Izuchukwu Okosi
The group stage draw for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar has been made on Doha, Qatar on Friday evening, April 1.
Sadly for Nigeria, there is no seventh appearance at the World Cup for the Super Eagles who failed to get past the Black Stars of Ghana in their final playoff fixtures.
Ghana qualified for the World Cup at the expense of Nigeria 1-1 on aggregate with the away goal rule firmly in their favour after goalless draw in Kumasi and the 1-1 in Abuja.
The Nigerian side however will have the chance of playing some quality friendly matches as they shift attention to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification.
Prime Business Africa’s Senior Correspondent IZUCHUKWU OKOSI predicts the nine nations that could negotiate pre World Cup friendlies with the Nigeria Football Federation in preparation for the football festival starting on November 21.
Group A teams: Qatar, Ecuador, Netherlands
Hosts Qatar as well as Netherlands and Ecuador will face African champions Senegal at the World Cup.
Being a West African country just like Nigeria, these three teams could look the way of Nigeria as being the next big team in their preparations.
Nigeria may have failed to make the cut but they still undoubtedly have a very strong team and reached the latter stages of tne World Cup playoffs.
Group G Teams: Brazil, Switzerland, Serbia
Group G is where Cameroon find themselves and they will come up against the almighty Brazil plus Switzerland and Serbia.
Cameroon has always been Nigeria’s bitter rivals at the Africa Cup of Nations and battled it out for a place in the 2018 World Cup in Russia whi h Nigeria claimed.
So the Brazilians, Swiss and Serbs will consider Nigeria as a good team to play against in order to have a feel of what to expect from Indomitable Lions in Qatar.
Group H: Portugal, Uruguay, South Korea
On paper, this seems to be the toughest group at the World Cup in prospect.
Calling it the group of death may not suffice as it contains two teams in Ghana and South Korea who could be considered as not being sufficiently strong enough to join former European champions Portugal and Uruguay to make it a fearsome one.
Nevertheless, Ghana and South Korea possess individual talents worthy of winning the odd games for their teams and they could spring surprises at the world stage if their teammates raise their qualities.
The World Cup Groups
Group A: Qatar, Netherlands, Senegal, Ecuador
Group B: England, USA, Iran, Scotland/Wales/Ukraine
Group C: Argentina, Mexico, Poland, Saudi Arabia
Group D: France, Denmark, Tunisia, UAE/Australia/Peru
Group E: Spain, Germany, Japan, Costa Rica/NZ
Group F: Belgium, Croatia, Morocco, Canada
Group G: Brazil, Switzerland, Serbia, Cameroon
Group H: Portugal, Uruguay, South Korea, Ghana
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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