Every Nigerian citizen born before the year 2000 should have heard of this mythical game that occurred decades ago. I can't say much how this story thrived in other countries but here in Nigeria, its a tale we won't want to take off our mind in a hurry.

The family time I had with my parents and sibling prompted me to write about this. The youngest in the family actually argued with me about the game telling me that it was Samuel Okwaraji (late) who scored the only goal for Nigeria and gave up the ghost after he scored the goal. I laughed a lot knowing that he has digested every details he got not minding what actually happened to Sam Okwaraji and how true the match was.

I was equally fed with such lie but with the invention of internet and innovative development, I had to research and find out how the game really went only to find out it was all crap.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED?

The Nigeria - India mythical match actually varies according to the source of information. Different versions from family and friends but virtually, every story agreed on few facts which are:

1. This legendary match ended Nigeria 1 - 99 India.

2. Nigerians where not able to kick the ball because it kept transforming to a lion, oil palm fruit, dragon or something scary to stop them from kicking the ball. It was even said that most times you'll see about a dozen of football on the pitch without know which is the real ball, lol.

3. The Indians later bragged that if Nigeria could score a goal, they would concede defeat.

4. Samuel Okwaraji scored the winning goal and lost his life in the process. (The late Sam Okwaraji)

Samuel Okwaraji who died as a result of a congestive heart failure.

5. FIFA banned India from participating in soccer because they used black magic in the game.

6. The Indians played barefooted.

Few facts gave this story little Credence.

Since most people has actually not seen India partake in most international soccer games. Most people like to pass off this story as true with this fact.

Another reason this toxic lie could thrive for long was the fact that credible information was not readily available at our finger tips. We get served with any tale our ominous fabricators cooks.

And to be honest i have a stinging feeling that an elder of a community prepared such fallacious story because, no one questions the words of the elders in Nigeria. Remember, what an adult sees sitting down a child will never see even if he climbs mount everest or consults Google, lol.

However, what people do not know is, Nigeria has never played India in an international match. Concerning Late Samuel Okwaraji, he died of congestive heart failure in the 77th minutes of a world cup qualification match(12th August, 1989) against Angola at the Lagos national stadium surulere, Lagos state. (May his soul rest in perfect peace)

India were never banned from playing football as a result of using black magic rather they have not yet qualified for a world cup game.

Nevertheless, I so much loved the story shaa, lol. I kept wondering, if a match lasts for 90munites, how then were the Indians able to score 99goals? This means the Indians scored every 0.9minutes. How wonderful.

Hope you have a side of your story to tell, the mythical facts I missed, how true & how long you believed the story.

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