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By Etim Etim

Watching a football game live at the stadium provides a different set of thrills and fun. The shouts, drumming, cheers, boos and the side comments and commentaries from the fans create an exciting atmosphere that you don’t have watching it on TV. This is part of the reasons I flew into Uyo last week to see the Super Eagles do justice to the Mediterranean Knights of Libya last Friday. It would be my second time in the stadium to watch a match, the first being in 2016. I can’t remember what game that was. I went with my two children and their mathematics teacher then. But last week, I invited my friend, Emmanuel, a staff of Ibom Air, to join me. We were seated around 4pm – one hour to kickoff – at the VIP section of the stadium. The ticket cost N3,000, while the popular stand cost as low as N1,000. A short while later, a familiar face took the seat next to me. I took a long gaze at him, trying to remember him. ‘’Ah, Pastor Harry’’, I called out when it clicked. My pastor at RCCG, Uyo. What a pleasant surprise. Soon, my younger brother showed up. I had spoken with him the previous day, but we did not discuss football. Another surprise. This is indeed a veritable rendezvous for friends and family. The 30,000-capacity stadium, completed and commissioned ten years ago, is neat and well maintained. It is the best football stadium in West Africa, and the reason CAF has directed Ghana’s national team to play its remaining home matches in Uyo due to the deplorable state of Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Accra. I commend the Akwa Ibom State government for keeping this facility so well. Hip hop music was blaring from huge loud speakers while the supporters club were drumming, singing and dancing on the other side of the stadium.

At 4.15 pm, the two teams came out for their warm-ups. Super Eagles received a huge applause from the fans. I easily recognized Ekong, Lookman, Stanley Nwabali and a few others. In fact, the goalkeeper was the first to come out for the warmup. The Libyans looked taller, big and fit. I felt anxious. Suffering an injury, Victor Osimhen paced up and down the sideline, filming his teammates. He’s always determined, energetic and passionate to score. His absence was obvious throughout the 90 minutes. Fans quickly grew disappointed that the Eagles could not pull off an early goal as they expected. With four points from their first two games, the Super Eagles were expected to dominate, but the Knights’ strong defence and the Eagles’ lack of a strong strike force made that difficult. Spectators turned themselves into the technical crew, telling the coach what to do. They were furious that our boys were not proving their mettle. ‘’I don’t’ know what Iwobi is doing in this team. I don’t like his game’’, someone said, joining the cacophony of voices that were complaining about our uninspiring performance. For much of the first half and until he was replaced in the second half, Alex Iwobi, the 28-year-old Fulham midfielder, was the subject of taunts and insults from the fans.

Almost everybody was shouting out to the coach to change Iwobi. But the young man looked unperturbed, putting in more efforts to impress the crowd. His efforts eventually paid off as he registered Nigeria’s first attempt at target, forcing Libyan goalkeeper, Murad Al Wuheeshi to make a quick save. But fans were still not happy. They wanted goals or at least one. The grumblings grew louder and louder as each person took turns to analyze the game and proffer solutions. Coach Augustine Eguavon was on his feet, giving out instructions. He knew that the stakes were high.

Early in the second half, Wilfred Ndidi sent a pass to Bruno Onyemachi, who converted it to a cross into the box for Iwobi, but the Fulham midfielder couldn’t hit the target. That’s when the whole stadium nearly collapsed from shouts and curses. I couldn’t contain my frustration either. Someone suggested that Iwobi’s only qualification for playing for Nigeria is because ‘’he is Jay Jay Okocha’s nephew’’. That was beyond pale, but we all laughed. The young man has actually played for Arsenal, Everton and is now playing for Fulham, all premier leagues teams. If he were not that good, he would not have come this far. It then dawned on me that it must really be very daunting to play in front of home fans.

This was not the first time Alex Iwobi would be singled out for excoriation for our lacklustre outing. When we lost woefully to Benin Republic, a small country that borders Nigeria to the west earlier this this year, Iwobi was the scapegoat. Eventually, the message got to the coach and three new players were brought in and Iwobi was replaced. But the goals did not come immediately and the frustration continued to mount, especially as the Libyans resorted to time-wasting tactics. They just wanted a goalless draw. I had by now lost hope for a goal, but Emmanuel, my friend, kept assuring that ‘’goals will come’’. Finally, in the 87th minute, a substitute, Dele Bashiru, who replaced Iwobi, netted in the lone goal, finishing off a pass from Moses Simon. Before then, Ademola Lookman’s goal had been ruled out as offside. Some fans, of course, disagreed with the referee. ‘’Oh! My God, there is no VAR’’, someone exclaimed. ‘’We are the VAR’’, another retorted.

With this victory, Nigeria tops Group D, and it strengthens our chances of going to Morocco for AFCON 2025. But if we defeat the Knights in their country on Tuesday, it’s a done deaI. I left the stadium with two things on my mind. How do the players concentrate on their game with all the noises from the stand? Two, it is notable that the Akwa Ibom State government has broken with its tradition of opening the stadium for fans to watch football matches free. In an article titled ‘’Who needs free football tickets?’’ published in June, I had made the point that offering free tickets to fans is an ill-advised policy because watching ‘’football game or any other game at the stadium is a luxury pastime’’ which the government should not subsidize. Those who want to watch football should be able to save for it.