Brazil – Nigeria In Litmus Test

The hype around the Super Eagles match with Brazil is getting to a crescendo. It is only a friendly game but seen differently.

For Nigerians it is much of a litmus test for the national team.

 Many Nigerians are still basking in the 1996 Olympics  semi-final victory over Brazil and probably looking for a repeat performance when both teams meet on Sunday in Singapore.

But very few Nigerians remember that Brazil humiliated the Super Eagles at the Abuja Stadium in 2003 with a 3-0 thrashing. How soon do Nigerians forget! Maybe it was only a friendly match and therefore did not matter.

However the Singapore show is being taken with a lot of interest.

At least Brazil are still a football superpower and  parade great stars. Forget about the fact that Brazil had the wind taken out of their sail by Germany in semi-final of the 2014 World Cup finals, they are still a force.

Brazil are definitely rebuilding their national team, so are the Super Eagles after the 2019 Nations Cup semifinals crash-out.

For both teams, the October 13 match is a rebuilding measure which is taken with all amount of seriousness.

After posting an impressive performance against Ukraine in recent friendly, Nigerians cannot wait to see the Super Eagles line up against another quality opposition, this time Brazil.

For Nigerians the air is thick with excitement over the match except for the disappointment that the Chelsea duo of Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori won’t be filing out with their compatriots. Rather, they are seemingly opting for England and understandably so.

It promises to be an interesting match for both giant teams.

But the sour note is that most Nigerians looking  to watch the match will have to wake up by 5am when most viewing centres would not have started for the day especially being a Sunday.