The Nigerian fans watching the game could not keep their excitement to themselves and were unleashing their happiness in any way possible as they watched the Supa Eagles celebrate the goal that gave them the equalizer.
Some people were shouting, some were pumping their fists excitedly, and some were hugging each other even though they were supposed to be socially distancing themselves, but at that moment no one cared about all that.
All that mattered was that their team had equalized with quite a lot of time left in the game to go even further and get a winner.
And with the way the Nigerian team was playing, it was not far-fetched for them to go on to make that thought a reality, however, the Nigerian fans could only watch and wait for it to happen while having smiles on their faces.
Even if the match ended with the current score, some of the fans wouldn’t mind, but there were some that would.
Those would be the ones who had made a bet for Nigeria to win, so it was either all or nothing.
After Nigeria’s equalizer, the Sierra Leone players had doubled down defensively even more than before and the major focus of their defense was killing any Nigeria attack before it could even start.
It was already clear that leaving Chef Jason to cook would end with him stewing them up with another “express delivery” to Osimen Airlines that was always waiting for take off.
However, despite their efforts to mark Jason, they weren’t able to keep the whole Nigerian team in check.
After seeing what the Sierra Leone players were trying to do to him, Jason changed his strategy and moved forward till he was almost standing beside Osimen.
This was the 4-4-1-1 variant of their game plan where Jason would start playing as a supporting striker instead of a midfielder, leaving the other midfielders with the job of play-making while he moved up to play as a half-finisher.
This quickly threw off the Sierra Leone team’s defensive efforts and soon the ball started finding its way past their defensive line again.
With Jason dragging three players upfield, the midfielders behind him were having a field day and constantly sent the ball flying forward for the forwards to receive and send flying at the Sierra Leone goal.
Etebor sent a lobbed through pass into Osimen’s path behind the Sierra Leone defense line, but a Sierra Leone defender quickly rose to the air and tried to clear the ball, but only succeeded in sending the ball to the left wing where Aleix Iwobi quickly ran to catch it.
Once he caught up to the ball, Iwobi did not hesitate to send the ball flying into the penalty box where his teammates awaited.
The ball rose in the air and Osimen jumped for it, but the cross was a bit too high and flew over his head before coming back downwards towards Jason who was behind Osimen.
Despite the ball having come down a bit, it was still too high and Jason had to try to head it, thus he lunged at the ball and caught it with his head, doing his best to try and stir it at the goal.
His heading skills were no longer as disastrous as earlier in the year because he had set some time apart to train it, but it was still nowhere near enough and the Sierra Leone goalkeeper had no difficulty in punching away the ball.
{He just couldn’t get it past the keeper!}
{With that save, his quest for a debut goal continues!} The commentator said in a rushed tone as the ball that had been punched away by the goalkeeper was cleared by a defender who hit it towards the side of the pitch and put of play.
There was no way he was going to voluntarily give the Nigerian team a corner kick after their team already conceded two headers in the game.
The Nigeria players were constantly increasing the frequency of their attacks now that they had the momentum.
They wanted to stamp their authority while they were on this roll because time was slowly running out.
Ahmad Musa on the right wing cut inside the penalty box looking for space to shoot, but the Sierra Leone defenders covered the whole post from his view and he could not help but look for other options.
Choosing to lob the ball to the waiting head of Osimen, he sent the ball flying into Osimen’s path and Osimen didn’t hesitate to rise to the ball, catching it on his head and sending it at the Sierra Leone goal, but the Sierra Leone goalkeeper seemed to have entered his own burst of form and he lunged spectacularly for the ball, reaching it just in time to tip it slightly and deflect the ball from it’s intended path.
The ball rifles off the bar back into play and flew towards Osimen, but before it could reach him, a Sierra Leone player jumped at the ball, catching it off his head and sending outside the penalty box before Osimen could do something with the ball.
As the ball flew outside the penalty box, Jason stretched his leg at the ball that was just about to pass him as he stood at the edge of the box, barely managing to reach it, but before he could go on to get the ball under control, the Sierra Leone defenders began hassling him from behind.
However, Jason did not give in and pushed off the player hassling him before catching the ball before it moved out of range and then turning to quickly face the Sierra Leone goal.
The player he had pushed off earlier, immediately came charging at him, but Jason didn’t flinch and moved forward as well, dragging the ball forward with the front edge of his boot, before suddenly changing direction and flicking the ball to the right to perform a reverse Elastico and create a few centimeters of space.
Not bothering to confirm whether his feint worked, Jason immediately swung his leg and unleashed a powerful shot at the Sierra Leone goal.
{He gets a shot away!}