Gonzalo the Great; Nigeria makes the Greeks look like gods
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Today is a great day for futbol in the World Cup. Argentina took on S. Korea; Nigeria took on Greece and Les Bleus will face the Mexicans in a short while.
Finally, thanks to Gonzalo the Great, we get to see some goals in this World Cup. If you didn't catch the game, Real Madrid's wonder boy scored a hat trick against South Korea and became only the first to do so since Pauleta of Portugal did the same against Poland in 2002. Of course everyone is still waiting for Leo Messi to find the back of the net, but he has done a tremendous job of making the opposition very nervous and has created plenty of opportunities for his teammates. There isn't much else to say about this game. Let's go on to the dismal display put on by the Nigerian Eagles (there certainly was nothing "super" about the way they played today) against Greece.
Greece had never, that's right, NEVER won a World Cup game prior to this match against Nigeria. The Greeks had no clue what it means to leave a World Cup match with 3 points in the bag until Sani Kaita decided to display what is possibly the greatest fail of epic proportions. Out of frustration, he "kicks" Torosidis with the referee having a clear view of the incident. First of all, if you are going to lash out like that, at the very least make sure your kick/punch or whatever connects. Secondly, be certain that the referee has his back turned. Or, since your team is up 1-0 and you have the psychological advantage over a team that has never won a World Cup match and is coming from a 2-0 defeat to South Korea, you maintain your composure and play the game. Not Sani Kaita. He gets a red card in the 33' minute and forces Nigeria to play for another hour down a man.
The Greeks, as any other team with common sense would, take advantage of this fact and begin to mount the pressure on the weak Nigerian defense. Victor Enyeama, who had 6 huge saves in the game against Argentina, comes up huge for Nigeria and records 9 saves. Enyeama is world class, there is no doubt about that, but a goalie should never have to make that many saves against any team. The Nigerian defenders towered over the Greek, but gave them way too much space. Dimitrios Salpingidis took advantage of this and takes a shot that deflected off Haruna's bright yellow boots and into the back of the net. Had Nigeria been able to hang on to their 1-0 lead until half time, the result may have been different.
A rare error from Victor Enyeama saw Torosidis tuck Jabulani neatly in the back of the net to give Greece a much deserved lead. Prior to this Nigeria had a textbook breakaway that should have resulted in nothing more than a goal. Yakubu (I believe it was) misses as Tzorvas pushes it wide with his left hand into the path of Obasi who could not finish. My question is/was: Why was Obafemi Martins not in this game?? If you need goals, which Nigeria desperately needed in this game, he's your guy. Had Nigeria scored there, the game would have changed again, but from then on it was all Greece. Greatly disappointed by the Nigerians today. As always, the games go on and I'm looking forward to France vs. Mexico in about an hour. Enjoy.
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