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17 days in Russia: As the Super Eagles take a bow, lets relive all the moments (pictures and videos)

June 27, 2018Chizoba Adeola0 Comments

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I mean, its not just the Super Eagles that need to pack up and leave Russia, over 120 million Nigerians were there; physically, in spirit and  through social media.

Not everyone has a physical luggage- but for those of us still trending hashtags, permutations and penalties that should have been ours…. its  time to pack up. Before you leave, here is a look back at our short stay in Russia.

Welcome Super Eagles, Russia awaits your arrival !- Yep, they received a heroic welcome. Its not easy to qualify and play the world cup

The super Eagles flew on a private plane from Austria and arrived at their base city Essentuki in the early hours of June 12.

They were chauffeured to their hotel ,The Sanatorium which is about 35 kilometers from the airport. Alexander Nekristov, the Mayor of Essentuki, was there to welcome them

Same day, they quickly settled in for the official team photo

Three days to their Croatia matchup; They trained, enjoyed the sights of Russia and hung out at their nice hotel.

Had someone told them about their 2-0 defeat to Croatia, they may not have bothered with the slay pictures. Am sure it felt so surreal, its every player’s dream to be at the world cup!

 

Game day! June 16; Presidential delegation led by Solomon Dalung visit the boys, they also get some pep talk from NFF president Amaju Pinnick.

Nigeria – Croatia March; Stalingrad stadium. Final score 2-0; against Nigeria

Everything seems to have gone wrong. Etebo scored an own goal, Mikel obi was criticized for being too slow,  Igalo was Isolated and Iwobi running all over the pitch.


Well, the obvious reactions followed…

https://twitter.com/eromzy/status/1008432959580508160

The days following their defeat, the boys went silent on social media, while we flipped out our calculators: it was permutation time

No more slay pictures, there was positive silence among the team, the eagles surfaced again  on social media, not with slay pictures but a promise to defeat Iceland

There was encouragement from every angle . Saraki was there, Seun Odegbami, Kanu Nwankwo, the Eagles really has some good propping up

Then just as though the stars were aligning in our favor,  Croatia beat Argentina, a resounding 3-0.

With loads of encouragement and from all angles and a shameful defeat aganist  Argentina, the Eagles were re-energized and ready to soar in their next game.

Nigeria- Iceland (22nd June)

Ahmed Musa with the brace…. The boys did it. All their sins were forgiven. No one mentioned anything about team formation. All we needed was a draw Argentina . Most Nigerian fans were very optimistic- win, draw or die there.

But some of us were doubtful because Messi was on a mission to redeem himself and Nigeria would be the scape goat

But the team did what they had to do : get ready

https://twitter.com/NGSuperEagles/status/1010842856028766208

https://twitter.com/NGSuperEagles/status/1011279882259705859

Nigeria – Argentina; St Petersburg stadium

Its so heart breaking because we played a good game, only for Argentina to score at the 86th minute. maybe the team could have focused on defence towards the last minutes, you know- ” build a wall around our net.

Some say we deserved a second penalty, I think we should have scored normally if we wanted the goal so badly.
Irrespective, we did not go down without a fight.  Lets cheer for Senegal… cautiously though, we cant afford another heart break

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