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Chapter 337: Nigeria vs Sierra Leone Round 1 II

The Supa Eagles were being especially very attacking in their playing style and the possession stats was sixty-three percent to twenty-seven percent in favour of the Supa Eagles.

However, possession wasn’t always an indicator of who would win a game as a chance suddenly appeared for Sierra Leone.

The Nigerian players had been trying to break through the Sierra Leone defense, but they were unable to break through and were pushed back to pass the ball into their defense.

Olai Aina had received a pass from Etebor and wanted to send the ball forward, but his pass was intercepted by a Sierra Leone player who immediately pushed the ball forward before sending a through pass past the Supa Eagles defense line that was loose due to the players being out of position.

The Sierra Leone striker got the ball behind his marker inside the Supa Eagles’ penalty box and he quickly took his shot.

{He shoots! He scores!}

{Minutes after getting an equalizer, Sierra Leone take the lead!} the commentator shouted excitedly as the Sierra Leone players celebrated their goal while the Nigerian players held their hands up and called for offside as the Sierra Leone striker was behind his marker when the ball was sent his way.

However, the assistant referee’s flag stayed down and soon the replay of the goal was shown on the screens of the viewers and it could be seen clearly that though the striker was behind his marker, Zaidiu Sanusi was behind their defensive line and had played the striker offside, so the goal counted.

The Nigerian players could only accept the situation with bitter smiles, but they didn’t lose their composure as it was still early in the game and anything could happen.

Soon the players were once again arranged across the field, ready to kick off the game for the fourth time in less than half an hour.

#35th minute…

With Sierra Leone taking the lead in the game, the momentum had shifted, and though the Nigerian team was able to keep ahead in the possession stats, they weren’t doing half as much as the Sierra Leone team when it came to pressuring their opponents.

The Sierra Leone team had them on tenterhooks most of the time even though they had the ball most of the time and Gernot Rohri had been shouting at his players from the sidelines to get them to calm down and make use of their possession and advantages.

Unfortunately, his shouts seemed to be falling on deaf ears as nothing was changing.

Spurred by the shouts from the head coach, Aribo Joey wanted to start an attack by sending a lobbed-through-pass forward.

His thinking was if they couldn’t get through the defense, then they’d go over it and that was exactly what he tried to do, but before the ball could move a few meters into the air, a Sierra Leone player jumped into the ball’s path, blocking the pass and sending the ball into the air.

The ball flew high into the air before coming down in Nigeria’s half of the field, not making it past three meters from its starting point.

As the ball was coming down, a Sierra Leone player rose to catch the ball with his head and send it to the nearest teammate who was just outside the Supa Eagles penalty box.

The player received the pass with a smooth tap to bring it under control, but his next move shocked everyone.

Just after barely bringing the ball under control, the player’s leg swung back and he rifled a thunderous shot at Nigeria’s goal from almost thirty yards away.

{Has a look and has a go!}

{GOAL!!!} the commentator screamed as he watched the Sierra Leone player just pull off a once-in-a-lifetime goal.

{My word! My word! What a stunner!}

{He sent it into the top corner and left the goalkeeper no chance!}

{How beautiful! How unexpected! How Puskas worthy!} The commentator knew that this goal was one for the historic reels and his commentary elevated to match such a scene.

{With that, Sierra Leone have struck back at their opponents! not once, but thrice in a span of less than half an hour since going behind!}

{What amazing powers of recovery!}

The Supa Eagles didn’t even know how to feel after seeing such a stunner scored against them, putting them into a two goal deficit against their opponents, but they were professionals and were not going to give up this early in the game, so they headed back to their positions for the kickoff with hard looks on their face.

They still believed, but they no longer wore the smiles that they had worn on their faces when the match started.

#43rd minute…

The game’s dynamics had shifted more in favor of the Sierra Leone team after scoring their third against Nigeria, but the Nigerian players weren’t going to leave themselves open for their opponents to just have their way with them and they had entered a state of high focus as they played.

They had managed to keep the ball away from their fired up opponents and prevent them from building off their already immense momentum.

The Supa Eagles had adopted a patient, step-by-step approach against their opponents and they were finally about to reap the dividends of their patience.

Simeone Moses was facing off against the Sierra Leone right back on the left flank.

He tried to evade the player and cut in, but the Sierra Leone defender wasn’t letting up and Moses instead decided to feint towards the right before rolling the ball towards the left into the path of Sanusi who was running over from behind.

The feint worked and Sanusi caught up to the ball and pushed it forward before cutting in slightly and sending in a low cross into the penalty box.

The ball found its way to Aleix Iwobi who hit it first time into the bottom right corner before the goalkeeper could get to the ball.

{Goal!}

{They have one back!}

{After a series of shocks, the Supa Eagles are finally looking like they’re back on track} The commentator’s voice lacked the enthusiasm of a huge goal, but his words were soothing to the ears of the Nigerian fans, especially the ones who had placed bets on the Nigeria team winning the game.

***

*Fweeeeeeee*

{It’s half-time!}

{It was Nigeria who ended the half on a high note, just getting a goal before the whistle was blown giving their fans hope for a better outing in the second half}

{Will we see yet another comeback in the coming half? Stay around to find out} the commentator spoke as the players of the two teams headed off the field and down to the tunnel for a much-needed rest after that steam-roller of a first-half.

Jason and his bench buddies followed after the manager who walked into the tunnel, heading to their locker room.

It did not take more than a minute for the players to get to their locker room and settle down with some people drinking water while some sitting down to rest their muscles.

Some of the players were even receiving massages.

“I’m not going to mince words with you guys, that was a disastrous outing from you guys… especially defensively,” Gernot Rohri quickly began addressing his players as there was a lot to talk about and adjust if the team was going to have a chance against their opponents in the second half.

“What were you looking at that our passes kept getting intercepted?”

“Also, the moment they hit us on the counter, you guys were always out of position for some reason, allowing them to easily get past us and score,” It was clear that the manager wasn’t happy as he spoke.

“And you…” Gernot Rohri almost growled as he stared hard at Madika Okoyi, but he didn’t say anything else, seemingly swallowing his words before they came out.

“…Anyway, the first half is gone and we only have forty-five minutes left to turn this game around so listen up,”

“First thing first, Vitor Osimen will be coming on for Ihanacho,” Gernot Rohri started with line-up changes before going into the instructions.

He gave more indepth instructions to the players and pointed out the mistakes they had made in the first half before giving them ideas on how to make sure such situations didn’t repeat themselves in the second half.

After all, they had finally managed to reduce the deficit to one and they wouldn’t want it to be extended any further and put them back even further.

After a gruelling fifteen minutes of tactical adjustments, the two teams finally returned to the field for the second half with the two teams having switched sides on the pitch.