Chapter 742: First International L
At the referee’s whistle, Iwobi ran at the ball and hit it right down the center while Omossola jumped towards the left.
It seemed like the ball was destined to end up at the back of the net until the ball hit the left leg of the Cameroon goalkeeper.
His left leg was the last thing to move out of the middle and by terrible luck, the ball somehow hit his leg and was deflected up and over due to the high power at which it was hit.
{Saved by the goalkeeper}
{He dived out of the way, but he was committed enough to cover as much area as possible and he still managed to stop the penalty}
{There was a lot of luck involved, but it still counts and Nigeria are left still searching for an equalizer}
While the commentator was speaking, the Nigerians spectators at the stadium and the fans watching from the comfort of their homes felt like tearing their hair out at how their team had missed such a chance.
At this point, it felt like everything was up agaisnt them and even their team didn’t want to score the equalizer. Afterall, since they had struggled for most of the game, this was the clearest chance they had gotten and they had still not managed to cash in.
Some of the more irritable fans were full on cussing out the players and most of those cusses were directed at Iwobi who had missed the penalty.
He looked very sullen on the pitch as he hadn’t actually intended to miss the penalty, but the fans didn’t care and were just looking for a way to let out a bit of their frustration.
There was no comforting to be found from his teammates either as they were just as annoyed that the penalty had been saved.
Ihenacho and Osimen who had been trying to take the penalty instead were even more annoyed while Jason was disappointed that the penalty had been wasted away.
Nevertheless, the game wasn’t over yet and there was still a few minutes left for them to equalize and the players quickly got in position for the corner kick.
This time, Jason didn’t wait Iwobi to get there to take the corner kick and went there on his own to take responsibility for the corner kick.
*Fweeeeeeee*
After settiling on the ball, the referee’s whistle prompted him to whip the ball in, aiming for the far end of the post where some of his teammates were waiting, but the Cameroon team that had managed to hold onto their lead till this point were more intent than ever to not lose their lead.
Struggling to clear the ball out of the ball, the ball ended up with Choupo Mouting who tried to lead a counter attack for his team and add to their lead, but he was stopped before long by the just as desperate Nigerian players.
The game was at an all time frenzy at this point with the two sides playing as hard as they can.
The Nigeria team continually sent the ball forward, trying to break past their opponents while the Cameroon team stayed solid at the back yet instantly transitioned into a counter attack whenever they stole possession from the Nigerians.
The Cameroon players were doing all they could to ensure that the Nigerian team didn’t build up any rhythm.
Jason tried to break through on his own and with some help from his teammates a few times, but after getting swept off his feet another two times and even collecting a strong elbow in the face, he realized that there just might be no getting in behind the Cameroon players who had turned into warriors on the pitch.
Time continued to run down and with only a few seconds left till the end of the game, Jason managed to be found by Etebo after a pass to Osimen was deflected by a Cameroon defender.
Jason had been waiting on the shouder of his marker and when he saw the ball deflected towards his direction, he rushed toward it, but he wasn’t the only one after the ball.
He estimated that he could at best get only one touch on the ball before he was slammed out of the way so he angled his body appropriately and right there at a meter away from the left corner of the 18-yard box, he tried to curl the ball into the top right corner of the goal.
{Jason with a shot!}
The ball curled powerfully, barely flying past Omossola stretched out in a dive and slamming against the upper part of the right post.
{The bar! But its not over yet!}
Osimen had rushed at the ball as soon as he saw it hit the post and tried to rebound the ball, but a well timed body slam from his marker caused him to lose his footing and hit the ball awkwardly, sending it to the side of the goal.
{Oh no no no! He’s missed a clear goal!}
The Nigerian players weren’t even given the luxury of time to complain to the referee about the push on Osimen since the referee was already blowing the final whistle of the game, confirming the Supa Eagles loss to their opponents.
The Cameroon team and their fans instantly began celebrating while the Nigerian fans were left to cope with their frustration and annoyance.
Not having stood up from the ground after being slammed to the ground right after he took the shot, Jason who had sat up lay back down to rest and catch his breath.
{Its over and it’s a loss for the Nigerian team}
{In a surprising turn of events, it’s not the team that dominated the game that won it. Cameroon had much lesser statistics in possession, shots, passes and mostly all over the field except for defensively, but they seem to have had more quality, winning narrowly by a hair}
{The Supa Eagles tried and tried, but even after a penalty and a last second open goal attempt, the Cameroon team somehow held on... to their lead and they will be taking all the accolades from this match}
Having caught his breath, Jason finally tried to stand up from the pitch, intending to head straight to the dressing room because despite how unimportant the match was, he wasn’t happy to have lost, but as he tried to get up, he suddenly felt the sting from his ankle.
’Ah, right. Need to get this checked as well,’ he thought to himself as he began walking towards the sidelines, limping slightly.