By Ikeddy Isiguzo
EVERY World Cup has its tall stories. Some of them take place before our eyes, years down the line others would read about them.

Ghana has been exceptional in this World Cup. Its second round dismissal of the USA has won it more followers, eclipsing the fact that it made the second round with four points. Something about the emphatic play of the Ghanaians has endeared them to folks all over Africa .

My brother Paul Bassey last week added Kofi to his name to honour the Ghanaians. After the victory over the USA more Kofis mighty have been named, most of them hoping they can bear the name a little longer.

The success of the other African teams in this World Cup has been measured. I do not know exactly what we were expecting, but we saw performances that we refused to accept because they did not result in the teams moving to the next stage.

Cote d’Ivoire and South Africa , for example, earned the same four points that got Mexico and South Korea into the second round. The two African countries went home. While they faltered, they fought for the four points they earned.

I am reluctant to add Nigeria which some people insist on mentioning whenever discussions turn to the World Cup. To describe our performance as a disgrace would be unfair to disgrace. We were a class apart. We dumbfounded optimists beyond their wildest imaginations. Our World Cup ran almost in similar fashion with 2002 when we lost two games and drew the third.

The only difference is this last game against South Korea came with a lean chance of Nigeria qualifying with three points if the Eagles beat the Koreans with a plus-two goal difference. The Koreans ran in a heavy storm against Argentina .

We blew the scoring chances we had in that game. We are back home lamenting the missed opportunities and the reality of our World Cup performances being on a steep decline. We still miss the point when we talk about the World Cup.

Have we found out what Nigeria was supposed to achieve in South Africa ? Did we miss the target? Was there really a target outside the bogus expectation of a semi-final ticket?

Millions of Africans have decided not to spoil the World Cup fun. If there are no Eagles, no Elephants, no Bafana Bafana, no Desert Warriors why not follow the Black Stars?

Those who made the earlier decisions to adopt a Ghanaian name have been proven right. They hope today’s encounter against Uruguay, 1934 World Cup winner and the country that denied Brazil the 1950 World Cup at the Maracana Stadium would stretch their World Cup experience.

I pray that more Kofis would be named after Ghana dismisses Uruguay and becomes the first African country to make the semi-final of the World Cup. A World Cup game has never been of so much importance to Africa as this game and similar versions of it when Cameroun was minutes away from the semi-final in 1990 and Senegal in 2002.

Playing Without Rules
I MUST confess that I am not in a good position to state what the issues are with the Nigeria Referees Association. In the past few months I have got letters from some groups complaining about the regulation of practicing referees and the powers of some individuals in this regard.

These are unpublishable. They drip with libel of a sort that I am not familiar with, and so I cannot even attempt to edit the letters. I am also doubtful of their sources and the truth of the attacks on individuals in these letters.

I cannot publish such letters. I advise the petition writers  to make a formal complaint to the police on the allegations of fraud in their letters. They could get better results that way.

When you want to make an issue of people breaking the rules, it is a poor excuse for you to play without the rules.
DID you hear of the kid who told a judge that he wanted neither his mother nor his dad any more? His reason was that they both beat him. When asked his alternative, he named the Eagles, our World Cup team, who according to the kid, do not beat anyone.

I LEARNT that the authorities are having challenges on how to charge officials of the Nigeria Football Association over the Eagles performance in South Africa . There were already too many cases against the NFA before the World Cup.

DO you have any evidence that the Eagles were their allowances in South Africa ? I heard there were some grumbless about what was paid and how it was paid. Apparently, the NFA had promised some bonuses to stir the team into action and the players thought they were entitled to appearance fee, whatever the results.

THE NFA claims it is sorry about the results in South Africa . Is any member of the NFA thinking of returning his allowances in pertinence? Or has any of the power hungry officials finally decided to make amends by leaving office?

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