By Yemisi Adegoke
As the final whistle blew in Curitiba the teams were greeted by boos and jeers.
Accurately described as ‘pulseless,’ ‘listless,’ and ‘forgettable’ the 13th World Cup match, between Nigeria and Iran was an abysmal, boring display of anti-football. In total contrast to the spectacular games we’ve seen so far, the first goalless draw of the tournament brought us all crashing down to earth with a resounding thud.
While Iran did their best Chelsea impersonation, by parking the bus resolutely for 90 minutes, Nigeria lacked well, everything. Clueless in attack despite having 63% of the possession and absent in any form of creativity. 41 goals had been scored in 12 games prior to this game, but apart from an Enyeama save neither goalkeeper was stretched.
Steven Keshi expressed disappointment, “There was a lot of anxiety. My players tried to finish the game in the first 25 minutes, but when the goal didn’t come I think we pushed a bit too hard and frustrations started to come in,” he said. “I am not happy, but we have to give respect to Iran. They came in, they had their gameplan, they sat back and they did it well.”
Iran coach Carlos Queiroz praised his players who he believed ‘more than deserved the draw.’ Both teams walk away with a point, so they are tied for second place but will both have to face favourites Argentina and Bosnia and Hercegovina.
So what went wrong? How have Africa’s champions been reduced to boring, unspired, championship level players? If anxiety is the cause it’s something the Eagles will have to overcome quickly as their next fixtures will be a lot tougher. This lacklusture game was not the start we expected from Africa’s Champions. Nigeria, should have won this match and it could prove to be a costly error down the line.
Of course the fans more than had their say about the drab game, check out the gallery for some of the funniest reactions:
Images: www.telegraph.co.uk (GETTY), Twitter