There’s no better way to let football lovers visit stadiums to watch live matches other than opening the gates wide without fees.
The need for an overwhelming support for the national team Super Eagles prompted Nigeria’s Kaduna State government to let fans in for free in the weekend’s African Cup of Nations qualifiers against Egypt on Friday.
An estimated 40,000 fans showed up in the 16,000 capacity venue. With no available seats, people climbed fixtures and ascended the roof top to get a better view while the action lasted.
It’s amazing that players and officials remained safe after the match which ended in a stalemate (2-2 draw). Thank good heavens that a major disaster was avoided.
At the end of the match, Mikel Obi complained that the Fifa Fair Play rule was ignored in the match and says, that “cheating” gave Egypt’s Mohamed Salah a chance to score the late equalizer.
“I think we played very well but we lost a lot of chances that we created that could have fetched us total victory in today’s match against Egypt,” Mikel said.
“Everybody is saying we lost the game in the last three minutes but all I can say is that fair play is fair play, it doesn’t matter, fair play is fair play.
“OK, you can say we should have concentrated a little more but Fair Play is Fair Play. This is cheating, that is all I can say. It happens in Egypt, it happens everywhere. It doesn’t matter how many minutes it is, you have to allow it. It is the referee that controls the game.”
Nigeria was close to winning the game until Godfrey Oboabona sustained an injury that saw him limp off the field in the extra time. But the Pharaoh’s of Egypt kept the ball in play and Salah was able to score after being played in by Ramadan Sobhy.
You must log in to post a comment.