₦airaland Forum

To be honest I was expecting them to reach quarter-final but after I watched the matches I saw no reason why we couldn't win the cup #NoLying

@aletyno I don't understand you bro I can't quote you my phone is acting up

@princecalm are you trying to say the thought of Nigeria winning the world cup is unrealistic? That's not the mentality we should be having my brother I believe in you even if you don't want to believe in yourself and most importantly I believe in Nigeria

@princecalm my brother have faith

Pardon me not Argentina But Germany my phone is acting up and I can't modify it now and pardon the lack of adequate punctuation

I still remember when Nigeria won her first world cup although I was barely seven years old then I still followed all the matches eagerly just as millions of people all over the world
The moon stood, directly on top of the stadium as if it too was watching Nigeria was to play Germany in the final of the World Cup the first African team to achieve that feat it had been a dream world cup for us just like always at the start of the tournament Nigerians had expected our boys to just go and come back
"Show that you were there and come back" like my father put
And when we lost to Argentina three nil in the first match it didn't help to stop the criticism it gave more strength to the critics some even said they should come back and forget the tournament so as not to stop our country's name
"Na England they won beat" I heard one man say when one day when I went to buy paper "abi na Italy na we won come beat"
We had been drawn in a 'Group of Death' England and Italy drew 1-1 in the other match played meaning we were last in our group Germany Italy and Germany taking position one two and three respectively after the first round of matches
Then came the second round on that cool Russian Night we lined up to play Italy earlier in the day Germany had beaten England two nil thus qualifying to the round of 16 with England's world cup dreams looking to be shattered
Earlier that day newspapers carried this headlines WE SHALL BEAT NIGERIA LIKE A LITTLE CHILD - ITALIAN PLAYERS the Italian players had made that statement in a press conference
Peep peep the referee whistle blew starting the game the Italians began playing tiki-taka their latest style of football our players ran after them and they truly were playing with us like little children they had heard news of England's defeat to Germany and reasoned since their only contender for second spot had lost they had already qualified and so decided to play with us
Halftime came and the score was 0-0 the Italians players were laughing and pleased with themselves as they headed for the locker room while our players were sweaty and had disgruntled look on their faces possession was 76-24
Our players returned to the pitch energetic and with frenzy screaming "For the love of Nigeria" "For Nigeria"
What a lovely sight it was obvious they had received a boost from the dressing room
My father remarked "No be only love for Nigeria na love for Ghana"
My father is a good man I must say and I always followed his opinion sometimes lording it over my own on any matter but as a young boy of just Seven for the first time in my life I differed
Thirty five minutes into the second half and the Italians were still playing with us ridiculing us with every pass suddenly an Italian defender Ogbonna a nigerian-born-Italian gave a misplaced pass which Ahmed Musa intercepted and with pace dribbled the last Italian defender everybody in my house(including my father) stood up as we watched Musa approach the Italian goalkeeper Mattia Perin
The goalkeeper rushed out as Musa approached the box eighteen Musa let the ball fly and I watched the ball fly pass the goalkeeper almost like it was in slow-motion the ball headed to the empty spiraling in the air as it went dangerously close to the net
Grin
That metallic still rings in my ear as I think about it the ball had hit the ball and then gone out of the field
Musa collapsed to the ground
The faces of Nigerian fans in the stadium registered clear shock as their faces popped up on the TV screen they were to be in for another shock as three minutes later Italy scored from a Pablo Osvaldo header
"That's it...." The commentator screamed into the telephone "that's it... Nigeria on the verge of going home seven minutes to go now"
Our players lazily passed the ball now having lost all hope and began fouling the Italian players
87 minute
One Nigerian player Ochai was doing last minutes exercise on the side of the pitch this player had scored 25 goals for southampton in the EPL that year he had been injured in friendly match against Portugal before the world cup and wasn't supposed to be fit until the last match. (Coach Stephen Keshi would later say in an interview that Ochai begged him to be featured in the match his words being ".....don't worry Coach the Italians can break the leg but they won't kill me" when Stephen Keshi had asked about his injury)
Ahmed Musa was substituted and the formation was changed to 4-4-2 twenty-one year old Ochai partnering Kelechi Iheanacho in attack
Up till now I don't know how that ball went in Ochai had just taken his place in the Italians half when Nwakali located him with a long pass the ball rolled off Ochai's chest and from forty yards he fired a thunderous shot the ball volleyed over the goalkeeper and lodged itself in a corner of the net
The fans flew in frenzy Ochai the substitute had saved the day Nigeria was then just a few seconds from crashing out of the world cup Ochai's goal came four minutes into a five minute extra time
Godwin Godson part 2 coming up please leave your comments and remember to vote me for Nairaland's best writer of January 2015 please I need the 5thousand to repair my phone thanks guys

