Greetings everyone,
When I came across this prompt about reliving a day from the days I've spent so far in this year, the first thing that came to my mind was the days when Nigeria had matches in the just-concluded AFCON 2023 tournament. I reflected on the match days, and the one that resonated with me the most was the match against South Africa. I once published a video of the drama here.
Even before the tournament started, I was already making noise and mentioning AFCON to my friends because I am a huge fan of such tournaments. I was eagerly anticipating the kickoff, and among the matches, it was the one between South Africa and Nigeria that excited me the most.
It was the semifinal match, scheduled to kick off at 18:00 Nigeria time. Before the match, I was confident that Nigeria would defeat South Africa easily, even by a large margin, so I was not tense about the upcoming match during my activities for the day. I also made a bet with a South African friend, each staking 5 Hive. It would have been 50 Hive in total, but she was scared due to Nigeria's superior winning record to that of her country.
I left home at 4:30 pm to go to the viewing center, wanting to secure a good seat. I arrived before the match started.
In case you don't know, one of the best places to watch a football match is among people who love football....not those who are forced to watch.
Before the match, during the national anthems of both countries, a motorcyclist stood up at 'attention' with his right hand placed on his chest while singing along to the national anthem. Some people tried to get him to sit down, but most of us applauded him.
The match started with a lot of tension, with the Bafana Bafana (South Africa team) proving difficult to allow our ball to touch the back of their net. It was totally different from what we expected before the match; the South African team appeared to be completely different that day, and at that moment, I became scared because it would be very hard for me to accept a loss...my heart is too soft for a loss💔.
The first half ended in a 0-0 draw, and when we returned after just 20 minutes, Nigeria won a penalty kick via a foul against Osimhen in the South Africa's 18-yard box. Our captain, Troost Ekong, took the penalty and slightly embarrassed their highly hyped keeper.
The match continued, and just when we scored the second goal, the referee was called back by VAR to check a foul committed before we scored. The referee checked, canceled our goal, and awarded a penalty to them. They scored with the penalty, bringing the scoreline to 1-1 at full time.
The match went to extra time, 30 minutes with two halves of 15 minutes each. The 30 minutes were played to the full, and we launched into a penalty shootout.
Before that match, the South Africans had played a match that ended in a penalty shootout, and in that showdown, their keeper saved four penalties, which is normally impossible, but he did it. The heroic vibe made him the talk of the week, and with that, it was a scary moment for us because he saved penalties with ease.
But the whole story changed when our players began to fire, and he couldn't catch any of them.
We won!
That day, I made a lot of noise on my status that many of my friends muted me.
It's a day I won't forget in a hurry. I'm not into betting, but that day, I felt like I won a jackpot.
I have the highlights of the match saved on my phone and I view it over and over. I wish it's possible to go back to that day.
Thank you for reading.
This is my entry to the Hivenaija prompt of the week