Mish Mash...

On a day I was eagerly awaiting Nigeria to complete their 'double' for the weekend, it was not to be.

Having, as usual, confined us Nigerians to the last minute never-say-die approach to qualifying for the world cup, the Super Eagles of Nigeria went down to Nairobi needing to beat the Kenyans and hoping the Tunisians didn't do same away to Mozambique. A few weeks ago, I was close to tears when,the Super Eagles, playing Tunisia at the Abuja Stadium could not hold on to a 90' min lead and conceded deep in extra time to draw the game and 'help' Tunisia retain their top spot. It seemed all over then. How could Tunisia not beat Mozambique? I still kept faith though seeing as it was mathematically possible.

So, yesterday when I tuned in to the game during the second half and we were down 1-0 to Dennis Oliech's 15' min goal...well, I was stunned. However, a quick flurry of goals and the last, a spin bicycle kick by Obafemi Martins of Wolfsburg in the 83' min left Nigeria 3-2 up. At about the same time, Mozambique scored! I could hardly wait to see if it would really happen. My heart was in my mouth, my intestines were in my pants! YES, NIGERIA WILL BE AT THE WORLD CUP IN South Africa! Now to go make arrangements.

Sunday...I've been following this Nigeria U-17 side throughout the tournament and in all honesty, they only got better as the tournament went on, after going down 3-0 to the Germans in the 1st half of their opening game, they came back to level 3-3. Since I last wrote on this blog, they dispatched NZL 5-0, S. Korea 3-1 and Spain...3-1. So, Switzerland who were making it to the U-17 world cup for the 1st time were expected to be no threat. Afterall, Nigeria were the defending champions and they'd just disposed of Spain, the last 'big name' in the tournament. Seferovic's goal in the 63' min to put the Swiss up 1-0 was to change all that though and to be fair, the Swiss' defenders were no-nonsense, we couldn't find a way through, forget that goal mouth scramble. S'all good though, Nigeria's future looks bright and I hope 1 or 2 of these young lads will make it to the world cup to learn.

It's amazing how Nigeria can perform so well at youth level but struggle at senior level. In 5-7 years, I daresay this same U-17 team will struggle to beat Spain's current U-17. I can only hope opportunities arise for the likes of Okoro, Emmanuel, Ajagun n co to become world beaters.

In other news, Van Persie is facing a few months out on the sidelines following an ankle ligament injury...