Avram Grant Tips Eagles For W/Cup Q-Finals

By Johnny Edward:

Former Chelsea manager Avram Grant has tipped Nigeria to qualify for the quarter-finals of the World Cup if their mental strength is excellent, reports Completesportsnigeria.com

The Isreali soccer tactician also predicted a successful outing for the five African teams at this year’s Fifa World Cup.

Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Cameroon and Algeria will hoist Africa’s flag when the competition begins on June 12.

And according to the former Israel national team manager, the African teams possess a strong mental strength to surpass their previous records in the quadrennial football showpiece.

"Nigeria might even go further than the quarter-finals stage if their mental strength is excellent. It will be a good testimony for African football,” Grant told Cafonline.com.

“I certainly believe African teams will excel at this summer's World Cup in Brazil.

“One advantage that the African teams have in Brazil is that it is going to be warm. European teams have never won the World Cup in South America, so it will be a great opportunity for the African teams to do well because of the circumstances they have to play in.

"An African team will be champions of the world one day. I even don’t understand why Africa can’t win the World Cup because when compared to other countries, Africa has got excellent talents.”

He further said the predicament African teams face at the football showpiece is their lack of strong mental strength.

“The only problem I have seen with African teams is the fact that they lose games they can win in crucial moments.

“However, this can be improved because the problem is lack of a strong mental strength but it can be fixed.

"When Italy won the World Cup in 2006, they had no good talented players more than Africa with all due respect.

“At that time, Italy was not better than the leading countries in Africa but they have something that is lacking here in Africa and it's more to do with the mental strength and this can be taught by employing the best people to teach it,” Grant concluded.