Nigerians should forgive Aiyegbeni for the 2010 World Cup blunder – Amokachi
Ex-international, Daniel Amokachi, has appealed to Nigerians to forgive former Super Eagles attacker, Yakubu Aiyegbeni over the missed goal against South Korea at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
According to the former Super Eagles coach, Nigerians have yet to forgive Yakubu for over a decade he committed the unpardonable blunder in front of the goal.
Amokachi said in football it’s a natural thing for players to miss glaring goal opportunities, adding that great and expensive players also fumble when the chips are down.
Nobody should forget 11days from now we will all be dragging yakubu aiyegbeni for that golden miss
Peter drury pic.twitter.com/cGu0hMhsXh
— Your_entire_village_people😈 (@Jamil_yoggy) June 11, 2020
“It is not new in football. I have missed a good goal opportunity before. Great players across the world had messed up in front of goalkeepers. We need to forgive him so that he can enjoy his retirement,” Amokachi jokingly said on Brila fm.
Yakubu is a ball-to-feet player who uses strength to turn defenders and has the explosiveness to out-run them over short distances.
He started his career at Israeli team Maccabi Haifa under Avram Grant, where he won two championships and had a phenomenal scoring record, both in the domestic and international competitions, breaking several club records. He came to England in 2001 and trained with Derby County but could not obtain a work permit.
After scoring 7 goals in 8 European Cup appearances (including a hat-trick against Olympiakos) in the 2002-03 season Champions League, Yakubu moved to Portsmouth in January 2003. His goals helped fire Pompey to the Football League Championship title, scoring at a rate of one goal every two games.
During the club’s debut Premier League season, he scored 16 times in 35 starts, including four in a single game as Portsmouth defeated Middlesbrough 5-1.
read also:South Africa 2010: I still get messages for my miss–Aiyegbeni
Ayegbeni had apologised to Nigerians shortly after the World Cup, saying the action was not intentional. “I didn’t do it on purpose,” he said. “In football, you miss chances for your club and people forgive you. I didn’t do it on purpose. I’m just here to say I’m sorry for what happened. They should forgive and forget.”