WorldCup/Russia2018: Mikel Obi expresses gratitude to all Nigerians for their support after losing again to a Lionel Messi's Argentina team

                      Mikel Obi of Nigeria in action against Argentina 

Nigeria Super Eagle's captain, Mikel Obi has thanked Nigerians for their unreserved support to the Super Eagles as their participation in 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia ended yesterday. He wants all Nigerians to know that they, Super Eagle's players, are as well feeling bad that they couldn't qualify to the round of 16 of the World Cup by losing 2-1 to Argentina.

We can recall that in the last group D match, Nigeria needed at least a draw against Argentina(if Iceland could not win Croatia with big margin) to qualify to the round of 16 of Russian 2018 FIFA World Cup, but ended up conceding a late goal in the 86 minute when Marcos Rojo appeared from nowhere and scored from a close range(unmarked) which saw Argentina progressed instead.

Messi slotted home after 14 minutes when Ever Banega lofted a lovely ball into his path. With just three touches, the ball was rocketing past Francis in Nigeria's goals. Things took a turn for the worse from there though. Nigeria took control and Argentina took a backseat.

They didn't score but could have had a penalty when Rojo kicked Iheanacho in the face in the penalty area at the end of the first 45 but escaped punishment.

Mascherano was as lucky though as he pulled Balogun back in the area at the start of the second half and conceded a spot kick. Victor Moses got a chance to display his nerves of cast iron steel to roll the ball beyond Armani to level things and put the Argentinians out as it stood.

There was huffing and puffing and chances from both sides but it looked like it would end a goalles draw when Gonzalo Higuain drove over from a very nice angle. There was more drama to come though.

Rojo popped up with a peach on 86 minutes. Gabriel Mercado sent the ball in from the right and the defender could not have caught the ball sweeter from the six-yard line as Francis was left fastened to the floor as he watched the ball shoot by him again.
                  Messi celebrating Argentina's winning goal with Rojo

It sent Argentina through to the last 16, turning heartbreak into scenes of joyfulness. Di Maria wept, Argentina fans sang and the players surrounded Messi to celebrate their qualification. They will play France on Saturday at 16:00 and whether you want to believe it or not, they are now contenders to go all the way.

John Obi Mikel wrote on his instagram account(mikel_john_obi) thus "We fought until the end and we are all hurting with you. Your support has driven us throughout the World Cup & we cannot thank you enough"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Special Anti Robbery Squad(SARS) of Nigeria Police Force banned

The Inspector-General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris, has banned the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria Police Force from conducting stop and search operations on roads except when necessary. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some group of Nigerians recently in the social media, called for the scrapping of SARS over alleged harassment of innocent Nigerians, using the #EndSARS. Following the allegation, the Inspector- General of Police , Mr Ibrahim Idris, promised to restructure and reposition the unit for effective service delivery. Idris also warned members of the group against acting as body-guards, delving into land matters and debt collection that were considered civil. He further warned that members of the unit must only embark on operations with the permission of the commissioner of police in charge of SARS in the police commands. “You must operate in official uniform clearly marked for identification. “I just want to warn you all here that an
Read more

COVID-19: MTN Nigeria Unveils Y’ello Hope Package

Image
MTN Nigeria have announced that they had unveiled "Y'ello Hope Package" "Y'ello Hope Package" is MTNNigeria's support efforts in the fight against the worldwide disease outbreak known as Covid-19(Coronavirus) The.                   COVID-19: MTN Nigeria Unveils Y'ello Hope Package This is what the telecommunication giant has to say concerning the new package unveiled:  "In the words of Sir Winston Churchill “Come then, let us go forward together with our united strength.” As more and more people nationwide brace for the immense human, economic, and social cost of the COVID-19 pandemic, we want to reassure everyone".  "We the staff, management and Board of Directors of MTN Nigeria and the MTN Foundation are committed to doing all we can to help you stay connected and support efforts to contain the outbreak. We are in this together". According to MTNNigeria, "COVID-19 is a new test of our coll
Read more

Economic impact of Synagogue Church Of All Nations(SCOAN) in Nigeria

Synagogue Church Of All Nations(SCOAN) is a Christian organization in Nigeria(does not have branch anywhere around the world) founded by prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua(born June 12, 1963), who is commonly referred to as T.B Joshua. T. B Joshua is a Nigerian pastor,  televangelist and philanthropist(Wikipedia). Hypothetically, Synagogue Church Of All Nations(SCOAN) has positive impacts on Nigeria(where it's located) economy. Its economic impacts can be seen in the areas of foreign exchange, tourism, transportation, accommodation, food, etc.  In other words, SCOAN add some value to Nigeria currency(naira), bring continuous revenues to areas of the economy like transportation, housing, tourism, food vendors, etc.  According to the organization, more than 15,000 members attend its weekly sunday services. For foreigners, they must look for Nigeria currency(naira) in the money market to easily offset their bills while attending church services in the country, thereby adding som
Read more