Aiyegbeni wondered why Nigerians kept talking about the miss, even when he helped the Super Eagles to qualify for 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup
By Kehinde Okeowo
Former Super Eagles striker, Yakubu Aiyegbeni has lamented that Nigerians are still attacking him on social media 14 years after missing an easy goal at the 2010 Would Cup hosted by South Africa.
In June 22, 2010, Aiyegbeni missed a tap-in during a World Cup game between Nigeria and South Korea.
The miss came when the Super Eagles were trailing the Koreans 2-1 in their final Group A match at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.
The former Everton forward would later score from the penalty spot but Super Eagles fans were, at the time, unable to move past the unbelievable miss.
Speaking in a recent interview, which surfaced on social media platform, X, Aiyegbeni said he is still getting messages from angry fans who are demanding why he missed a simple tap-in when the goalkeeper and defenders were out of the way.
He wondered why Nigerian fans couldn’t forgive him despite helping the Super Eagles to qualify for Korea-Japan World Cup eight years earlier.
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“I still get messages from people. Different messages. I remember one was sending a message last week and he was like ‘how do you explain that goal missed to you daughter Kayla’ he mentioned my daughter’s name ‘Kayla’. I was like 13 to 14 years ago and people still think about that,” he said.
“I got a message today and someone was like ‘you’re the worst Super Eagles striker’ because of that particular goal I missed. They never think about all the other goals I’ve scored.
“They never think about when I scored goals in Sudan when nobody thought we’d qualify for Korea Japan 2002. We went to Sudan. Nobody ever thought we’d qualify because the weather there was crazy. If we get a draw or lose we’re out.
“There I scored 2 goals. Julius Aghahowa scored one and Jay Jay Okocha, ‘pa Jay’ scored another one. We won 4-0. That gave us the ticket and went to Korea-Japan 2000.
“But people in Nigeria never speak about how I made them qualify but didn’t go to the World Cup. I was shocked. I played 99.9% of every game to qualify Nigeria for Japan/Korea and I was dropped.” Aiyegbeni added.
