By Telema Davies
A clear case of what would have been or lost opportunities, as Nigeria finally said goodbye to the FIFA World Cup™. It took 79 minutes for France to break the back of Nigeria’s Super Eagles to earn the 5th quarterfinal slot. It was a hard fought win for Les Bleus over the African champions who had their backs on the wall. It just wasn’t going to be Nigeria’s day as they capitulated under much pressure from the French to exit the tournament.
It looked a game of evens, as Nigeria enjoyed the greater of the possessions in the first half. Emmanuel Emenike seemed to have put Nigeria ahead after prodding the ball into the net from close range an inswinging right-footed cross from Ahmed Musa. The goal was rightly called for an offside as Emenike had marginally strayed to warrant a raised flag from the linesman. It was a short-lived celebration from the Nigerian players.
The closest from the French on Nigeria’s goal was a volley from Paul Pogba who arguably has been one of France’s most impressive performers. But equally impressive to the task was Africa’s best goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama, who palmed the goal-bound volley away for a French corner. Enyeama kept up with his brilliance in goal as he proved once again till the end of the first interval.
Nigeria looked the brightest on resumption of the second half as they almost took the lead 8 minutes through Peter Odemwingie from 20 yards out, but Hugo Lloris parried the ball well to keep France in the game. As the game got into full gear Nigeria suffer a huge blow as France’s Blaise Matuidi knocked into the ankle of Ogenyi Onazi. The Nigerian midfielder was stretchered off straight into the tunnel and was duly replaced by Reuben Gabriel.
That change set the tone for a massive French assault on Nigeria. Karim Benzema came close to scoring twice but for Enyeama’s spectacular efforts and a Victor Moses clearance on the line, France were still level with Nigeria. It was however, a poor effort from Enyeama to clear the ball properly that gifted Pogba to head home for France’s opener and his first World Cup goal. Then came a flurry of attacks from the French and the Nigerians could no longer keep hope alive.
A second goal, howbeit an own-goal, from Joseph Yobo put the game to bed for a complete French victory.
Germans Dominate as Algeria Gets Dumped
Algeria, for their part, who would carry the hopes of a billion people from the African continent, put in an impressive showing against Germany. Such a performance was evident as they held on to a 0-0 draw in 90 minutes of regulation time to take the game to extra time. The Germans hit their first through Andre Schϋrrle with a fluke of a goal and in 119 minutes of play, Mesut Ozil fired a second to give Die Mannschaft the all-clear. However, Algeria did pull a goal back through Djabou to exit the tournament with a brave input.