I was at the stadium when Nigeria played her first and so far only football match against India.
Before the toss of the coin, my two Indian friends, Jupti and Jupta, who were at the stadium with me, had sworn to me that their country would win the match.
I was amused as to how they think their country, which was not a footballing nation and whose major sports is cricket, can beat Nigeria, a continental champion, which at that time, had won the African Cup of Nations in this very crucial game.
They didn’t argue further but rounded off by saying that I’ll soon see things for myself.
Of course I did not believe them because I had absolute faith in the Nigerian team. I was beside myself with joy when the players began to file out and I saw Chukwu, the Nigerian skipper leading the team.
He was tall with broad shoulders and had the intimidating statue that could scare any striker. Shouts of “Chukwu!!” ‘Chukwu!!” rend the air as he walked ahead of his teammates.
Chukwu was closely followed by Odegbami, the midfielder who made history by firing what a football commentator once described as a ‘banana shot!’ into the net of the opponents in one of the crucial Nigerian matches.
Then there was Muda; Adokie; the goal keeper, Okala et al.
The Indian line up too was formidable.
There was Jeeta Singh, the tall lanky Indian skipper known for his ability to leap and head any ball flying 9-10 ft above sea level with the accuracy of an astronaut.
There was Vijay Dutt, the Indian goalkeeper who is recorded as the only keeper in the history of football never to have conceded a goal and a major inspiration to Cameroon’s Thomas N’Kono.
There were others like Kamal Kumar, the impregnable defender, Vapta Hushna, known as the racing winger and the indomitable Rajesh Mera and others.
Soon it was kick off time and the two sides encircled the center.
Singh, the Indian skipper did the unexpected. Instead of passing the ball to one his teammates, he simply pushed the ball softly to the other side of the field in what looked like a pass to Odegbami, the Nigerian striker.
It was the first time in the history of football that a side would be passing a ball to the opponent at kick-off.
Odegbami, on getting the ball, as usual, did not disappoint, he trapped the round leather effortlessly with his left foot, looked up to establish his next move and began to move. He dribbled past Singh, floored Hushna with a quick shot and ran past the other Indian players who had formed a ring to stop him.
After dribbling past the indian players and as he was approaching their 18 yard box, he stopped. No one understood why Odegbami chose to stop at this point as there was no defender between him and Indian goalkeeper.
His team mate, Muda, who was the closest to him could not understand what was going on. He kept yelling that Odegbami should pass the ball to him but the striker appeared totally oblivious of his presence at the field.
As he stood transfixed at the very spot, Dutt, the Indian goalkeeper saw a lacuna and ran towards the Nigerian, picked the ball from him and passed it to Mera, who redirected the ball back to the Nigerian side.
Muda gave Mera a hot chase but Mera outpaced him, ran some distance and passed the ball to Hushna, then Hushna crossed it to Singh who was running in between two Nigerian players.
At that moment the stadium went wild as the Indian spectators clearly outnumbered the Nigerian supporters.
Singh, in a rare display of talent, meandered past the Nigerian players and tossed the ball with a heel flick towards the Nigerian post.
For more than 30 seconds, everywhere went silent as no one saw the ball. The referee, the spectators and even Chukwu the Nigerian defender and Okala, the goal tender, who were waiting to stop the ball did not see anything.
Alas! The ball reappeared and in a flash, was at the back of the Nigerian net! Chukwu was frazzled. Okala was mesmerized. He did not know how the ball got past him. But there it was. And it was a g-o-a-l!
The whole stadium ruptured. The Indians were uncontrollable. The voice of the members of the Indian supporters club who had invaded the stadium with all kinds of musical instruments was loud as they began to sing the popular Indian song, ‘Dus nambari 10’ with an adlib that India would score Nigeria ten goals!
The delectable Indian actress, Reena Roy, who acted alongside Jeetendra in the movies, ‘Naghin’ was leading the chorus and wriggling her waist with so much vigour that many became scared that she might again, turn into a snake.
The Nigerians who were one goal down hurriedly took the ball to the center of the field as there was no time to waste.
But after dribbling past the Indian players, the same scenario happened again and the Indians retrieved the ball from Odegbami and in no time, Nigeria was two goals down.
To cut a long story short, the match ended 10:0 in favour of the Indians, just as Reena Roy had sang.
After the match, Odegbami was asked why he always stands transfixed any time he is approaching the18 yard box of the Indians and he explained that any time he gets close to the Indian post, all he sees is a mighty ocean with beautiful mammy waters asking him to take a jump and join them.
When Okala was asked why he couldn’t stop the weak shots by Singh, he said at one time he actually did not see the ball but for the other times, all he saw coming towards him was not a ball but a red burning spear and he had to duck to avoid a catastrophe.
When their claims were verified through VAR, it was discovered that Odegbami and Okala were telling the truth and that was why India was banned from participating at the World Cup!
I was there and witnessed the whole thing. Gaskiya.
Andrew Agbese,
In “The kinds of lies we tell ourselves.”
