Eagles target 2018 World Cup semi-finals

The Super Eagles aim to make history at the 2018 World Cup by becoming the first African team ever to reach the semi-finals.
The three-time African champions have reached the Round of 16 on three of their five World Cup appearances.
“All efforts we are building now are geared towards getting Nigeria to play the semi-finals in Russia,” Amaju Pinnick, the Nigeria Football Federation president, said.
“We have the manpower to do that. The talent in Nigeria is amazing.”
Pinnick’s comments might come as a surprise given Nigeria failed to qualify for this year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea.
Two years ago they won the title but their decline has been brought about by a mixture of turmoil within the NFF, the sacking and rehiring of coach Stephen Keshi and threats of FIFA bans for government interference in football matters.
Nonetheless, Pinnick, who assumed control of Nigerian football last September following protracted elections, lists a number of reasons why Africa’s largest country – with a population of 170 million people – can finally deliver at the World Cup.
He believes technology, ‘capacity-building’ for coach Keshi, a better local league, the country’s natural ability and enhanced administration can provide the platform for significant growth.
The NFF boss travelled to London this week with five staff to belatedly tap into long-standing technological applications.
“Our coaches can be technically sound but technologically they were inept, because football for me is driven more by technology than anything else,” said Pinnick.
“We are in the process of acquiring match analysis software, so that when we go back home, we won’t play our matches blindly. We are starting late but we are getting it right – that’s the most important point.
“We now have the match analysis software that can analyse games for us and give us directions because normally we play matches without knowing our opponents nor their strengths and weaknesses.
“If we had used match analysis, we would have beaten France and got to the quarter-finals of the World Cup in 2014.”