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"Itsh like ani.. atni.. anti-freezzh," Gunnar mumbled after his fourteenth.. fifteenth? .. drink. He'd lost count after they met those IFK supporters.

"Are you okay?" shomebody ashked.

I don' hav' t' be shober 'til Augusht, he thought, as he shlumped off the barshtool to oblivion.

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Feck, this should be a piece of cake, Peter thought to himself. Just look at all this talent!

It was young talent, to be fair, and he hadn't seen them work together as a team, but he had the 26 men he was going to call up chosen.

I'm three weeks early, he thought proudly; it was an uncommon feeling for a lad who'd made it through university on caffeinated all-nighters after weeks of procrastination.

GK Greg Etafia, 21, 1 cap, Moroka Swallows:
Physically a gem, technically sound, mentally decent, Etafia looked like Peter's first choice as a goalkeeper. According to goalkeepers coach Joe Erico, his positioning is very poor, and his teamwork is awful, but, Peter thought to himself, how bad can it be?

D C Joseph Yobo, 23, £4.5M, 20 caps, 1 goal, Everton:
Made the £4.5M move to Everton two years ago, and has thrived with regular play in the Premiership. A big man with great pace, he has a tremendous ability to head home goals; after watching some highlight-reel film, Peter decided to use him to attack the near post on corners, free kicks, and throw-ins.

D LC Ifeanyi Udeze, 23, £250k, 29 caps, 1 goal, AS PAOK Salonika:
Plies his trade in the Greek top flight, and did well on loan to W.B.A. last year. Good physically, quick, with stamina, and a decent understanding of the game especially considering his age.

D C Michael Nnaji, 21, uncapped, K Lierse SK:
Plays in the Belgian First Division with Lierse, and according to coach Stephen Keshi, he's ready for a first-team call-up. In fact, Peter was toying with the idea of starting him in a three-central-defender formation.

D/DM L Celestine Babayaro, 25, £2.3M, 26 caps, 0 goals, Chelsea:
A regular feature in the Blues' back line a few years ago, Babayaro has fallen out of favor with a succession of injuries lately. I'll recommend he change clubs, Peter thought. Regular action should help. He looks good, though, tremendous pace and stamina, excellent tackling, and some flair to contribute offensively.

D/DM R Chidi Odiah, 20, 2 caps, 0 goals, CSKA Moscow:
Like most of the side, a tremendous physical talent with a technical and mental side that at least didn't do harm. The move to Moscow last year should help, as he'll be facing a much more serious level of opposition. Clearly outshines the next-closest candidate at right back, so will start.

DM C Christian Odobo, 19, uncapped, £4.2M, Fiorentina/Perugia:
Started 61 games in the past two Serie A seasons with Perugia. Relegation last year saw the club amenable to a co-ownership agreement valued at £2.1M for 50% interest in him. It was Peter's first big decision: he bumped the youngster straight from the Under-19s to the senior side, and pencilled him into the starting lineup.

DM C Seyi Olofinjana, 23, £1.7M, 13 caps, 0 goals, SK Brann:
Scored nine goals for Norwegian side Brann last season, which secured a £1.7M transfer to Wolves due to complete on the first of July. He's definitely the incumbent defensive midfielder, and Peter planned to give him at least a half-hour against Benin in evaluation.

F RC John Utaka, 22, 8 caps, 1 goal, Lens:
Currently experiencing a frustrating season in France that has seen him score just four, he'll be hoping to put that behind him when he reports for international duty. Not quite as fast as the other two, he's still quick, and adds good technqiue and quality long-range shots to the mix.

S C Obafemi Martins, 19, uncapped, Inter Milan:
7 goals already for the Italian giants this season started the gears of hype about the youngster with the explosive pace. Peter couldn't resist bringing him straight into the starting lineup. Its only a friendly, but let's see what he can do, he thought.

S C Yakubu Aiyegbeni, 21, 19 goals, 5 caps, Portsmouth:
This young striker has struck ten thus far in the Premiership, and five for his country. His explosive pace, his strength, and his sheer cussed determination see him win balls that he has no business winning, and if his finishing touch isn't perfect, it should certainly be good enough for an African qualifying campaign.

What Peter drew out was in the 3-5-2/5-3-2 genre: three man back line, 2 wingbacks who push forward into midfield while in possession, two central midfielders, one who drops back as a defensive midfielder if needed, with three forwards up top, one playing slightly behind the two strikers. It should defend as a 5-3-2, and attack almost like a 3-4-3; he would rely on the tremendous pace and fitness of his players to make that work.

