One thing has been certain in the World Cup games Nigeria has played so far. They will come at you in the second half. So when Messi, did his messy stuff in the first half and put that goal behind the Nigerian net, die hard Nigerian fans were just praying he is unable to repeat the feat. And he did not.
Lionel Messi scored his first goal of this World Cup in fine fashion to give Argentina a deserved 1-0 halftime lead over Nigeria in their final Group D match on Tuesday.
Played in by Ever Banega’s ball over the top, Messi expertly controlled with his thigh and stroked home in the 14th minute to hand a lifeline to Argentina, who need to win if they are to stand any chance of progressing to the knockout stages.
In the 49 th minute, just at the beginning of the second half, Argentina conceded a corner. Etebo was called and he whipped a fine ball into the middle and Mascherano, in a bid to defend, was adjudged to have fouled Leon Balogun in the vital penalty box. Penalty and Nigeria had a chance to equalize.
Moses is called in to give an answer to Messi and calmly tucks to the ball into the net to send Nigerians home and abroad into wild jubilations. It was 1-1 and Nigeria was on the way to coming second in the group. In the other game of the night also involving Nigeria’s group, Croatia was on their way to topping the group as they were leading Iceland by 1 goal.
It was clear that Nigeria will have to show plenty of strength for the remainder of the match to ensure that they progress to the second stage of the competition.
But then Rojo decided to spoil Nigeria’s excitement for the night.
Manchester United centre-back Marcos Rojo emerged from nowhere to meet a right-wing cross with a brilliant right-footed volley into the corner! It was an incredible finish and a late winner that put an end to Nigeria’s 2018 World Cup dreams.
The goal brought tears of joy to the eyes of Argentina fans and tears of Sadness to football loving fans in Nigeria.
The Super Eagles slumped to the turf at full-time, and there are tears in the stands. Argentina were not great again – certainly in the second half – but they live to fight another day. Nigeria was on their way home. The dreams of a country dashed.
“Nigeria gave everything. But I’m disappointed because they did have the chances to score and kill the game. They will have some regrets about the first game they played against Croatia but against Iceland and today, we saw the real Nigeria” said former Chelsea Star, Diedier Drogba at the end of the game.
Speaking on the Rojo goal, he said “It was a cool finish from Marcos Rojo. I think he must have been practicing that in training – to be that cool – and to know to always put it back where it’s coming from.”
Rio Ferdinand believes Nigeria played a great game.
“There were so many different moments in the game, talking points everywhere. In the first half Messi produced a magic moment but you have to give credit to this young Nigeria team. They pushed Argentina to the wire.”
Senegal is now the last African team remaining in the competition and even they could still go out at the group stage.
Nigeria should have won that and definitely deserved too. At least they can go home saying their kit was the best said one fan.
