Super Eagles: Approach Greece with Caution!

My older sister called me on June 12th; merely minutes before the match between Nigeria and Argentina started. She told me she did not sleep well the night before because she was really excited and nervous.

My younger sister was sending PIN after PIN to my BlackBerry - she kept telling me if Nigeria plays poorly and were to lose she would be very upset.

I found myself relatively calm leading up to the match and felt very strong about our chances of securing a tie or winning the match. Neither of these premonitions came to pass since the outcome was a loss; a loss in a match in which my biased perspective unabashedly declares that we outplayed them and should have taken advantage of our opportunities. Yes, I am going to ignore the shots on goal which favored Argentina 20-9. Like I said, I am biased!

The disappointment of the loss to Argentina is still weighing heavily on my mind as Nigeria faces Greece. Although many of us are anticipating a victory - this is partially based on how sluggish the Greek team looked when they lost to South Korea - the fact still remains that talent and being expected to dominate and win does not necessarily result in that outcome. Switzerland proved this point by handing Spain a shocking loss.

With this in mind I will watch the match with measured confidence. Without players like John Obi Mikel and Obafemi Martins, the Super Eagles will have to maintain a high level of focus for every match. The trend so far in the early stage of this World Cup is that any team not named Germany needs to play their optimal best. One cannot even proclaim Germany to be a favorite yet because they simply did what Spain, Brazil and Portugal could not do: win or win convincingly.

I look for Nigeria to play better and win the match against Greece but it will not be easy. The Greek team was embarrassed by their loss to South Korea and will come out on Thursday with more fire under their boots.

In the spirit of the World Cup tournament, I say good luck to both sides but I will toss a horse shoe and a couple of four leaf clovers on the Super Eagles side.

Sportcularly yours,


The Vicarious Athlete