BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

The 32 coaches whose teams made it among the 209 that went through the qualifying series must have heaved sigh of relief the moment their teams secured the qualification for Russia 2018.

Now other sets of worries come in. Before the thought of teams’ compositions, the thoughts are now focused on which teams are potential opponents.

The riddle will be solved at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow when the Final Draw ceremony will hold.

Some of the coaches are new comers to the grand event. One of such is Nigeria’s manager, Gernot Rohr.  This is his first World Cup and will be attending the December 1 Draw thinking more of the Super Eagles’ potential opponents.

He carries a lot of burden. Sports Village Square recalls that in an interview he granted last month to French popular sports publications, L’Equipe, he told his interviewers that his target was to take Nigeria to the semi-finals, a point no African team had reached in the past 21 competitions.What goes on in Gernot Rohr’s mind as the World Cup Final Draw beckons?

Only Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana moved as far as quarterfinals in 1990, 2002 and 2010 respectively.

Realizing the lofty objective of reaching the semi-finals begins with getting favourable group draw.

Getting to the semi-finals is not a weird dream as the trio of Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana were within seconds of reaching the stage before mother luck went against them. Take Cameroon for instance in 1990.

Facing England, Cameroon almost caused upset. David Platt had put England ahead midway into the first half. Cameroon levelled up through an Emmanuel Kunde penalty kick. Before England realized what has happened, Cameroon had turned the form books upside down.

Eugene Ekeke put Cameroon ahead off a flick of a pass from ageless Roger Milla. Cameroon were at the brink of semi finals before two penalty kick awards to England changed the tide.

In 2002, Senegal stretched their quarterfinals opponents, Turkey, almost to a breaking point until after extra time when İlhan Mansız of Turkey broke the deadlock by scoring the match’s sole goal in the 94^th minute.

Ghana were even more daring but unlucky. Missing a possible match winning penalty kick award and eventually crashed out to Uruguay in a penalty shootout.

With Nigeria expectedly in Pot 4, it means the Super Eagles will not draw opponents from the weaklings as sporting consideration was the sole determinant of the allocations to the pots.

It means Nigeria will not face any of Serbia, Australia, Japan, Panama, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. Being in Pot 4 means that Nigeria will be drawn into a group with one team from each of Pots 1, 2 and 3.

In Pot 3, the choice is limited as geographical consideration will ensure that Nigeria is not drawn with any of Tunisia, Egypt and Senegal. Therefore, the scope is narrowed down to Denmark, Iceland Costa Rica, Sweden and Iran.

Here, a repeat of past fixtures of Nigeria in the World Cup looms large. Nigeria faced Denmark at France ’98, Sweden in 2002 World Cup and Iran at Brazil 2014.

The two teams Nigeria had never faced in the World Cup finals are Iceland and Costa Rica, even though the then Green Eagles played a friendly match with Iceland in 1981.

In Pot 2, Nigeria has history of past encounters will seven of the eight teams. Croatia is the only team Nigeria had never met before. But drawing teams like England, Uruguay, Spain or Mexico could be challenging.

Not easy too are possible match up with Colombia or Peru. In Pot 1, the possibility of Nigeria playing the opening match exists if drawn with Russia.

That way, it will be fourth time an African team will be playing the opening match after that of Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and South Africa in 2010.

Incidentally, none of those African teams lost the opening games. Argentina is in Pot 1. A Nigeria versus Argentina match has been a recurring fixture in the World Cup since 1994. The only exception to such recurring fixture was France ’98 where Nigeria drew Paraguay.

The alternative South American team Nigeria could draw is Brazil. A typical group involving Nigeria often has a South American side, one or two European teams or an Asian opponent.

For regional consideration, if Nigeria draws either Uruguay or Colombia from Pot 2, a fixture with any of Brazil or Argentina will not be possible. But if Uruguay and Colombia do not fall into Nigeria’s group, then Argentina or Brazil will come knocking.

Hypothetically, Nigeria’s group will have Argentina/Brazil from Pot 1, any of England, Switzerland and Croatia from Pot 2 and from Pot 3, Iran/Costa Rica or any of the following European teams – Denmark, Iceland and Sweden.

The permutation continues until the draw of December 1.