** Friday, 13th November 2020**
The Supa Eagles had begun their day with an early flight to Benin City in Edo state where the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium that was the scheduled location for the match was located.
On arriving, the players had had a bit of a rest before heading to the stadium and had done a little pre-match stadium
They were now in the locker room, preparing for the game while the manager was going through the last arrangements for the game, one of which was selecting the starting line-up.
“Our starting line-up for the match is as follows;” Gernot Rohri began to call out names with a notepad in his hand.
“Madika Okoyi is our goalkeeper, Keneth Omeruo and Williem Troust-Ekong will be the two center backs for the game,”
“Olai Aina will be the right back while Zaidiu Sanusi is our left back,”
“In the left mid-field will be Simeon Moses while Ahmad Musa will be on the right and up-front will be Keliechi Ihanacho,” Gernot Rohri finished calling out the names in the starting line-up.
After calling out the names of the players in the starting line-up, a tactical meeting began with the players as the head manager took his time to explain the game plan as much as possible, constantly reiterating each person’s role and how they were to play in their game.
Everyone listened attentively, including Jason who was putting on his training vest over his upper body, leaving his jersey unworn as he would be on the bench.
He wasn’t displeased that he was on the bench as he understood that despite how well he had performed in training, there was no rush in getting him on the field especially since it was a new experience for him.
Anyway, the manager had already promised that he would be given some game time, so he patiently waited for the manager to make good on his promise.
There was no point in being anxious or displeased anyway as it wouldn’t change anything now that he had already put pen to paper.
The players listened intently to the manager’s instructions while time rolled by swiftly and it was soon time for the players to head out to the field.
The bench players and the manager headed out first while the starting players went to wait in the tunnel.
Jason dapped his new friends in the team and left with the bench players to head out to the stadium.
A few minutes after they had reached the bench, the players of the two countries began stepping out to the field with the referees leading the lines and they soon arranged themselves on the pitch to begin the pre-match formalities.
They started by singing the national anthems of the two countries in the order of the home team and the away team and everyone on each team had to participate, though Jason was mostly just chewing up his own mouth as he hadn’t fully learned the Nigerian national anthem at that point yet.
After the national anthems of the two teams were sung, the pre-match formalities that Jason was more familiar with continued.
The coin was flipped and the Supa Eagles won the toss.
They chose to pass first and left to arrange themselves on their half of the field when Sierra Leone chose their half of the field.
At 5:00 pm, the referee’s shrill whistle blew loudly to kick off the game and Keliechi Ihanacho kicked off the game with a pass to Ahmad Musa.
The game had gotten off to a bit of a boring start with the two teams testing themselves out tactically without really making major efforts to break through the other’s defense.
There had been a few potshots from both sides, but none of them looked like they would even come close to scoring.
On the sidelines, Gernot Rohri watched the game intently, waiting patiently for his players to find a breakthrough moment, but so far, nothing had shown up.
Just now, Simeon Moses had tried to dribble past a Sierra Leone defender but had ended up having the ball swept away from him and cleared giving Nigeria a corner kick.
Ahmad Musa ran over to the flag to take the corner while the players of the two teams arranged themselves in the Sierra Leone penalty box as they waited for the incoming cross.
At the referee’s whistle, Musa ran at the ball and sent it flying into the penalty box, prompting players of the two teams to shuffle against each other as they tried to get to the ball.
Outmuscling everyone, Williem Troust-Ekong managed to get away from his marker and rise to meet the ball and catch it with his head.
{He heads it home and sends his Nigeria into the lead!}
{It hasn’t taken them long, the Supa Eagles have taken off already!} the commentator shouted excitedly as the scorer celebrated his goal with his teammates.
The Nigerian fans in their homes watching the match shouted and pumped their screens as they watched the ball go in, while another group of fans who had also made bets on the Nigerian game had an even brighter smile on their faces as they watched the scoreboard change.
After the Supa Eagles opened up the game with their goal, they upped their efforts and tried to further their lead, but the Sierra Leone team was resisting really hard and making efforts of their own to get back in the game.
Soon, the Sierra Leone team found space in Nigeria’s half of the field and started a quick counter after snatching the ball from Etebor.
The ball flew from player to player as it moved diagonally across the field from the right to the left until the left winger received a through pass from the striker just as he stepped into Nigeria’s 18-yard box.
He didn’t hesitate to rifle a shot at the Supa Eagles’ goal and sent the ball flying past a sprawling Madika Okoyi to equalize the game.
{They have their equalizer!}
{That right there is a splendid response to going behind!}
{Sierra Leone don’t plan on easily letting their opponents take away all three points from this game!}