The dynamism and unpredictability of the beautiful game of football came fully to the fore in the bright lights and sunny atmosphere of Doha and other lovely cities in Qatar.
As the world stood stunned and in awe of the outlandish displays and somewhat surprising outcome of some matches played during this year’s world cup, pundits and aficionados of the beautiful game have been waxing lyrical about the football showpiece that is expected to last over three weeks.
Ahead of the Sunday FIFA World Cup final match between holders France and Argentina, pundits and aficionados have equally been reacting to the on and off the pitch happenstances ongoing in Qatar.
On his part, Tokyo, Japan based sportspreneur and football club owner, Abayomi Egbayelo describes the unbelievable, but exciting results of matches played in the world cup, as the beginning of a new order for world football.
“The world cup has been fantastic, despite all the controversies surrounding the tournament. It’s a success on the pitch, rather than off the pitch.
” Everything about this world cup points to what I would call a new order in world football. I’m not surprised about Japan beating Spain and Germany in the group stage.
” The Japanese have put in a lot in terms of preparation and youth development. Even Morocco who just lost in their first ever World Cup semi-final match against France, are equally reaping their long-term investment in players development and infrastructure,” he noted.
On whether Nigeria or indeed, any African country can ever win the World Cup, Egbayelo responded by pointing at the impressve run of Morocco during the world cup
“Look at what Morocco is doing presently in Qatar. That shows Africa has the potential to be a World Cup winner. We only need to prepare ourselves well, remove sentiments when it comes to players selection, spend more on youth development, give our coaching all the necessary support needed for them to strive at the world stage.
“Japan, Senegal, Ghana, Morocco all went to the World Cup with local coaches. Nigeria has all it take to be a football power house. We can do better than what we did at USA 94. We need to be honest, professional and of course, diligently invest on youth development and infrastructure for the benefits of our football,” he explained.
