I remember the historic football match
between Nigeria and Brazil in Atlanta
1996.
Brazil was the king of global football and
they knew it. So, Nigeria losing to Brazil
that night would not be a big deal. Gosh! Brazil dealt with us that night. Till
around 77th minutes (about 12 minutes
to the end of the game) Brazil was
obviously dominating the game. The score
line was Brazil 3, Nigeria 1.
Despite the Brazil squad including star names such as Carlos, Rivaldo, Bebeto and
Ronaldo, Nigerians watching the game
still think Nigeria did not deserve such
humiliation by Brazil boys, we had been
beaten mercilessly. Nigerians became
angry toward the end of the match; many had turned off their Television sets, some
were shedding tears. While few hoped
and prayed that we would not be further
disgraced with yet another goal.
But the unimaginable happened in the
game. At about 78th minutes Victor Ikpeba
stroked from 20 metres to score the
second goal, everything change beyond
the 3:2 score line. Pressure came upon
Brazil. And hope for the Nigeria players,
they became more motivated and began to fire shots from every angle.
Then another miracle, at the 90th minute,
just before the final whistle, Kanu
Nwankwo turned and flipped the ball over
Dida and it was another goal, the
equalizer. What a wonderful match. And there was a rule then, “the Golden
Goal”. That the first to score in the extra
time wins the game.
Then came the decisive goal from Papilo
in just 3 minutes of the extra time