Coca Cola World Cup Special report
- Details
- Category: Sports
- Written by ODEGBAMI ON SATURDAY segunodegbami@mathmatical7.com segunodegbami@hotmail
- Hits: 633
Welcome to South Africa. For the next five weeks I shall take readers through a unique World Cup experience, looking at the events in South Africa through my yes, providing insightful reports and special interviews with special people.
I have just arrived Johannesburg. The over 5 hours trip is mostly uneventful. 3 monstrous planes, all fully loaded, arrive the OR Tambo Johannesburg international airport from Nigeria a few minutes apart. The first is an MTN special charter with its manifest of passengers made up of winners of its promotions, clients and customers as well as other Nigerians from all walks of life specially invited as guests of the communications company. In this group I saw Fabio Olanipekun, veteran sports journalist, and Reuben Abati, Chairman of the editorial board of the Guardian newspaper. The second aircraft is one of Arik Airline’s fleet of new flying giants presently dominating the skies over most of Africa, proudly flying the Nigerian flag and advertising a successful indigenous international enterprise in Nigeria. Its passengers include many Nigerian political and business moguls. I sighted the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force for South Africa 2010 and Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi; the Governor of Delta State, Emmanuel Uduaghan, several senators and members of the House of Representatives. The third aircraft is the one I came in, a South African Airways jumbo jet. This airline has been making a kill since South Africa became a destination of choice for the travelling army of business-minded Nigerians. My group included a delegation of the Federal Government, members of the Presidential Task Force, the Honourable Minister of External Affairs and his wife, a loose assembly of some journalists, business people, the Marketing Director of Coca Cola, Austin Ufomba, Senators Heineken, Mamora, Arise, several members of the House of Representatives, and a few others. Nothing eventful happened on the flight apart from the banter over the prospects of Nigeria at the World Champion. We arrived in the early hours of Thursday. Then a most unbelievable incident happened. I believe it is to mark the beginning of the drama that will characterise the first World Cup to take place in Africa.
Lost in Johannesburg
There are several chartered buses waiting at the airport to take the Nigerian contingent to Sandton in Johannesburg. 10 of us get into one. The time is about 6 O’clock in the morning. Our bus is the first to leave the parking lot but the last to leave the airport. For some reason the bus driver can’t seem to understand the payment system. We finally leave some 30 or so minutes behind the others. We drive out just as dawn breaks through the chill greyness of the morning, with the rays of the rising sun flooding yellow across the land of luminous trees and vehicular flickering head lamps. The trip should take no more than 30 minutes or so. Most of us dose off. The car stops somewhere, I open my eyes, and I see the driver and the South African tour guide sitting beside him in front asking for direction from some pedestrians on a street that looks so completely unfamiliar. We are surely are not on the smooth superhighway that i have driven on two times now in the past three months. We are in some Ghetto, something from the pictures I have seen of Soweto. The surrounding houses and environment immediately tell me that something is amiss. Whats going on, we ask. The silence from the front seats confirm our worst fears. Where are we? How did we get here? Are we being kidnapped or what? Everyone is wide awake now. We are lost! We are supposed toe travel through some of the most beautiful roads and environs leading into Johannesburg, not some suburban roads and environment that scream poverty and under-development. This is not the South Africa on all global television networks inviting the world to the country of the Serengeti, the safaris, the Cape and the Table Mountain.
Let me cut a long story short. We are all mad at this point. Abdulmumuni Aminu gets very angry. If the South African driver and guide have something sinister up their sleeves he is ready for them, he yells at the top of his raging voice. He is ready to kill if they do anything suspicious, he screams. They panic! The thought of all the talk about the insecurity in South Africa flash through my mind and, I am sure, that of everyone else in the bus that is now a cacophony of curses and abuses.
The driver starts his confession. He is new in Jo’burg. He was hired from the local intercity bus garage and he told those that hired him he does not know anywhere in the city. They assured him he would be given a guide to direct him. He is in the city from a neighbouring province outside Johannesburg to exploit the business opportunity that the World Cup presents South Africans. The guide also confesses he is new and apparently knows his way around Sandton, our destination, and not the route that leads to it. So whilst we slept they drove us away from Johannesburg in a direction even they do not know - the blind leading the blind! We tell them to take us back to the airport. The driver says he cannot find his way back. We are thoroughly lost at this point!
We leave the bumbling pedestrians who are unable to give us any directions. We continue down the road and see a sign that says ‘Metro Police’. We follow the signs. We find a police station after some 5 minutes. We go in there and find only one policewoman on duty. It is early in the morning! We tell her our story and predicament. She stares at us in bemusement and bewilderment. How on earth did we arrive at a place so far away from where we should be? It is like going to the North Pole and heading South she tells us! She calls for support. It comes eventually in the form of two policemen in a patrol car. They cannot take us to Sandton because it is outside their jurisdiction, but they will take us back to the main highway that leads to Sandton and show us further directions. The driver now finally admits that cannot even be helpful as he does not know anywhere in Johannesburg. The vision of a raging and the bloody-eyed Abdulmumuni must be flashing through his mind! The police get permission from their head office to take us beyond their territory. It is now almost two hours since we left the airport. We finally feel secure in the company of the leading patrol car. The city is fully awake at this time. The traffic is dense and crawling! We snarl for another hour and finally arrive at the Radisson Blu Hotel, our destination.
