Robbed
It was the 1994 World Cup second round, playing itself all over again. Referee blows whistle on Nigerian defender for a clean challenge, awards penalty kick to Argentina. A few minutes later, down at the other end, Ogbuke is tripped and shoved simultaneously, his body sent flying clear over the goal line. Ball isn’t even within three feet of the player. No whistle. That was just one of many glaring challenges inside and outside of the 18 yard box that were ignored by the ref during the first half.
The Argentinians had their few opportunities, and they never succeeded in getting the ball past Nigerian goalkeeper Vandenkin — save the two goals awarded to them by a clearly biased referee — but were left in utter bewilderment by that highlight reel-defining header by Ogbuke in the second half that put Nigeria up even, giving frustrated fans something to cheer for, at least for a while. In the end, despite Nigeria’s excellent midfield execution and dominance of the game, we lost. They did this to us 11 years ago, and we Nigerians don’t forget easily. It’s obvious now that for Nigeria to ever take a world cup, we will have to defeat not only the opposing team, but the entire FIFA organization.
I’m from Brazil and have a simpathy from the Nigerian team, Its a team that plays beautiful soccer with tecnique and passion. I too hate the fact that referees don’t put an end to the Argentinians hard, foul and total opposite of fair-play way of playing soccer. Good Luck Nigeria on the next World Cup