This article is part of the Guardian’s World Cup 2014 Experts’ Network, a cooperation between 32 of the best media organisations from the countries who have qualified for the finals in Brazil. theguardian.com is running previews from four countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 12 June.
Sunday Mba
The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations hero was the centre of attention in a tug-of-war between two Nigerian clubs, Warri Wolves and Enugu Rangers, before he eventually joined the French club Bastia in January.
Once before an African Champions League game between Enugu Rangers and the Angolan club, Recreativo de Libolo, Mba, who arrived in Angola separately from the Nigerian contingent because his clearance came late, was forced to change into his playing kits inside an airport taxi ferrying him to the stadium. Rangers lost the game 3-1 with Mba scoring the only goal for the Nigerian club.
Azubuike Egwuekwe
The Super Eagles defender could have easily been a timber trader in Nigeria if not for his football talent. He was an apprentice at his father’s wood shop but had to choose between following his dad’s footsteps or making a career in the game shortly before he began his professional education at Nasarawa United in 2006. “I was quite good at the timber trade and made quite a lot of profit for my father,” he recalls.
Ogenyi Onazi
His team-mates at Lazio joke that he should have been a police officer after a daring display of bravery transformed him into a hero in the Italian capital.
The 20-year-old was dining out with his brother in Rome in October 2013, when he grew suspicious of a boy loitering nearby. His suspicions were well founded as within seconds the boy had seized the wallet of an unsuspecting tourist and began running away. Onazi chased the lad some 300 metres, finally tackling him before returning him and the wallet to the restaurant.
“The mugger left the wallet under a car, but I saw him,” Onazi later told Italian radio. “I chased him down and brought him back to the restaurant.”
Vincent Enyeama
Nigeria’s goalkeeper has had an outstanding season at his French club, Lille, but off the pitch is the most unassuming of footballers. His team-mates in the national side refer to him as “Pastor” as he insists on leading praying sessions before team meals, training sessions and matches.
“Vincent could have easily opened a church,” joked the national team coach, Stephen Keshi.
Enyeama made his World Cup debut at the Korea-Japan tournament in 2002 against England and has been Nigeria’s first-choice goalkeeper since then. Despite a lot of European interest earlier in his career, he stayed back in Nigeria with Enyimba where he won three league titles and the CAF Champions league, but the main reason was he was reading for a degree in bio-chemistry at the University of Uyo, and he only left for overseas after his graduation.
Stephen Keshi
Keshi, the Nigerian coach, says he has never cooked a meal in his entire life. “The kitchen? I have never been there in my life and why should I when I have so many wonderful sisters who are great cooks?”
Keshi played for Nigeria at the 1994 World Cup in the USA as captain, but as coaches, he and his predecessor, Shuaibu Amodu, seemed to have been jinxed.
Amodu was head coach, with Keshi as assistant when Nigeria qualified for Korea-Japan 2002, but after finishing third at the Mali 2002 Africa Cup of Nations, both were sacked before the World Cup.
Keshi would go on to qualify Togo for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, but after leading them to the Egypt 2006 Africa Cup of Nations, he was again sacked.
Amodu returned as Nigeria’s coach in the South Africa 2010 World Cup qualifiers, and again led Nigeria to the World Cup finals, as well as another third-place finish at the Angola Africa Cup of Nations. But again he was again sacked with the Swede Lars Lagerback hired three months before the tournament.
This year, however, Keshi and Amodu seem to have overcome the jinx despite all the upheavals.
Keshi won the Africa Cup of Nations last year in South Africa and led Nigeria through qualification for Brazil 2014 while Amodu is the technical director at the Nigeria Football Federation. The Big Boss, as Keshi is affectionately called, has survived attempts to impose a “foreign technical adviser” and is set at last to lead the team at the World Cup.
Emeka Enyadike is a journalist for SuperSport in Nigeria
Click here for a profile of Ogenyi Onazi
Click here for a tactical analysis of Nigeria