By Tony Ubani, in South Africa
These indeed are not the best of times for the Green Eagles. The Eagles have never entered into a competition without putting Nigerians under pressure. Even when they win matches,  their fans would come out from watching them swearing and cursing. They have never won smoothly without heartaches.

Little wonder therefore, when they lost their first game against Argentina, many people praised them in defeat thinking that the good days were here.

Many were deceived by the commitment of the players and the hunger they showed in containing the Argies. Even at that, we had God and Vincent Enyeama to thank for not allowing Maradona men riddle us with goals.

That is why only men with third eyes noticed that the mere fact that the team held out to a 1-0 was not enough to say Uhuru to the Lars Lagerback-led team. But the team and its players and officials walked in king sizes thinking that if they could hold star-studded Argentina, they would

flog Greece and South Korea on their way to their dream semi-final target. How mistaken they were.

We have seen from confrontations between the mighty and the low that there are no minnows in the game, again. It is more of reaping what you sow.

Who would have given North Korea a chance of surviving against World Cup kings, Brazil? But the Brazilians were stunned by the untiring North Koreans that lost 2-1 but sent out warning signals to the rest of the world. Imagine Mexico beating former Champions France 2-0.

Serbia beat Germany 1-0. Our own Algeria held out a barren draw with loquacious England. Don’t forget that Cote d’Ivoire also played out a draw against Portugal in a game that the Africans scored higher marks.

The two defeats that somewhat practically ruled Eagles out of qualifying to the second round have not stopped Nigerians from hoping and praying.

Mathematical calculations are back. But they have forgotten that their destiny is no longer

in their hands. They are placing it on Argentina. What a shame! That reminds of me of when I was growing up. I had an uncle who placed so much trust on pool staking.

He would tell us to wait and pray for him on Fridays. He had seen himself hitting a jackpot and assured us that out of his fortune, he would use it to send some to school and others to learn a trade. But he comes back and there is from the children, who realise he is talking to himself. “Just small thing. Chei! I thought that Tottenham would draw Dundee United.

If not that small slip, I would have ‘killed’ Kora people”.
So he continued to hope against hope and continued to plough the little resource at his disposal in trying to hit the jackpot that never came.

He placed his trust on others and instead of hitting the jackpot, Kora milked  his own resources.

Must we always depend on others to make progress? If Argentina beat Greece and South Korea beat Eagles?

What if Argentina and Greece play out a draw and Nigeria and South Korea end up in a draw? There are many sides to a coin.

That Argentina beat the Koreans 4-1 is giving us false hopes of routing Korea. These people have been reputed to be faster than the ball. They never give up in their fight.

They are closer to the ground and string passes with tailor measurement. Our saving grace, no doubt, would be Enyeama who has shown  like the Northern Star but has been denied glory by his mates.

But what if…they bring one female player whose name is Ify to play for the Eagles? Then, all the permutations of if this and if that would be equaled to IFY.