So what really happened? Almost 20 years since apartheid ended in South Africa, a vast number of Black South Africans still do not know the city of Johannesburg well. It was a no-go area for them and as they are attracted to it by the opportunities thrown up by the World Cup, they do anything to get a bit of the action, including taking up jobs and assignments they are either not familiar with or know absolutely nothing about as in our first-hand experience. All is well now though.
I settle down quickly, get my pen and paper and to have a conversation with a few people around me about their expectations for the World Cup and for the Super Eagles as they start their journey into the unknown called the 2010 World Cup, where everything is possible.
Conversation with:
Larry Izamoje, Chairman, Brila Sports FM radio
The coach must go for a point against Argentina and go for the three points against the other two countries. Against Argentina he must play the 4-5-1 formation. He must reduce the attack by one to cover Nigeria’s weakest area - the midfield if the Eagles are to stand any chance.
Ponga Liwewe, Presenter on Supersports tv.
Nigeria must not give too much respect to Argentina. They are not quite as organised technically and tactically as they were in the past. There are a lot of questions about Maradona’s organisational abilities. Nigeria must exploit these. My favourites for the championship are Brazil. Spain have shown in the last few seasons that they are one of the best in the world. The Germans always will do well even if the team appears to be very weak this time around.
John Mastoroudes, member NFF Technical Committee and PTF
I think Lagerbeck will play the 4-5-1 system. I am very concerned about Nigeria’s chances though, even if I am also confident that the team will qualify from the group. I do not see us beating Argentina. We shall get our points from the other matches.
Felix Awogu, General Manager, Supersports Nigeria
To be frank, after all the friendlies by the different teams, I did not see enough. I believe it is the team with the will to win that can go all the way. The championship is open, there is no favourite team in this World Cup.
As for the Super Eagles, there was no real opportunity to assess the team. I shall not rush into conclusions. Against Argentina anything can happen. The Argentines are themselves not such a good team. They are lucky to have qualified for the World Cup. I have not been impressed with them and have lost respect for Maradona’s coaching ability. Messi is one player that can make all the difference though. In the end between Argentina and Nigeria, it is the team with the will to win, that wants to win it badly enough, that will win.
Articles
Coca Cola World Cup Special report
Category: Sports Written by ODEGBAMI ON SATURDAY segunodegbami@mathmatical7.com segunodegbami@hotmail Hits: 633
Welcome to South Africa. For the next five weeks I shall take readers through a unique World Cup experience, looking at the events in South Africa through my yes, providing insightful reports and special interviews with special people.
I have just arrived Johannesburg. The over 5 hours trip is mostly uneventful. 3 monstrous planes, all fully loaded, arrive the OR Tambo Johannesburg international airport from Nigeria a few minutes apart. The first is an MTN special charter with its manifest of passengers made up of winners of its promotions, clients and customers as well as other Nigerians from all walks of life specially invited as guests of the communications company. In this group I saw Fabio Olanipekun, veteran sports journalist, and Reuben Abati, Chairman of the editorial board of the Guardian newspaper. The second aircraft is one of Arik Airline’s fleet of new flying giants presently dominating the skies over most of Africa, proudly flying the Nigerian flag and advertising a successful indigenous international enterprise in Nigeria. Its passengers include many Nigerian political and business moguls. I sighted the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force for South Africa 2010 and Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi; the Governor of Delta State, Emmanuel Uduaghan, several senators and members of the House of Representatives. The third aircraft is the one I came in, a South African Airways jumbo jet. This airline has been making a kill since South Africa became a destination of choice for the travelling army of business-minded Nigerians. My group included a delegation of the Federal Government, members of the Presidential Task Force, the Honourable Minister of External Affairs and his wife, a loose assembly of some journalists, business people, the Marketing Director of Coca Cola, Austin Ufomba, Senators Heineken, Mamora, Arise, several members of the House of Representatives, and a few others. Nothing eventful happened on the flight apart from the banter over the prospects of Nigeria at the World Champion. We arrived in the early hours of Thursday. Then a most unbelievable incident happened. I believe it is to mark the beginning of the drama that will characterise the first World Cup to take place in Africa.
