The World Cup At Our Door Step

Let me start with this adage that says; 'The Rain that beats an erect bamboo does not harm it but washes it clean'. Despite all the criticisms and moribund attempts to pull cotton wool over the eyes of the Jordan Led organizing committee of South Africa 2010 World Cup, they remain undaunted as they provided World class facilities that met FIFA specifications. This is a positive plus for Africa continent. The forth coming world cup (Mundial) is an  African  world cup and I will tag it as “Africa 2010 world cup” rather than the usual “South Africa 2010 world cup”.
The journey of many miles from “Germany 2006 world cup” is just a stone throw away. This is the moment the world has been waiting to see the thunderous and explosive carnivals that goes along side the competition. This is arguably the biggest gathering on planet Earth with soccer fans from all the nooks and crannies of the world coming together to rejoice and cheer their various teams to victory.  Even yours sincerely cannot wait for the Mundial to start.
The feverish tempo has already started with the media hype on different media outfits. When you read most of the dailies and sport Newspapers you will see a lot of stories on world cup preview. Day in day out you listen and watch a lot of adverts and sport programmes on television stations like Africa independent Television (AIT), Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), AL Jazeera Sport, Show time Sport, Sky Sport, Super Sport, Ray Power and a host of others. The thirty two World Cup finalist have already submitted their twenty three Man List to the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA), there by beating the June 1st deadline date for the submission of names of players. The time is ticking and I can hear the boisterous sound of the Vuvuzelas in the background.
One of my best years in my Sporting Life is the year 2010.  The solid reason is because of our their African continent is hosting the world in a glamorous fashion. The spectacular world cup draw held in South Africa is a pointer that, the Mundial in South Africa will be an unforgettable and a memorable one.  My other best years in sport includes ; Egypt hosting FIFA under-17 world Cup in 1999 and FIFA under-20 in 2009, Nigeria hosting FIFA under-20 world cup in 1999  and under-17 in 2009, Nigeria winning FIFA Under-17 World Cup in 1985 (China) 1993 (Japan) and 2007 (South Korea).  Ghana wining the FIFA under-20 world cup in 2009 (Egypt)  and the FIFA under-17 world cup twice, Nigeria under-23 Dream team winning the football gold medal in Atlanta 1996 Olympic game and the Cameroonian Under-23 team winning the gold medal in Sydney 2000 Olympic game.  These golden moments have made an indelible imprint in the hearts of all Africans, be it West Africa, North Africa, East Africa, South Africa and Central Africa.  The greatest of my sporting years will be an African team winning the forthcoming world Cup in South Africa.  I know most soccer pundits are not given the African teams any chance.  Who knows mother luck, nature and our ancestors might just support and smile at us. It is not over until it is over; that is the normal adage for football matches or competitions.
Let me  highlight the previous host nations of the Mundial. They are as follows; 1930(Uruguay), 1934(Italy), 1938(France), 1950(Brazil), 1954(Germany), 1958(Sweden), 1962 (Chile), 1966 (England), 1970 (Mexico), 1974 (Germany), 1978 (Argentina), 1982 (Spain), 1986 (Mexico), 1990 (Germany), 1994 (USA), 1998 (France) 2002 (Korea/Japan), 2006 (Germany) and 2010 (South Africa).  The road to getting the world cup hosting right has not been easy for Africa countries. It has been a thorny and rough journey and the countries at the fore fronts of the bidding rights were Morocco, Egypt, South Africa and Libya.  Morocco came close in 1994 and 1998.  They lost the 1994 hosting right to
United State of America (USA) and the 1998 to France due to the inner polity in the football circle. South Africa lost out narrowly in 2006 to Germany, but later secured the 2010 world cup hosting right.
Frankly speaking, my candid advice for the five African teams (Super Eagles of Nigeria, Elephant of Cote D'ivore, Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, Desert Foxes of Algeria and Black Stars of Ghana) is that they should wear the garment of desire.  The starting points of all achievements is desire. Our teams should keep this constantly in their minds.  Weak desire brings weak result; just as small amount of fire makes small amount of heat.  If they find themselves lacking in this desire, they can remedy it by building a strong fire under their desire.  If our teams can work with my golden advice then the sky is not our limit, it is our starting point.
The major attraction in every world cup is the actors (players). Some of the high profile names that will be missing out in the South Africa jamboree are: Michael Ballack (Germany), Samir Nasir (France), Ronaldinho (Brazil) former world best player, Ronaldo Nazario Lima de Luiz (Brazil), another former FIFA player of the year, Andriano (Brazil), Cambiasso and Zanetti (Argentina), Marco Senna (Spain), David Beckam (England), Lassana Diarra (France), Raul Gonzalez (Spain) and a host of others.  The football family will miss all this great players.  Some of the stars I am looking forward to shine are; John Mikel Obi and Osaze Odewinge (Nigeria), Didier Drogba and Solomon Kalou (Coted'ivore), Michael Essien and Muntari (Ghana), Samuel Eto Fils and Alexander Song (Cameroon), Kaka and Robinho (Brazil), Carlos Tevez and Lionel Messi (Argentina), Wayne Rooney (England), Torres and Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Frank Riberry (France), Christiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Benny McCarthy (South Africa), J.S Park (South Korea), Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder (holland) and a host of others.  Only time have the antidote to our answers whether all these stars will be heroes or villains for their respective teams.