The World Cup is the greatest and largest sporting event in the world, it happens every four years so when you misout on it, it takes a lifetime to get back to it, Nigeria has had 6 trips to the World Cup and four of those six times we as a country have left the World Cup with a sour taste in our mouth, the sour taste is because we’ve been knocked out of the competition in the groups stages, part of the reason for this is our woebegone history with Argentina, we’ve faced Argentina 5 times out of the 6 times we’ve appeared in the World Cup and each time we’ve faced them it has ended up in a loss for us, no matter how the game is going it doesn’t matter, we end up losing. One can say they are the Scooby gang and we are the “villains”, we’d have been to the round of 16 it wasn’t for the damn Argentines.
Argentina hasn’t always been the only thorn in our flesh for the World Cup. Some times we shoot ourselves in the foot and so I decided to rank the Nigerian World Cup villains
5 SANI KAITA- SOUTH AFRICA, 2010
Nigeria had lost their first game to our arch nemesis Argentina, the second game was against Greece, Nigeria started the game well and went ahead in the 16 minute through a goal by Kalu Uche and were controlling the game, in the 33rd minute Sani Kaita and Greek defender Vasilis Torosidis came together and the ball went out of play for a throwing, one would think the game would go on as this is a regular occurrance in a football match, but Kaita shoves torosidis in the back, Torosidis fakes like he’s going to throw the ball at Kaita and in a moment that can only be described as madness Sanni Kaita Kung Fu kicks Torosidis leg with his studs out, he’s a given a well deserved red card, Nigeria now playing 10 against 11 goes on to lose the lead and lose the game.
4. AUSTIN EGUAVOEN
It was the 1994 World Cup, our first time on the World Cup stage, Nigeria where making a big splash in USA, they played an exciting brand of football a style in which we scored a lot of goals and were solid on the defensive end. It was the round of 16 we were matched up against one of the favourites Italy, the game was tied 1-1 after 90 minutes, Italy were a a man down, the world was ready for a Nigerian upset the stage was set but Nigerian defender Austin Eguavoen had other plans, he had a what people tend to call a brain Fart and fouled Italian defender Antonio Benarrivo in the 18 yard box and gave away not only a penalty but nigeria’s chance at history.
3 BLAISE MATUIDI
2014 in Brazil, Nigeria had made it out of the group stage into the round of 16, the super eagles have had a great tournament so far and they only seemed to get better as the games went on, they were playing France and the game was tied after the first half, Nigeria had limited France and Ogenyi Onazi was the the best player on the pitch dominating the midfield, but it was all cut short around the 54th minute mark when blaise Mautuidi lunged into a tackle, completely missed the ball but not Ogenyi Onazi’s leg, Onazi’s ankles were shattered,somehow the red didn’t send off Matuidi, Nigeria never recovered and France went on to win the game.
2. ODION IGHALO
A draw is all Nigeria needs to go the round of 16 and knockout our enemies Argentina out of the World Cup, with the game tied 1-1 there’s a cross into the box, Argentine defender Marcos Rojo tries to head the ball out, he fails and the ball falls right into the path of odion Ighalo, I and my mother whom I was watching were ready to celebrate some how Odion Ighalo manages to fire wide from point blank range, 5 minutes later Argentina goes on to score and breaks Nigerian hearts the world over.
1. YAKUBU AYEGBENI
The 2010 World Cup in South Africa was truly full of chaos for the super eagles of Nigeria, a win in the final game of the group stage against South Korea would be enough for Nigeria to reach the knockout stages, the game started greatly for Nigeria kalu Uche gave us the lead, things were looking good then we lost concentration and conceded two goals from set pieces, Nigeria pilled on the pressure in a bid to look for an equaliser, the ball was played into the box, the Korean keeper beaten, the defenders beaten, the ball was served on a plate for yakubu and he some how did the impossible, he managed to completely miss a wide open net from 3 yards away, it was easier to score than to miss that. He would eventually score later in the game. His goal was inconsequential as Nigerian failed to win the game, he would always be remembered for having the greatest miss in World Cup history and disappointing his country.
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