Lost in Johannesburg
There are several chartered buses waiting at the airport to take the Nigerian contingent to Sandton in Johannesburg. 10 of us get into one. The time is about 6 O’clock in the morning. Our bus is the first to leave the parking lot but the last to leave the airport. For some reason the bus driver can’t seem to understand the payment system. We finally leave some 30 or so minutes behind the others. We drive out just as dawn breaks through the chill greyness of the morning, with the rays of the rising sun flooding yellow across the land of luminous trees and vehicular flickering head lamps. The trip should take no more than 30 minutes or so. Most of us dose off. The car stops somewhere, I open my eyes, and I see the driver and the South African tour guide sitting beside him in front asking for direction from some pedestrians on a street that looks so completely unfamiliar. We are surely are not on the smooth superhighway that i have driven on two times now in the past three months. We are in some Ghetto, something from the pictures I have seen of Soweto. The surrounding houses and environment immediately tell me that something is amiss. Whats going on, we ask. The silence from the front seats confirm our worst fears. Where are we? How did we get here? Are we being kidnapped or what? Everyone is wide awake now. We are lost! We are supposed toe travel through some of the most beautiful roads and environs leading into Johannesburg, not some suburban roads and environment that scream poverty and under-development. This is not the South Africa on all global television networks inviting the world to the country of the Serengeti, the safaris, the Cape and the Table Mountain.
Let me cut a long story short. We are all mad at this point. Abdulmumuni Aminu gets very angry. If the South African driver and guide have something sinister up their sleeves he is ready for them, he yells at the top of his raging voice. He is ready to kill if they do anything suspicious, he screams. They panic! The thought of all the talk about the insecurity in South Africa flash through my mind and, I am sure, that of everyone else in the bus that is now a cacophony of curses and abuses.
The driver starts his confession. He is new in Jo’burg. He was hired from the local intercity bus garage and he told those that hired him he does not know anywhere in the city. They assured him he would be given a guide to direct him. He is in the city from a neighbouring province outside Johannesburg to exploit the business opportunity that the World Cup presents South Africans. The guide also confesses he is new and apparently knows his way around Sandton, our destination, and not the route that leads to it. So whilst we slept they drove us away from Johannesburg in a direction even they do not know - the blind leading the blind! We tell them to take us back to the airport. The driver says he cannot find his way back. We are thoroughly lost at this point!
We leave the bumbling pedestrians who are unable to give us any directions. We continue down the road and see a sign that says ‘Metro Police’. We follow the signs. We find a police station after some 5 minutes. We go in there and find only one policewoman on duty. It is early in the morning! We tell her our story and predicament. She stares at us in bemusement and bewilderment. How on earth did we arrive at a place so far away from where we should be? It is like going to the North Pole and heading South she tells us! She calls for support. It comes eventually in the form of two policemen in a patrol car. They cannot take us to Sandton because it is outside their jurisdiction, but they will take us back to the main highway that leads to Sandton and show us further directions. The driver now finally admits that cannot even be helpful as he does not know anywhere in Johannesburg. The vision of a raging and the bloody-eyed Abdulmumuni must be flashing through his mind! The police get permission from their head office to take us beyond their territory. It is now almost two hours since we left the airport. We finally feel secure in the company of the leading patrol car. The city is fully awake at this time. The traffic is dense and crawling! We snarl for another hour and finally arrive at the Radisson Blu Hotel, our destination.
So what really happened? Almost 20 years since apartheid ended in South Africa, a vast number of Black South Africans still do not know the city of Johannesburg well. It was a no-go area for them and as they are attracted to it by the opportunities thrown up by the World Cup, they do anything to get a bit of the action, including taking up jobs and assignments they are either not familiar with or know absolutely nothing about as in our first-hand experience. All is well now though.
I settle down quickly, get my pen and paper and to have a conversation with a few people around me about their expectations for the World Cup and for the Super Eagles as they start their journey into the unknown called the 2010 World Cup, where everything is possible.
Conversation with:
Larry Izamoje, Chairman, Brila Sports FM radio
The coach must go for a point against Argentina and go for the three points against the other two countries. Against Argentina he must play the 4-5-1 formation. He must reduce the attack by one to cover Nigeria’s weakest area - the midfield if the Eagles are to stand any chance.
Ponga Liwewe, Presenter on Supersports tv.
Nigeria must not give too much respect to Argentina. They are not quite as organised technically and tactically as they were in the past. There are a lot of questions about Maradona’s organisational abilities. Nigeria must exploit these. My favourites for the championship are Brazil. Spain have shown in the last few seasons that they are one of the best in the world. The Germans always will do well even if the team appears to be very weak this time around.
John Mastoroudes, member NFF Technical Committee and PTF
I think Lagerbeck will play the 4-5-1 system. I am very concerned about Nigeria’s chances though, even if I am also confident that the team will qualify from the group. I do not see us beating Argentina. We shall get our points from the other matches.
Felix Awogu, General Manager, Supersports Nigeria
To be frank, after all the friendlies by the different teams, I did not see enough. I believe it is the team with the will to win that can go all the way. The championship is open, there is no favourite team in this World Cup.
As for the Super Eagles, there was no real opportunity to assess the team. I shall not rush into conclusions. Against Argentina anything can happen. The Argentines are themselves not such a good team. They are lucky to have qualified for the World Cup. I have not been impressed with them and have lost respect for Maradona’s coaching ability. Messi is one player that can make all the difference though. In the end between Argentina and Nigeria, it is the team with the will to win, that wants to win it badly enough, that will win.