Super Disappointment!

I am very very disappointed for many reasons. Anger, embarrassment and disgust are flowing through me right now.

Peter Odemwingie should not have been taken out of the match at such an early stage. Makes me wonder what Nigeria coach, Lars Lagerback was thinking there. This really upset me because I felt Odemwingie was the type of player that never quits and could impact the team with his skill and energy on offense.

Sani Kaita's stupid act really cost us. I watched the match downtown Ottawa on Elgin street with a number of fellow Nigerians. We argued relentlessly for the rest of the match whether his actions warranted a red card and a send off. My stance on this is that he should have been given a yellow card since his foot barely grazed the Greek player. My friends argued that he got the red card because of intent. They stated that it did not matter if the player did not get hurt. Personally, I think that the ref overreacted. This will be heavily debated for a long time by all Super Eagle fans.

After the red card, Nigeria played horribly. We became extremely passive and looked disinterested in mounting an attack. We settled back and waited for the Greek team to press us and dissect our defense.

Speaking of our defense. What is going on here? I thought the Argentina match was an exception because I figured it was the first game and we were timid. In this match, we displayed the same lackadaisical effort with our defensive scheme and energy.

One thing that I have noticed in both matches is that the players are often waiting for the ball to come to them. Opportunities to score are quelled easily by the opposing defenders by simply jumping in front of lazy passes. Maybe it is because of of the overall team conditioning or maybe it is because we just do not have the desire to dominate a match in which I personally thought we were favored to win. From my non-pundit perspective, I would say that it looks like we get too tired in the second half.

Where would we be without our goalie, Vincent Enyeama. He has single-handedly kept us in both matches and prevent us from looking much worse. This actually infuriates me even more because it forces me to think of what things might be like if we actually played up to our potential. A disciplined and aggressive team with a goalie like that would be undefeated right now.

Our chances for advancing are slim but they are still there. I am an optimist by nature and thus think that we can still make it to the next round. For this to happen, we need to be way more disciplined and energetic against South Korea. We will also need a lot of luck. Argentina must win and keep Greece of the score sheet and we have to beat South Korea by at least three goals without conceding any.

I am disappointed but still very optimistic in our chances. I believe we can do it. Just look at the way we made it into the world cup. It is possible!

Sportacularly yours,


The Vicarious Athlete