There is celebration in the land, celebration that was not seen in the first half. A first half that made a mess of all those stupendous predictions by overzealous fans who believed that Ethiopia will be meat for super.

The fever is on.World Cup fever. This week, ten countries in Africa will be involved in preparations that will lead towards their picking the five tickets allocated to Africa for the Brazil 2014 World Cup.

I arrived the country from a CAF assignment in Dolisie, CongoBrazzaville to hear that Nigerian sports writers were spoiling for war with the Nigeria Football Federation ( NFF ) over “an insult heaped on the media by the NFF over some record keeping”

Football will not seize to amaze me. Some call it the beautiful game. Others believe it is a “wicked game” like death, football has a mind of its own, it is no respecter of persons, class or pedigree.

Calabar holds a special place in my life. It was in Calabar that I cut my teeth as a journalist when I got employed as a proof reader in the Cross River State Newspaper Corporation, Publishers of The Nigerian Chronicle, after a glorious stint as editor of the Saint Finbarr’s College magazine ,The Conqueror.

I am in the middle of a project that has further strengthened my belief that the future of this country lies in our hands and it is up to us to either make or mar it. In Calabar where I am supervising a holiday coaching clinic in track and field for secondary school students courtesy Mobil Producing Nigeria, I daily come across so much potentials, that I daily believe.

Chief Solomon Ogba whose name appeared on the list of Ministers designate is a chieftain of the PDP in Delta State.

One of the reasons why some of us came to Abidjan was to see how we could use our presence, connections and authority to diffuse what was expected to be a “major football war.”

Ask him how he got the nickname “Toblow” and he will burst out laughing. “…..As far back as 1975, 800 metres was my specialty and I had a unique style of starting powerfully and ending same way, so my fans will encourage me to go all out and “blow” the event….”

The headline carried by Complete Sports newspaper yesterday was very appealing. Cash rain for Malawi to beat Eagles.

It was Tony Bekeredemo of Brila FM who called to inform me about the suspension of Rangers by CAF and I felt very bad. I wondered why Shooting Stars should protest to CAF, knowing the circumstances of such a protest.

No apologies for repeatedly saying that for me winning the Confederations Cup was not as important as qualifying for the World Cup. The FIFA Confederations Cup was therefore an opportunity for us to test run our World Cup team.

No matter the result of yesterday’s match against Spain, or what will become of the Flying Eagles desperate fight to get back into contention against Cuba in Turkey today, I have made up my mind to “Port” join and support another sport.

I bet the last has not been heard of the diplomatic embarrassment suffered by Nigeria as a result of the Eagles decision not to honour their FIFA Confederations Cup engagement over match bonuses.

I have heard it said and I have read again and again how The Super Eagles are a tournament team ( ? ). The tradition of struggling against teams with inferior football cultures is still with us.