The 2002 World Cup Competition, also called Korea/Japan 2002, kicked off with a match between the defending champions, France, and the Senegalese nation team from African. Nobody had given the Senegalese any chance against the star-studded defending champions but the 1-0 score line in favour of Senegal showed that African football can no longer be taken for granted. .

  This shocking defeat of France had raised Africa’s hopes of going beyond the first round of the tournament. So when the Super Eagles of Nigeria filed out against Argentina on the morning of Sunday, June the second, 2002, many Nigeria football enthusiasts delayed attending church service to watch the match live on television. As expected, the Super Eagles put up strong resistance to the Argentinian challenge and the day would not have ended on a sombre note for Nigerians if the momentum had been sustained throughout the match. .

  The hope of going beyond the first round, though precarious, was very much alive as the Eagles were expected to defeat their next opponents, Sweden and Eagles. But some shortcomings in the Nigerian national team needed to be rectified to brighten their chances against their next opponents. .

  First, the defence needed to be strengthened to prevent the opponents from incessantly terrorizing the goalkeeper. Then the strikers also needed to improve on their lacklustre performance against Argentina, since every Nigerian expected them to overwhelm their next opponents in the opening rounds. Lastly, rather that gamble with unfit players, a more creative use of the reserves would be necessary to smooth the way to the next round. .

  If World Cup debutants, Senegal, could nurse the hope of playing in the knock-out stages of the tournament, then the Eagles should soar instead of being intimidated by big names, for no team is invincible.

  By 1910, the motor car was plainly conquering the highway. The private car was now part of every rich man’s establishment, although its price made it as yet an impossible luxury for most of the middle class. But for the adventuresome youth, there was the motorcycle, a fearsome invention producing accidents and ear-splitting noises. Already the dignified carriages and smart pony-traps were beginning to disappear from the roads and coachmen and grooms unless mechanically minded, were finding it more difficult to make a living.

The roads which had gone to sleep since the coming of the railway now awoke to feverish activity. Cars and motorcycles dashed along them at speeds which rivalled those of the express trains and the lorry began to appear. Therefore, the road system was compelled to adapt itself to the volume and speed of traffic for which it had never intended. Its complete adaptation was impossible, but the road surface was easily transformed and during the early years of the century, the dustiness and greasiness of the highways were lessened by tar-spraying. To widen and straighten the roads and get rid of blind corners and every steep gradient were tasks which had scarcely been tackled before 1914. The situation was worst of all in towns where not only was any large scheme of road widening usually out of the question but also where crowding and danger were all too frequently increased by the short-sighted eagerness of town authorities in laying down tramlines.

Yet, it was not only the road system that was in need of readjustment; the nervous system of those who used and dwelt by the road suffered. The noises caused by the conversion of the roads into speedways called for a corresponding tightening up of the nerves and especially in the towns, the pedestrian who wished to preserve life and limb was compelled to keep his attention continually on the stretch; to practise himself in estimates of the speed of approaching vehicles and to run or jump for his life if he ventured off the pavement.