Argentina v Nigeria 3.2

The atmosphere at the magnificent Estadio Beira Rio, Porto Alegre was tense any Brazilian asked who, between Nigeria and Argentina they will prefer to win will easily say Nigeria. 

The rivalry between Argentina and Brazil is bitter and has been on for long.  Brazilians would always be happy to see Argentina fall and vice versa. And Brazilians wished the Eagles well yesterday. But they were very few in the stadium.

Argentines took over the stadium; they sang, danced and cheered. Their cheers were deafening. It was simply amazing. Eagles had to be strong to survive the play of the Argentines and the overwhelming crowd. That their team had won two matches and qualified did not matter to them. What mattered was victory.

Stephen Keshi had lined out the same team that started the match against Bosnia, respecting the saying that you don’t change a winning team.  The game started with Argentina showing no sign of relaxation as a team that had already won two matches and qualified. Inspired by the charged atmosphere, they charged on the Eagles and scored in the third minute. Ambrsoe Efe was missing in his right back position after running forward. Angel Di Maria exploited the space Efe provided him and ran deep before hitting a shot that Vincent Enyeama parried.

A Nigerian journalist roared “we are in the second round and Eagles needed a tough match like this to prepare them for the second round.”Uche Nwofor came in for Osaze Odemwingie and there were audible grumbles among Nigerian journalists, who felt that Osaze was having a good game. As at 84th it was 3-1 for Bosnia and Nigeria were coasting home for a second round were they would face France, a strong team but which are beatable. The Nigerian team have shown that they can still go further.