Some prominent Nigerians, Tuesday, hailed the country’ s Super Eagles even after the team has crashed out of FIFA 2018 World Cup in Russia.
At the crucial encounter held at Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg, the Eagles suffered a 2-1 defeat in the hands of her age-long arch-rival, Argentine team.
Writing in his Twitter handle, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, the Nation’s Vice President said that ’’Today in Ibadan, someone asked me my thoughts on the Nigeria vs Argentina game. My response was simple. By God’s grace, victory will be ours but no matter the outcome, we are proud of these young men and what they represent to us as a nation.
In his Twitter handle, Dr. Bukola Saraki, the Senate President observed that’’A great performance by our @NGSuperEagles. We fought a good fight. However, you win some, you lose some. Raise your heads up, you inspired all 180 million of us. Thank you.’’
Atiku Abubakar, the former nation’s Vice President noted, ’’We gave our all. The boys can hold their heads high. Thank you.’’
Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora applauded ’’Well, our team put up a gallant fight.’’
Meanwhile, Marcos Rojo’s late winner sealed a knockout spot for the South Americans, Argentina left it late as they booked their place in the round of 16 in Russia 2018 after a 2-1 victory against Nigeria. Goals from Messi and Rojo secured qualification for Argentina as Victor Moses also scored his first goal in the World Cup for Nigeria.
In the other game, Croatia defeated Iceland 2-1 to finish top of Group D. Read our live updates of the game below FT: Argentina are through to the knockout stage. It finishes Nigeria 1-2 Argentina. The South Americans make it through to the knockout stage alongside Croatia. 90′ Four minutes of added time to be played. Argentina will France in Round 16 on Sunday.
Big games between Argentina and Nigeria were many. June 25 1994: Nigeria 1 Argentina 2 – Boston, USA (FIFA World Cup) Jan 10 1995: Argentina 0 Nigeria 0 – Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (FIFA Confederations Cup) Aug 3 1996: Nigeria 3 Argentina 2 – Georgia, USA (Olympics Final) June 2 2002: Argentina 1 Nigeria 0 – Ibaraki, Japan (FIFA World Cup) July 2 2005: Nigeria 1 Argentina 2 – Utrecht, Netherlands (FIFA U20 World Cup Final) August 23 2008: Argentina 1 Nigeria 0 – Beijing, China (Olympics Final).
Othere were June 12 2010: Argentina 1 Nigeria 0 – Jo’burg, South Africa (FIFA World Cup) June 1 2011: Nigeria 4 Argentina 1 – Abuja, Nigeria (Friendly) September 6 2011: Argentina 3 Nigeria 1 – Dhaka, Bangladesh (Friendly) June 25 2014: Nigeria 2 Argentina 3 – Porto Alegre, Brazil (FIFA World Cup) November 14 2017: Argentina 2 Nigeria 4 – Krasnodar, Russia (Friendly).
