, Ghana, and the return leg shall be played three days from now in Abuja, Nigeria).

It is impossible for me to do justice to a proper preview of both matches. By the time you are reading this, the first match would have been played, won or lost. I need to know the result of the first match to preview the second next Tuesday night.

That’s impossible and awkward.

That leaves me in a quandary, sandwiched and stranded between the two matches between two of the biggest football rivals in Africa. Interestingly, the two teams have not played each other in 11 years.

For an academic purpose only, comparing the teams, player-to-player, on their most recent performances, on the feelers we are receiving from both camps on their psychology, and on the stability and confidence inside the two national camps, there should only be one winner – the Super Eagles. Next Tuesday night, they should secure their ‘boarding passes’ to Qatar 2022.

Beyond football, it is important that Nigeria uses the opportunity of the World Cup to take up its rightful place in world affairs, something that the ongoing war in Ukraine has thrown up again.

As I was struggling to put my thoughts down one of the Klitschko Brothers, a Ukrainian former World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, was asked why he joined the armed forces of Ukraine in the fight against the invasion by Russia.

His response speaks volumes. It is a useful reminder to all Black persons on earth, led by Nigeria to