All thanks to Ivory Coast yesterday for winning Mali in a comprehensive way. I was just so disappointed that Naija will have to wait for CIV to beat Mali in order to secure Q-Final qualification leaving us at the mercy of the squirrels of Benin who are our neighbors but avowed enemies. I do not just understand the problem those guys have; their economy depends on us and closing our borders to them will crash it fast. I have noticed they take special joy in playing and giving us problems, nonsense!
I saw a celebration of shame yesterday when our big boys jubilated about qualifying for the Q-Final – na wa o. Anyway, I am happy that the humiliation everyone was waiting for did not happen. Now we have to face Ghana in the Q-Final which is a tall order considering the history the two countries share together. Ghana playing in front of a strong home crowd should prove too much problem for us and it will not be fair for us to be playing this way and go far in the tournament. It is only if the coaching staff are ready to use their brain and understand that a 4-2-4 formation do not make sense in Nigeria. Playing a Mikel-Olofinjana only midfield was always going to be disastrous. Most times our strikers were not getting the balls as the midfield was not performing.
The ray of hope we have is the defence that have not done so badly especially the man called Danny Shittu – God bless him. We will see what happens with Ghana, but I know that is a match everyone in the world would love to see. As far as I am concerned, I am tipping Egypt and Ivory Coast for honours when the competition ends but as a Nigerian, I still believe the rhythm could be found and miracles happen.
Enjoy the rest of the tournament!