NIGERIA face their defining moment today (Tuesday) when they clash against South Korea in a must win World Cup tie. The Super Eagles, as the Nigerian team is popularly known will have to roll up their sleeves if they are to avoid an early exit from the tournament.
Nigeria go into today’s match having lost their last two matches and are under huge pressure to deliver a positive result to stay in the tournament which ends on July 11.
Nigeria once a force to reckon with in Africa and in the world appear to have taken a nose dive in their form and will be under immense pressure to go beyond the first round of this tournament.
However, it remains to be seen whether the Super Eagles will be able to deliver after losing their first two matches to Argentina and 2004 European champions Greece 1-0 and 2-1 respectively.
Now they need to beat South Korea by at least 2-0 and pray fervently that Argentina beat Greece by any score line in the other clash of their group for them to sail through to the second round of the
tournament.
The World Cup has been dominated by South American and European teams since its inauguration in 1930. The furthest an African team has gone in this tournament is the quarter finals with Cameroon and Senegal being the only African teams which have managed to reach that feat.
Cameroon led by the legendary Roger Milla stormed into the last eight of the global soccer showcase in 1990 and then Senegal emulated that feat when reaching the quarter finals in 2002 in South Korea and Japan.
It therefore remains to be seen whether another African team can surpass that team.
Post published in: Football