Nigeria Crashes Out Of Afcon 2022 - Who Takes The Blame?

This evening, I had my apartment filled up as we were all set to watch the Super Eagles of Nigeria take on Tunisia. It was the Round of 16 in the prestigious African Cup Of Nations, Hosted by Cameroon. I also had to play the #HiveChess tournament hosted by @chessbrotherspro. I had one eye on the tv while the other was on my phone playing chess.

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Good Football Don't win Games

Nigeria lost 1-0 to Tunisia this evening, in a very painful way. The super Eagles of Nigeria has been selected as one of the favourites to win the African cup Of Nations in Cameroon.

We started the competition well winning our three games in the group stage. I watched all the games and for once in a very long time, I actually thought we could win the Competition.

I enjoyed their football, with the likes of Kelechi Ihenacho of Leicester city and Moses Simon, my favourite players.

Today, they started well and had some decent chances in the first half. I was happy because it looked like we would win. My happiness translated to my #Hivechess play as i was winning games too simultaneously. I went into the toilet to ease myself while still playing chess on my mobile.

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A Minute Of Total Blackout!

I was in a very difficult chess position against @jaki01 when i heard the Goal shout inside. Jaki01 had just played the move Nxd5! , I already calculated that I could get even with Bxg3+ here.

lichess

However, in split seconds,I played Qc2 after discovering The Goal was scored against Nigeria! I ended up resigning two moves later.

Bad Goalkeeping Cost Nigeria

First choice Goalkeeper, Maduka Okoye, who has been in the spotlight due to his Good looks and admiration from the Nigeria ladies was caught wanting in the 47th minute.

A shot outside the 18 yard box was played towards the direction of the Goalkeeper and he parried it into the net.

I had to take it back on my Dstv Now app, to look at the goal severally as i missed the live action and the immediate highlights.

It was highly disappointing from a goalkeeper that has been rated high coming into this competition. Maduka Emilio Okoye is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Sparta Rotterdam, on loan from Premier League club Watford.

Nigerians Don't Do Well Under Pressure!

1-0 down in the 47th minute is not so bad right? There is still a lot of time to get back into the game.

The problem is that Nigerians don't do well under pressure. We started playing too aggressively and we were too disorganized after the goal.

In the 66th minute, Former Arsenal player Alex Iwobi, who now plays for Everton, was sent off the field after a straight Red card for a tackle i regard as "stupid".

I knew it was a straight red card, Although the referee initially a brought a yellow card out but after communicating with the VAR official, changed it to a Straight RED.

From there the game looked harder, and tougher. We still had some chances towards the end, but it wasn't enough to force the match into Extra time.

Who Takes The Blame Now!

One thing about Nigeria is that, we would always look for someone or something to put the blame on!

This time, we are blaming the President!

They said Buhari called to wish them Goodluck and as such wished them bad.

Twitter is buzzing currently with memes as Nigerians are putting the blame on the president. How funny? When a country feels the president spells doom.

The Goalkeeper is also taking alot of the blame by the Nigerian Men. Many say he is too cautious of his looks and attraction to women rather than focusing on his Goalkeeping duties.

If you want to have a good laugh, you can search the following hashtags on twitter.

#Buhari
#Okoye
#Iwobi

In conclusion...

I ended today's tournament with a second place finish. However, I feel very angry with the Nigerian football performance today. I put so much emotions into believing they will win the competition.

This exit at the round of 16 is just not good at all.

We play our west African brothers soon in the World cup Qualifiers and I hope they go back to the drawing board and set things right.

Thanks For Reading!

_{Images are Screenshots taken and source has been stated. Gifs via tenor}