The nine substitutes were:

F RLC Peter Odemwingie, 22, £750k, 2 caps, 1 goal, La Louvière:
Has scored just five in the Belgian first division this season, but has done enough to secure a £750k move to Lille. Not as spectacular as the starters, he may be quietly more consistent across the board, and Peter was going to bring him in off the bench.

F C Nwankwo Kanu, 27, free, 39 caps, 6 goals, Arsenal:
Fetched £4.5M five years ago, but has fallen out of favour at Arsenal and is seeing out his contract in the Reserves. Has signed a deal with W.B.A. for next year, which should keep him in the Premiership. Has a nice first touch, with creativity and flair, but doesn't match the starters for pace. Contributes next-to-nothing defensively, but might enjoy a free role.

AM RLC Wilson Oruma, 27, 15 caps, 4 goals, Sochaux:
Another France-based player, this small midfielder makes space for his teammates with deadly off-the-ball runs.

D/DM C Atanda Yussuf, 19, uncapped, Dinamo Kiev:
Recently applied for and was granted Ukrainian citizenship. Giving him a cap, even in a friendly, will lock him into the Nigeria system, and Peter was determined to give him a cap before the Ukraine did. After that, he'll probably return to the Under-19s; he's not ready for the pressure of a World Cup campaign.

D/AM R Ishola Shuaibu, 23, 6 caps, 3 goals, Julius Berger:
A quick fullback who loves to get forward in attack, his concentration wanders too much to make him an asset in defense. His pace may be worthwhile off the bench.

D/DM RL Ifeani Emeghara, 20, uncapped, Partizan Belgrade:
Though not as physically imposing as most of his teammates, his technical ability is impressive. More relevantly, however, he is dual-nationality Italian, and so getting him a cap became a priority. The third-best left back in the pool was utterly abysmal.

D C Seyi Olgajengbesi, 23, 4 caps, 0 goals, SC Freiburg:
Tackles and marks very well, but is average physically and mentally, and so becomes the fourth-best centre-back on the side.

D C Patrick Ovie, 25, 5 caps, 0 gals, Al Ahli:
Playing in Saudi Arabia, he looks like a Premiership-quality player physically, but fair to middling at best both technically and mentally.

GK Ike Shorunmu, 36, 6 caps, Samsunspor:
A natural leader with exemplary positioning, he's a bit eccentric, and doesn't have the reflexes he did as a lad. Still, he'll be an experienced backup.

Rounding out the twenty-six on his opening roster were:

D/DM C Seyi Ogunsanya, 27, 4 caps, 0 goals, Enyimba: Determined and decent in the air, he hasn't played a competitive club match since a loan to Spartak Moscow in 2002. Middling at best, he's comforting to have available in an injury crisis but isn't a serious candidate for playing time.

DM C Ikpe Prince Ekong, 25, 5 caps, 0 goals, Shenyang Ginde: He'll have the longest flight, and all for naught this month, as he plays his club football in China. However, he's probably the best player outside of the initial squad, a real defensive stopper who will be useful against top-tier opposition.

M R Abass Myuwa Lawal, 23, uncapped, Albacete: Would be the side's free-kick specialist if he were allowed to see action, but doesn't look worth inclusion today.

AM LC Garba Lawal, 29, 35 caps, 4 goals, Esportivo Santa Clara: Trying to revive his career in the Portugese Second division, and desperate enough for inclusion that he wrote Peter a note requesting to come trial; he could hardly resist seeing him in camp after that.

AM R Pius Ikedia, 23, 11 caps, 0 goals, RBC Roosendaal: Playing in the Dutch Premier Division, Peter liked the idea of an explosive winger who can hammer in crosses with the best of them. Keshi cautioned that he's been prone to waste possession with poor passes and awkward long shots, but in the end, what saw him on the bench was the fact that Peter wasn't using a 4-4-2.

S C Victor Agali, 25, 10 caps, 5 goals, OGC Nice: A prototypical target-man: strong, tall, whose best ability is the flick-on header. If Peter were planning on using a target-man, he'd be in the squad; instead, he'll be looking for a quick-strike long-ball game.

There were also a few prospects on the Under-21 and Under-19 sides worth honourable mention:

GK Vincent Enyeama, 21, 12 caps, Enyimba FC: Might give Etafia a run for his money in the short term, but his physical development has peaked well shy of the starter's, and he's got merely middling composure, positioning, and concentration.

