Nigeria’s hope of flying her flag in next year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon was shattered yesterday when the Syli Stars Nationale of Guinea held the Super Eagles to a 2-2 draw at the magnificent National Stadium, Abuja.

The Eagles came into the game casually with Obinna Nsofor, Emmanuel Emenike and Osaze Odemwingie wasting numerous scoring chances at the early minutes of play. The Guinean goalkeeper, Naby Yattara, did not help matters as he adopted delay tactics from the onset of the explosive encounter thereby slowing down the tempo of the game until the end of the first half which ended goalless.

The second half saw the two teams coming out of their shells as they attacked furiously to get an opening goal with the majority of Nigerian soccer fans who thronged the stadium getting more nervous over the scoreless situation. Nigeria was denied what fans thought was a penalty in the early minutes of the second half, as the centre referee pointed to the spot before changing his mind when a Nigerian player was brought down in the visitors’ penalty box. However the Guineans eventually took the lead against Nigeria at the 60th minute through Ismael Bangoura leaving Super Eagles chances of making it to the finals of the Nations Cup hanging in the balance.

The Super Eagles fought back immediately through Obinna Nsofor as he equalised with a screamer from just outside the 18-yard box, thus bringing scores at 1-1 apiece in the 68th minute. As the minutes and seconds were ticking away, Nigerian fans became restive as they booed off Osaze Odemwingie when he was replaced by Ikechukwu Uche few minutes after the equalizer. In the 83rd minute, Nigeria eventually took the lead, 2-1 through Ikechukwu Uche’s solo strike.

The game dragged on with the Super Eagles defending stoutly before the unexpected happened during the added time. Guinea broke the Super Eagles defence line and equalised after a beautiful move from an attacker was finished off by Ibrahima Traore. Traore’s goal ensured Guinea’s progress and meant Nigeria failed to qualify for the first time since 1986. Nigeria will be absent from the competition for the first time since 1996 however, having quit those finals for political reasons.

Also Nigeria’s plight was not helped when Ethiopia beat Madagascar 4-2 in Addis Adaba yesterday. With results against the bottom side in the group not being taken into account, Nigeria’s two wins over Madagascar are no longer relevant. With the game ending at 2-2 apiece Nigeria has eventually crashed out of the Nations Cup, ruling them out as one of the best runners-up because their points tally means they trail both Sudan (7) and Libya (8). Meanwhile Ghana and Zambia made it through to next year’s Nations Cup. Ghana defeated Sudan 2-0 in Khartoum to top Group I with 16 points while Zambia played a goalless draw with Libya in Lusaka to top Group C with 13 points.

Syli Stars make Eagles silly