A lot of people thought Brazilian legend Pele was mad when he predicted an African nation would win the World Cup before the turn of the millennium. I believe they are capable of a major upset in France '98 and could even account for the hosts if they meet in the last 16.

I picked Super Eagles out in the beginning of the tournament as a team to watch and they are really flying now. They are a hugely powerful team and have already got their talons into Spain and Bulgaria. With wonderful talents such as Victor Ikpeba and Jay-Jay Okocha, they have the masses of ability to go with their obvious physical strength.

Cameroon gave us a real fright in the quarter-finals in 1990 but this Nigerian team is even better. Eight years ago, everyone thought we wouldcruise to victory but the Indomitable Lions shocked us with their power and it took some cool finishing from my old room-mate Gary Linekar to squeeze us through.

Cameroon were let down only by their tactical naivety. They gave away two penalties with some kamikaze tackling to give us the edge but the 1998 Nigerian team looks a lot less hot-headed. One of their advantages is that they have so many players plying their trade in Europe such as Ikpeba at Monaco, Tarobo West at Inter Milan and Celestine Babayaro at Chelsea. This means they train with top coaches, learn all the latest methods and know the weaknesses of their European counterparts.

Admittedly, I don't think they are quite good enough to prove Pele right and go all the way this time but it is only a matter of time before an African team reaches the final.

Nigeria reminds me of Brazil and are wonderful to watch on the ball. It will be interesting to see if they can keep their cool during the intense pressure of the knock-out phase but if I wasthe French coach Aime Jacquet I would want to avoid them.

Talking of keeping cool, a few of the referees seem to have been suffering from sunstroke recently. I hate to see the officialdom get in the way of good football and we saw too much of that when France played Saudi Arabia and Denmark took on South Africa last week. It's crazy that five players ended up with red cards from these two matches. The referees are there to clamp down on violent challenges but not to ruin the game as a spectacle.I know from bitter experience how costly inconsistent refereeing can be. Playing against Argentina in 1986, I could not believe it when the official allowed Diego Maradona's goal in the now infamous `Hand of God' incident to stand.

There is no surefire way to stop bad decisions but officials must realise we want to see the world's top players on the pitch and not sitting on the sidelines because of suspension.