No team in World Cup history has ever qualified for the knockout rounds after losing more than one game in the group stage.

But according to the team’s skipper Joseph Yobo, that is what the Super Eagles are aiming to do as they get set to meet South Korea on Tuesday. If the Super Eagles win in Durban, even if it’s with a lone goal margin, and Argentina does likewise to Greece in the group’s other encounter scheduled for Polokwane then they will qualify along with the Argentines for the second round.

“We now have a possible mission towards the next round,” Yobo said in an interview with the BBC.

“Surprisingly, when we walked off that pitch against Greece (last Thursday) we thought it was all over but now there is a second chance for us.”

Not impossible

“Many people insist it will be impossible but we have been written off several times during the qualifiers yet we made it here,” said Yobo. Nigeria left it late to qualify for the World Cup, with an 81st-minute winner against Kenya in the final qualifier seeing them through. With midfielder Sani Kaita ruled out due to a red card offence and a defensive crisis ahead of Tuesday’s final group game against South Korea in Durban, Yobo is still holding out optimism.

“The odds are certainly not against us because this team can fight and die on the pitch against the Koreans,” he said. “With our left-backs (Taye Taiwo and Elderson Echiejile) battling with injury, Kaita ruled out, we are not short of confidence going into the final group game.”

Taiwo picked up a knock in the 2-1 loss to Greece and was replaced with Echiejile who then played for 20 minutes before he too had to be replaced following a muscle related injury. The team’s physiotherapist, Ekundayo Ogunkunle, in a mail sent to NEXTSports by the media officer of the Nigeria Football Federation, Ademola Olajire, however said that the injuries to Taiwo and Echiejile are “under control” even though it remains uncertain if Taiwo, who had a scan on Saturday, would be fit for Tuesday’s game.

Training behind closed doors

Meanwhile, the Super Eagles trained on Sunday, but Coach Lars Lagerback prevented the media and other persons outside the playing and technical personnel from observing the session in order to try out new formations and strategies.

“We’re shutting the venue”, Lagerback said shortly as the team looked ahead to Monday’s road trip to Durban ahead of Tuesday’s match. Nigeria and Korea Republic have not clashed at the FIFA World Cup finals before. In fact, the only recorded matches between the two teams at senior level was a two-match tour of Korea which the Eagles embarked on in September 2001. The first match played in Daejon on September 13, 2001 ended 2-2, with Nigeria’s goals coming through Kelechi Okoye and Chukwu Ndukwe.

The second match, played three days later in Busan, ended 2-1 in favour of the hosts, with Nigeria’s only goal scored by Raphael Chukwu Ndukwe. Defender Rabiu Afolabi and forward John Utaka, who are in the Nigeria team at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, played in those two matches in 2001.

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