Against general expectations, Nigeria’s Flying Eagles defeated the Junior Azurris, leading Group D with 6 points. However, even as the group is living up to its name as the group of death, the question bothering many Nigerian football fans is whether the team has qualified for the next round as reported by a section of the Nigeria media?…..CONTINUE READING...CONTINUE READING
Following the need to unveil the seeming dilemma and find an answer to the question, FreshNews went to town to sample the views of Nigerian football lovers in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
Findings indicate that many Nigerian are at a loss over media reports that the Flying Eagles are already through to the next round.
Those who spoke with the medium, believe that the team cannot possibly be through to the next round given the possibility that both Brazil and Italy may win their last matches, the latter with a wide margin, thereby causing an upset for Nigeria via superior goal aggregate.
Emeka Ndubuisi, a businessman based in Nyanyan, Abuja, is of the opinion that the situation with the Nigerian team is not as reported in the media. According to him, the situation on ground is very different.
“How can they be through?
“The report in the press is misleading. Nigeria has 6 points while Brazil and Italy have 3 points each.
“Italy will beat the Dominican Republic and they can do so with a bigger goal margin. If that happens, they will have superior goal advantage. That is, if the Flying Eagles lose to Brazil, which is very likely. The only way out is a draw by the Flying Eagles. That’s the way I see it.”
Ndubuisi agreed however, that Group D is indeed the group of death.
” I agree with you that Group D is the group od death. See the wahala on ground. I pray we will come out safe.
As explained by Ndubuisi, Nigeria, with 6 points, is almost home and dry, seemingly. Except that Brazil, the Flying Eagles next opponent, now has 3 points, same as Italy, both with a game to spare.
The challenge for the Nigerian team is that Italy has promising opportunities to win its next games and garner more goals to make the vital difference to edge Nigeria out of a possible second place.
Hassan Umaru shares Ndubuisi’s views. According to the civil servant, only a draw or an outright win over Brazil will solve the problem. But he is not sure the Flying Eagles can pull it off.
“Only a draw or straight victory can save Flying Eagles. Brazil will want to win at all cost and they have the materials. With the way they played against the Dominican Republic, it seems they learnt their lesson from their defeat to Italy.
” But I don’t know whether the Flying Eagles can do it. I’m not sure. The group is a tough one,” Umaru said.
Despite the fears by many Nigerians, the reality is that the Flying Eagles are indeed, already through to the next round. This was confirmed by the Special Assistant, SA, Multimedia, to the Minister of Sports, Toyin Ibitoye, in a telephone conversation with FreshNews.
According to him, the Ladan Boso’s tutored boys are among the set of four teams that will qualify to the next stage of the competition via the best loser clause on the event of coming third in their group.
“Yes, they are through. There are opportunities for four best losing teams. Three teams, including the Flying Eagles, already have six points and their group will definitely benefit from the clause,” Ibitoye explained…..CONTINUE READING