GK Austin Ejide, 19, 3 caps, Etoile du Sahel: A brilliant young player with incredible reflexes and strength, plus good throws, kicking, and aerial ability, and a stoic lack of eccentricity. If Etafia is going to have a fight for the long-term goalkeeping position, it will be from this youngster. Unfortunately, he doesn't position himself well, or handle particularly adroitly. He needs European coaching, Peter thought, but he was playing for a tiny Tunisian club and not likely to get what he needed.

D LC Ibrahim Ndala, 18, uncapped, Maccabi Tel-Aviv: Israeli-based, and so talented that he's starting in the Under-21s, Ndala is definitely a prospect. Coach Keshi recommended bringing him into the 26-man side, but since he wasn't going to make the 18 against Benin, Peter decided to leave him with the Under-21s for now.

DM C Adewale Wahab, 19, uncapped, A.S. Roma: Just beginning his career, and has played but two professional matches, but showing signs of promise. May not be able to help by 2006, but if he develops as Keshi thinks he will, he'll be a member of the 2010 squad for sure.

Qualifying should be a snap, Peter thought to himself, and this team should be even better for 2010!

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Alan had been pilloried in the press.

Not that he could read it.

But the President of the Japanese Football Association made sure he knew it was being declared a national disaster.

In Calcutta, India dispatched Singapore as expected, 3-0, before a crowd of 102,000, taking a firm early lead of the group. Sujit D'Souza led the way with a brace, and India had two penalties awarded, of which they converted just one.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> P Team W D L GF GA GD PTS1- India 1 0 0 3 0 + 3 02- Oman 0 1 0 0 0 0 03- Japan 0 1 0 0 0 0 04- Singapore 0 0 1 0 3 - 3 0</pre>
Feck, Alan thought, studying the table miserably.

We'd better take three points in Singapore.

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Dodgy, Claude thought to himself.

Definitely dodgy.

He'd been carefully studying the Colombian First Division, preparing to name his first side, and was none too pleased with what he'd found.

Top-rated player Arnulfo Valentierra had agreed a move to Saudi Arabia for just £500,000; with three goals and five assists in just six games for first-placed CD Once Caldas, he was a key member of the side, no doubt, and being let go far too cheaply.

The leading scorer, Wilson Carpintero, was on loan to fourth-placed CPD Junior from fifth-placed CA Bucaramanga, which struck him as extremely odd, and then there was the fact that sixth-placed Deportivo Pereira had tanked their last two games with suspicious ferocity.

Feck. The whole country is corrupt.

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Blech! Tobias sputtered into his pint-glass. That's not beer! That's bile! Bilgewater!

He'd made the mistake of going to a California micro-brew and ordering a pint. Expecting something of the quality of German beer, he'd instead gotten a California red.

I've got to get myself back to Germany, he swore.

And I can't wait until 2006.

I'm scheduling a fecking friendly in Munich, he decided.

There was only one friendly-date on the calendar not spoken for: November of 2005, eighteen months away.

He booked it.

retired_jennie

An excellent read, Amaroq. KUTGW :thup:

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Thank you, davidbr.

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Ow, my head.

Gunnar, my lad, you're not twenty-something anymore. You're 54. You're too old to spend the entire month of March in a drunken coma, even if that is the approach your coaches are taking.

On the other hand, there's really nothing for me to do here.

The Icelandic Premier League season didn't kick off until May, and the first national team match wasn't until September.

Feck it. I think I'll book the next flight to anywhere-but-here.

There's got to be some international matches this month.

A quick internet search revealed one.

Benin at Nigeria, friendly.

Africa, here I come!

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Wednesday, 24th March, 2004. Friendly: Benin at Nigeria

38,000 cheering fans saluted their national side onto the pitch at Abuja Stadium, but Peter was unable to enjoy it.

Feck.

Oh, God, please don't let me throw up in front of everyone.

He was more nervous than he'd ever been before, and he'd thought he was paralyzed with pressure for his A-levels. This was a thousand times worse.

He had little confidence in his crazy 3-5-2; it wasn't anything he'd seen tried before. He was without the services of Obafemi Martins; the nineteen-year-old had suffered an unlucky calf strain during training with the side the weekend before the match, which had ruled him out and pushed Lille's Peter Odemwingie into the starting lineup.

Its just Benin, he reminded himself, its just a friendly.

That didn't help.

