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Chapter 351: Round 4 of AFCON 22 Qualifiers II (A New Celebration)

Jason had barely made up his mind and was about to jump out of the way of the Sierra Leone player when Osimen arrived and jumped in the player’s path, setting up a screen for Jason to use to escape.

‘Thanksies,’ Jason thought as a little smile popped up at the corner of his lips and he skipped past the Osimen just after the ball came flying in.

The Sierra Leone player tried to push off Osimen, but Osimen held him off long enough to allow Jason to get away and reach the ball just before stepping into the penalty box.

The Sierra Leone goalkeeper didn’t remain idle in the face of the counter-attack and rushed out towards Jason, but Jason just tipped the underside of the ball with the tip of his boot and chipped the shot over the goalkeeper before skipping over the goalkeeper’s body that came flying in.

After jumping over the goalkeeper, he didn’t even have to look and took off down the sidelines before the ball even flew past the goal line.

{GOAL!}

{They have two!}

{Splendid counter-attack, electrifying pace, beautiful screen, and a smooth and cheeky finish!}

{As if scoring wasn’t enough, he decided to overdo it and humiliate the keeper while he was at it, yet no one but the men in Sierra Leone shirts is complaining!}

{This is what we love to see!} the commentator shouted as the ball landed into the back of the net.

Jason who had taken off to the sidelines stopped at the corner flag and looked back, making a gesture with his hands as if he was looking through binoculars at his teammates, then he shrugged with a mischievous smile on his face.

{It seems like a new celebration from the player, and what a time to show it off!} The commentator did not hesitate to mention Jason’s new celebration even as the player was now smoldering in the excitement of his teammates’ joyous reactions.

Jason barely smiled when he heard the commentator’s words because the commentator wasn’t wrong.

It was a celebration he had just thought up because he remembered what the Teni’s husband, Tayo was saying to him earlier about him being the best player on the Nigerian national team.

The looking through the binoculars gesture was him looking at his teammates and assessing the points Tayo had made, and his shrugging was him reluctantly accepting that “maybe, he was the best player on the team…”.

Although, he was never going to tell anyone about the meaning of the jubilation until he could fully accept that he was the best player on the team, no matter how long it takes till then.

His teammates however didn’t care about the meaning of the jubilation and were just happy that the team had another goal and had taken a two-goal lead.

#44th minute…

With Nigeria taking a two-goal lead, Sierra Leone’s efforts at attacking had become almost frantic and there was a huge sense of urgency in their movements which presented a huge danger to the Supa Eagles.

… but at the same time, it presented an opportunity.

The Nigerian players stole the ball from the frantically playing Sierra Leone players who had made a mistake and lost the ball, leaving themselves open for a counterattack.

The Nigerian players didn’t need an invitation to burst forward and they were soon flying at the Sierra Leone half of the field with the ball in tow.

The Sierra Leone players did their best to track back and stop the Nigerian players, but the Nigerian players kept switching the ball among each other at the slightest hint of trouble, and they did all this while maintaining the pace and urgency of a counterattack.

However the Sierra Leone players efforts weren’t completely useless and they managed to slow down the Nigerian players, but the Supa Eagles weren’t willing to let the chance just get past them and they kept sending the ball from player to player until it finally reached the frontman, Victor Osimen.

On receiving the ball, Osimen’s first choice was to shoot the ball, but the Sierra Leone players quickly appeared in the path to the goal and Osimen ended up faking the shot and passing the ball back to Jason instead.

Due to the counter attack attempt, Jason was free of his markers, but it didn’t remain the same for long and they soon crowded him out, cutting off his passing lanes and shooting space and he had no choice but to move with the ball to try and create space.

A quick reverse elastico and a nutmeg on the same player later, Jason finally barely managed to create space to run into the left side of the Sierra Leone 18-yard box, but the Sierra Leone players just wouldn’t leave him be.

Because he had managed to sneakily step into their penalty box, they didn’t dare to tackle him too roughly and this was what barely allowed Jason to have some breathing space, but they were rapidly crowding him out and slowly pushing him towards the line while isolating him from his teammates.

Jason was slowly running out of options and decided to go out on a limb and make an attempt to break away instead of simply allowing himself to be shepherded out of play.

With his mind made up, he pushed the ball forward like he was voluntarily running out of play, but just as the ball was about to roll out of play, Jason turned to the right and his right leg snaked behind his left to catch the ball and send it flying, executing a rabona.

The Sierra Leone players marking Jason did not expect this move and one of them moved out of reflex to try and block the ball, but in his haste, he had forgotten that his hand was still in the air and the ball missed his head and instead smacked against the side of his palm before continuing it’s flight, but before the ball could make it any farther, the referee’s whistle went off and the referee came running.

As the referee ran towards the players, his hand was pointed towards the penalty spot as what had happened was a clear handball inside the penalty area and was no doubt, a penalty.

Even though it was a clear handball, the Sierra Leone players still ran at the referee to try and convince him to change his decision, however, the referee wasn’t budging on his decision.

Unfortunately for the Sierra Leone team, despite the International Football Association Board(IFAB) approving the use of VAR in official competitions since 2018, the use of VAR had yet to be implemented in Africa now.

Even if it had, it would only delay the inevitable as what had happened was clear for anyone to see and Nigeria would still have to take their penalty.

Jason picked up the ball and threw it to Osimen to take the penalty.

It was his way of thanking Osimen for setting up a screen for him to use to escape the Sierra Leone defender coming his way and score the second goal for the team.

Nobody argued with Osimen taking the penalty so the ball was soon laid down on the penalty spot with Osimen standing a few steps behind it and waiting for the referee’s whistle.

*Fweeeeee*

On hearing the referee’s whistle, Osimen stepped up to the ball and coolly rifled the ball into the bottom left corner of the post.

{Well taken penalty!}

{They have three!}

{What a landslide! We expected goals for sure, but we weren’t expecting this!}

{Three for the men in green before the first-half whistle! It seems they have learned their lesson from the last game against this opponent and are putting their knowledge to good use!} The commentator’s voice wasn’t excessively loud, but it still got across the message to the watching fans while the Nigerian players calmly celebrated the goal.

After a mild amount of celebration from the Nigerian players, the match kicked off again, but it wasn’t too long before the referee blew the halftime whistle.

*Fweeeeeeeee*

On hearing the whistle, play stopped and the players of the two team began walking off the field and into the tunnel with the players in white looking a lot more up beat than their dejected opponents in blue.

{The first half whistle has been blown and what a half it was!}

{The match got off to a quick start when the Supa Eagles captain managed to get on the end of a cross from the new man, Jason}

{A while later, Jason cheekily sent the ball over the opposition goalkeeper to bring a beautiful end to an electrifying counter attack and finally… right before the second half, the team striker converted from the spot, bringing the scores of the game to three nil}

{The Nigerian side must be happy with the results while I’m sure the Sierra Leone manager must be raging at his players’ performance in that half}

{Can he straighten his players during the break and will we see a different performance from them in the second half?}

{We’ll find out soon enough!}