And a lot of excitement in the air today as our Super Eagles battle Iran today; lots of excitement! Our hopes are on them; we are hoping and praying they play a very good game and earn enough points to make it to the quarter final, semi final and the very last match of the World Cup. After their success in the Nations Cup; we are confident the Super Eagles will make us proud today. PHCN (Power Holding Company) has been acting more badly lately but people on my street rushed around buying fuel for their generators... like they would miss this match of all matches! We wait impatiently for the Super Eagles to come out...
And here they come, looking smart in their green jerseys (of course) and the Iranian players in their white, green with a touch of red. The Iranian anthem is played first, followed by our anthem- and played so well; our players looking solemn and nervous at the same time. Best of luck Eagles- fly high and make us proud!!!
The teams gather separately for a prayer, the starting whistle and off they go.
A near shot for Nigeria but it's swiftly saved by Iran's keeper. From the bench we see the Coach and former Super Eagle, Stephen Keshi (I'm yet to see that guy actually smile, he's SO uptight all the time). The Iranians are rather good when it comes to defense but we all hope the Super Eagles will get past them and earn as many goals as possible. Mikel attempts to score but collides with the keeper- that won't do at all. He better be careful not to get the dreaded cards.
Azeez almost scored but is defended and Onazi went down but recovered eventually and ran back into the field. Victor Moses skillfully dribbled past the Iranians but his kick went a tad too high.
Free kick for Iran, went one way- phew! Our hopes are especially on Mikel, Moses and Musa.
Seriously, the Iranians gave a good defense, their keeper Haghighi more so!
One man down! Oboabona got injured and taken away on a stretcher; oh no...
23 mins and we are yet to score.
Oboabona, recovered and hurried back- yay. Our Eagles are tough as they come. But he eventually was replaced by our defender, Joseph Yobo.
We get a free kick! But alas, the Iran keeper was simply too good at saving and caught it on time... yowza!
Still fantastic attempt by Musa.
Ha, but we're good at defense too, a header almost made it in the net but Nigeria's keeper Enyeama immediately stopped it, like the commentator said- a terrific save.
We continued to battle with the Iranians who were obviously making sure we don't score with their firm defense, several attempts blocked.
4 mins left before second half...
Another attempt but the Iranians just wouldn't let up, stubbornly defending yet again.
And the whistle is blown to signal the end of the first half. A rather disappointing first half sorry to say.
Hope Keshi didn't scold them too harshly.
Second Half...
The Eagles and the Iranian team file out for the second half and both teams again huddle to pray before they begin.
Emenike goes for a goal but got blocked... again! Azeez shot a corner kick, again defended.
Victor Moses is replaced by Shola Ameobi and I hope to God that will turn out to be a good judgement call.
How the Eagles will get past the defense I don't know- Azeez has the corner kick and Haghighi grabbed the ball fast.
YAWN, YAWN, YAWN!
Yet another sub call from Nigeria, Azeez for Ozaze.
Shola Ameobi almost got us one, SO close!
Nigeria stoutly defended back, if we don't get a goal thanks to their blocking them they have to get past the Eagles too!
This was proving to be a poor first outing for Nigeria, very and we expected far more than this. I can't wait to see the Facebook comments... less than 15 mins left and still no goal on either side.
2 minutes extra time and the Iranians stubbornly maintained their obstacle stance.
GAME OVER and we are NOT happy!
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