Guys this is By God's grace what happened at the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia remember to vote me as the best writer in January if you so please thank you
Godwin Godson©

Here is the second part of the story it would be finished in my next post and please guys do make comments on it thanks





Part 2

Then she began blessing Aunt Stella her enemies would never see her her pocket would never dry she shall live to see her children's children and then she made me kneel and began praying for me also I have never seen anybody more serious than my mom when it comes to prayer but all this was just child's play compared to the one her and my Uncles rained me on the day of departure I was made to kneel down and they all surrounded me like all these white churches do.
"Blessing let me warn you" my mom said after the marathon prayer "don't go to Italy and start doing fine girl Italy is not this village"
I guess she said this because earlier in the month when Aunt Stella had brought my passport and visa I had merely taken them on a stroll when Jasper the village tout had seized them from me demanding I buy him cigarettes before he would released them it had taken the help of my Uncles before he finally released them
"If you like go to Italy and start strolling your Uncles will not be there to help you" Mama rounded up
Unknown to me this was to be the last time I would hear Mama's voice for a very long time
Immediately the village was behind us Aunt Stella started spoiling me anything I asked for she bought and she answered every question of mine patiently from inside the plane to the airport, inside the cab I would inquire of anything I saw and she was more than happy to indulge me
"Eh Aunt Stella!" I shrieked as we passed a gigantic and ancient structure "what is that one?"
"That's a church"
"As big as that you mean all the buildings we've been passing were churches?"
"Yes what did you think?"
"I thought they were government buildings"
"Funny you" Aunt Stella smiled "just wait and see where you will be working will be bigger than this"
Two weeks after this Aunt Stella hadn't still been able to find a job for me we in lived in a two bedroom apartment Aunt Stella occupied one and I shared a room with three other girls Clara, Janet and Cynthia I knew them all back in the Village they had been one of the first girls Aunt Stella had taken to Italy and were much older than me
One thing I noticed about the girls was that they all dressed scantily exposing huge parts of their body they wore only bra and mini-skirts that barely covered their laps, sometimes they just only wore underwear and bra and in my first foray into the outside world I saw all the females on the street dressed like that too the houses here were mostly bungalows and these half-naked girls would sit out front discussing and smoking exposing their womanhood for all the world to see
One thing I noticed too was the number of men that patronized the street, whenever one of these men came calling on our house the girls would ask me to go out until about an hour when I would be called back one day one of these men tried to touch my breasts and I landed a hot slap on his face Aunt Stella came out of her room when she heard the commotion and the man tried to explain himself his hand still massaging his cheeks "Madam Stella I tried to touch your girl and she slapped me is she not among?
"No sir she's not among" Aunt Stella said gently patting his back "not yet"
My ears caught what she said "not yet" what could she mean by that

I like the way you write why don't you enter your stories in some competitions or better still publish them here www.smashwords.com

Here's my email address godwinochaigodson@gmail.com

Hi fellow writers I'll like to recommend smashwords to you it's a site that helps you self-publish your work it is known all over the world and the icing on the cake is they pay package is very good I see so many good stories on nairaland that could be fetching you money so why not give www.smashwords.com a try I am not their agent or anything am just a writer who cares about my colleagues am also thinking of publishing there too my work is right now in progress please go to the website and read the guidelines carefully

Thank you very much your comment means a lot to me

Hi guys this is my first story to be posted on nairaland please give me your thoughts because I'll like to enter it in a competition and do pardon the lack of adequate punctuation.

Aunt Stella

I still remember the day Aunt Stella came to our house with the 'good news' she had just come back from Italy and was looking all fine and elegant and she had gifts for everyone too
Mama nearly died with excitement that day "Stella you mean you want to take Blessing to overseas?" She said as she danced all over our small parlor
"Ah it's nothing what are friends for" Aunt Stella replied "you have been asking me for it for a very long time and we have come a long way you know"
Mama and Aunt Stella were childhood friends, and both grew up in the village then Aunt Stella had gotten a scholarship to school in Italy while Mama was forced to marry early and quit school
Aunt Stella always returned from Italy every christmas and when leaving would take two girls back to Italy with her Mama for years had been trying for years to get Aunt Stella to pick me among the selected girls to no avail until today when she finally agreed
"Aunt Stella so I would become a european girl?" I chirped in from a corner of the room where I was already day-dreaming, seeing myself elegantly dressed like Aunt Stella too and also coming back to take more girls to europe what a pleasant sight it was
"Yes Blessing you will become a big girl, I will find work for you" She was counting on her hands "you will be making money be sending money back to your mother"
As Mama heard about the money she erupted in joy, and knelt down in front of Aunt Stella with her head on her lap "Stella why you love me so? Stella why o now I know my enemies have failed those that say widows are without help let them come and see Stella"