AFTER A COLD, KAITA-STROPHIC BLOEMFONTEIN NIGHT

It started with a five and half hour drive from Johannesburg to Bloemfontein on Wednesday. Packed into a chartered bus, off we went to watch the Super Eagles play Greece. Every one of us was in an upbeat mood. From their impressive performance against Argentina, we all believed the Eagles could beat this Greece team. The match was scheduled for the next day. With a temperature forecast of minus two degrees, I wore two pairs of jeans and two thick wool sweaters, with an inner T-shirt. My outfit also included hand gloves, head warmer and a muffler. First rule in a freezing climate: always protect yourself.

The journey, although long, was s sharp departure from what obtains in Nigeria, with smooth road network, no potholes, less traffic and the absence of blaring car horns. Almost everybody in the bus kept wondering why despite the good work that Fashola is doing in Lagos, people are still trying to rubbish him. The tragedy of any nation is the absence of quality leadership or the abundance of charlatans in power circles who are ready to stifle any semblance of good leadership as long as it doesn’t conform to their selfish interests. Interestingly, I felt the driver was driving painfully slow, hovering between 80 km/h and 90km/h. But he explained that he didn’t want to beat the set speed limit on the highway. We later saw South African police cars and another car they had flagged down for probably driving too fast. Hmmn.

We arrived Bloemfontein just before 6pm, almost thirty minutes after the Super Eagles had begun their training. So we couldn’t gain access to their training session at the Free State Stadium because only the first 15 minutes of their training session was open to the media. No big deal, back to the FIFA media centre to organize for the pre-match press conference which was to hold immediately after the training ends. There, Lagerback expressed confidence about an Eagles’ victory. He also expressed satisfaction over Sani Kaita’s performance so far. Twenty four hours after, that comment would come back to haunt him. For South Africans and other international fans, Nigeria looked good for a win.

On match D-Day, the atmosphere was electric. “Greece gonna win 2-0,” one Greek fan boasted outside the stadium hours before the match. “Remember we beat you guys 2-0 in USA 94,” I reminded him. “No problem, we win this time,” he asserted. Let the boys prove us right or wrong on the pitch. We took pictures and went our separate ways. The carnival was still outside with Nigerian, South African and Greek fans blowing their vuvuzelas and screaming their support for their teams. Inside the Free State stadium, the atmosphere was absolutely electric. The vuvuzelas, at multiple decibels, were almost deafening, from all sides of the stadium. It was so vuvulectric. When both the Greek and Nigerian teams filed out for opening proceedings, the noise from the over 31,000 fans was deafening. This is what the World Cup was all about; passion and people.

And the games began. Kalu Uche got Nigeria’s 1^st goal in the 16^th minute and the Nigerian fans and well wishers went wild. The noise from their vuvuzelas increased, drowning that from the Greek supporter’s end. Until Kaita’s silly school boy rush of blood that earned him a red card in the 33^rd minute. He left the pitch in tears and left Nigerians supporters everywhere apprehensive for the next hour the match lasted. When Greece equalized in the 44^th minute, their fans hope were revived. At the start of the second half with the Greek team piling more attack on the Eagles defence, Nigerian fans sensed doom. Enyeama, again in the form of his life, was the only Nigerian player who restored the screams of delight among Nigerian supporters whenever he made a save. Greek sealed a deserved 2-1 win with a Vasileios Torosidis rebound in the 71^st minute. Game almost over. Even before the final whistle, the Eagles looked a defeated bunch already. The bench had no answer.

It was a sad sight to watch a forlorn Vincent Enyeama later presented with the Budweiser Man of the Match award just before the start of the post match press conference. You could see it on the poor guy’s face; he was wrenched with pain as he struggled with the tears. “Ol’ boy, no cry now. No be you cause am,” one Nigerian journalist tried to console him as he lfet the centre. Just then, Yobo, Lagerback and the FIFA official walked in. There was nothing new. Lagerback said playing with one man down was difficult for any team, especially on the World Cup stage. Fingers were also subtely pointed at the Jabulani ball for Greece 2^nd goal. No use crying over spilt milk. The Eagles had lost their second straight match in as many games. Qualification to the 2^nd round now hang in the balance. Few Nigerian journalists asked questions during the post match conference. They were livid with raged when Kaita and Obinna Nsofor later passed by the Mixed Zone, refusing to speak with the Nigerian media. Yobo, Martins and others also walked past without speaking to them, despite calls for them to say something to Nigerians. Some persons made excuses for Kaita that he had been crying all through. Although after much prodding from team officials (I think), he came back to speak with the media (not Nigerians). Minutes later, Kanu Nwankwo, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Enyeama (the darling of the night) and Chinedu Obasi were the few ones to speak. Nigeria deserve better than this. And the Super Eagles players also need re-education. You can’t do this with the British media. They will skin you alive. Calamity Rob Green had no choice but to apologise to the whole of England after his blunder. Although getting a red card in a match could happen to any player, Kaita had a chance to redeem himself with the press. He didn’t take it immediately. Is this the end of his Eagles’ career?

We had planned to stay another night in Bloemfontein, but reconsidered it. It was a smooth night journey back to Johannesburg. A tasty chicken dinner plus banters and a 45 minute long distance phone call to a friend made it more pleasant for me. Kalamity Kaita and the Eagles loss was the discussion for most part of the trip. But, Nigerians will always be Nigerians, we made jokes about it and saw the light side of the match. Still, it was a cold, cold night in Bloemfontein, where the Eagles froze against a Greece side.