Nigeria needs a miracle to get to Russia 2018-Odegbami

                        
I have often thought that the state of Nigerian football is usually reflected in the state of the country itself, that football cannot be immune from what happens in the rest of the polity.
Football is such an integral part of the people that whenever the country is doing well, politically and economically, if one looks closely, it is most likely that football would also be doing well.
Even though this cannot be supported empirically, many people, including my friend, Osasu Obayuwana, who called me up earlier this week when the draws of the African qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup were announced to express a similar opinion, believe that given the current state of affairs in Nigeria we should forget about going anywhere near Russia in 2018.You can understand, therefore, my undivided interest attempting to peer into the future, beyond the unfavourable physical conditions around the team, to see how Nigeria will fare in Group B, described already by most analysts as ‘the group of death’.

I am thinking. There does not seem to be much hope ahead. The country is passing through really challenging times, economically and politically, a painful but essential cleansing process that it needs to go through to come out shining at the end of that tunnel. In that state of affairs, in my humble view, Nigerians should also brace themselves up for a truly difficult mountain climb during the World Cup campaign.
The qualifying matches are already upon us with less than three months to go before the start of the first set of matches. Meanwhile, Nigerian football has been in turmoil for over one year since the elections into the current board of the Nigeria Football Federation took place. There does not seem to be an end of any sort in sight.
The body language of the principal combatants in this ugly situation suggests that no meaningful resolution of the crisis would take place any time soon to set the country back on the trajectory of progress where it can start to achieve its well-acknowledged potential as a future football superpower in the world.
So, with the state of affairs of the country what chances for Nigeria qualifying for the 2018 World Cup? That is now the big question as Nigeria is drawn in Group B of the 2018 World Cup African qualifiers.
Nigeria is ranked 61 in the world and 13 in Africa according to the latest global FIFA rankings.
The second team in the group is Algeria, ranked 32 in the world and the highest ranked African country.
The third and fourth teams are Cameroon, ranked 58 in the world and 11 in Africa, and Zambia, ranked 79 and 21 in the FIFA and African rankings respectively. Zambia is the only country below Nigeria in the rankings.
To look at the table of the rankings is to start to appreciate the humongous mountain that Nigeria has to climb to get to Russia in 2018.
What are the country’s chances?
The signs are ominous to say the least.
To start with, football administration is in crisis.
The group parades four of Africa’s strongest footballing nations.