Utaka, Uche brothers eye World Cup action

By Ifeanyi Ibeh


Every player dreams of featuring at the World Cup. It comes to pass for some while it remains a faraway dream for most.

In less than a month from now, 736 players representing 32 nations will converge on South Africa for the first FIFA World Cup to be staged on African soil. Nigeria will be one of those nations and will be contributing 23 players to the eagerly anticipated spectacle.

A 30-man provisional squad list unveiled recently by Super Eagles coach Lars Lagerback, included siblings John and Peter Utaka as well as Kalu and Ikechukwu Uche who will all be doing their best in the weeks ahead to confirm their spot in the final 23-man list.

Brothers in arms

Celestine and Emmanuel Babayaro both appeared for Nigeria at the 1993 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Japan but no pair of Nigerian siblings have ever featured together at a senior World Cup. So if Lagerback ends up taking both the Uche and Utaka brothers to South Africa it will be historic for the Nigerians.

It won't, however, be the first time in World Cup history as it has already happened on four different occasions with the most recent coming at the last tournament in Germany where the Ivoirians arrived with a team featuring the both the Koné brothers (Arouna and Bakari) and the Touré brothers (Kolo and Yaya).

"It will be nice to play with my brother and even better if it's at the World Cup," said Peter, the younger of the Utaka brothers.

He then added: "It has always been my wish to play in the Super Eagles with my big brother. We talk about it all the time and we will both do our best to ensure it happens."

New kid on the block

Unlike the Uche brothers who have been integral members of the national team for a couple of years now, the Utaka brothers have never played together in the Super Eagles. Although John has featured for the Super Eagles since 2002 he has been left out of the side for some months now and even missed the African Cup of Nations tournament in Angola earlier in the year, while the younger Peter has only made one appearance for the Super Eagles in a 5-2 thrashing of Congo DR in Abuja where he even found the back of the net to make it a dream start to his international career.

"It was a nice way to start even if it was just a friendly match," Peter said.

"My target now is to work very hard and make the team because there are so many top players in the Super Eagles.

"Since I was a child, I dreamt of playing in the World Cup. Now I have a chance to do that with my brother and in a team that has a lot of great players like (Nwankwo) Kanu and IK Uche," Peter stated.

"IK Uche is someone I want to play with but Kanu is a legend. To me, Kanu is the greatest Nigerian player of all-time. Just training and playing with Kanu on the same pitch will be fantastic," he added.

Sibling pair

Real Zaragoza's Ikechukwu was the national team's leading scorer in the South Africa 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign before a career threatening injury ruled him out of the rest of the qualifiers as well as the African Cup of Nations in Angola. He has, however, recovered ahead of schedule and is looking forward to making his World Cup debut in South Africa.

"It seems like an eternity since I last played for the national team but I now have a chance to play at the World Cup," said Uche.

The younger of the Uche brothers also said he enjoys playing alongside his elder brother, Almeria's Kalu.

"I love playing with him. He knows the way I play and I understand him as well so I look forward to playing with him again," added Uche.

Uche is equally looking forward to playing again with John, peter's elder brother, even though he doesn't know much about the prolific OB Odense forward.

"John is a good friend but I don't know much about his brother," said Uche.

"I have heard a lot of good things about him; that he's a good player and a good scorer, and I hope to get a chance to play with him."

That chance may arrive later in the month when the Super Eagles commence their training camp in London, England where they already have a series of friendly matches lined up.