Nor did the fact that the Under-19s had looked extremely shaky in defense, trying the new 3-5-2 two days prior. They had conceded just once, enough for a 0-1 defeat to Cameroon U-19s, but quality finishing could have seen the Young Lions put four or five in.

The Under-21s had started equally shaky, even conceding an own goal in the first half-hour, but had stabilized thereafter, equalizing on an effort by Patrick Ogunsoto. That set the stage for Dickson Etuhu's 92nd-minute header, which gave them a dramatic 2-1 win.

None of which had calmed him down for this match. Seeing 38,517 faces, many kitted out in the national green-and-white, joined as one to sing their national anthem, it had suddenly hit him:

The hopes of a nation lie on me.

Feck.

Fortunately for Peter, the opening whistle blew before his roiling stomach did, and from the get-go his side looked in control. Utaka's header flashed wide. Odobo struck a pair of long-range shots, which looked dangerous, but curled wide.

Watching his side play with such assured confidence, Peter's nausea receded to mere butterflies. Fifteen minutes passed before Benin earned so much as a corner, and when Etafia punched it clear competently enough, the butterflies receded entirely.

Two minutes later, Babayaro's perfect cross to the near post curled towards the goal - not what he'd meant, but it forced a late save from Koné, who could only parry it. Yakubu was there for the rebound, but Séka got in with the desperation tackle, bundling it out for a corner.

Benin weren't getting even a whiff of the ball; his five-man midfield was stifling them, collecting every partial clearance, and forcing the visitors deeper and deeper into their own half.

In the 38th minute, Babayaro explored unchallenged up the left wing. The fullback waited, ten yards off of him, as though expecting him to take it to the by-line; instead the Chelsea man drove a wicked low cross to the near post. Yakubu had broken free, and met it with a diving header at the six: thirty eight thousand voices erupted in joy, and Nigeria led 1-0!

Utaka nearly made it two a minute later, missing by inches on a header, and Nigeria kept the pressure on with a corner in the 41st. It was flicked on over the packed box by one of the Benin defenders, and Babayaro, chasing it from the far post, was brought down. Could it be?

Yes!

Penalty!

Joseph Yobo, limping with some kind of knock, stepped up to take it.. GOAL! 2-0!

Peter was grinning ear to ear as they jogged to the locker room. Knowing David Moyes wouldn't appreciate it if he let Yobo do himself an injury, he brought the defender off for Olajenbesi, and also gave the 19-year-old Atanda Yussuf his debut, for the yellow-carded Obodo.

The second half was more of the same; Odemwingie came close to adding a third goal in the 68th minute, but then was subbed out as part of a 4-man package deal, including a debut for fullback Ifeani Emeghara, who replaced the impressive Babayaro as the left-side wingback.

Etafia was called into action a couple of times late, which was perfect, keeping him in the game and getting him involved without really forcing him to extend himself.

Then the final whistle blew, and as Peter listened to the cheers pour down on his team, he had an epiphane, a sense of belonging; he'd identified himself as English, somewhat ignoring his Nigerian heritage, but now, cheered by 38,517 faces as dark as his own, he felt the strength of Africa behind him.

Nigeria 2, Benin 0
Yakubu 38, Yobo pen 41; - - - -
MoM: Celestine Babayaro (Nigeria DML)

With two assists, wingback Celestine Babayaro was the consensus Man of the Match, and 29-year-old Peter Okaura was almost giddy with his first international win!

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"It'll sure be nice to be able to speak with my players," Alan told his new coach, Hisashi Kato.

The first thing he had Hisashi communicate to his players was a very precise "what went wrong" with the Oman match.

Finally, he was able to criticise the defense, whom he learned hadn't been pulling an offsides trap, or marking particularly effectively, using a soft form of zone. It probably hadn't helped that all four had been bundles of nerves, playing in their first international before 50,000 expectant countrymen, but he was very impressed when Koji Maeda gave his solemn vow that they would do better.

The midfield had given the ball away too frequently, trying clever one-touch passing, and, with Hsashi translating, he encouraged them to be more patient. "Treat the ball like it was gold," he said. "Don't give it away."

The selfish Masakiyo Maezono had had his chance up front; after reviewing the game film, Alan decided that he had worn out his welcome with squandered chances. He'd been thinking of ways to get Junichi Inamoto involved in the midfield, and decided to work the side on a 4-5-1, a very different outlook for the trip to Singapore.

It was a week away, now, the days slipping away like water through his fingers.

Feck, I'm nervous.