Royal Blue: Joseph Yobo caught up in mixed message mayhem

Nov 12 2011 by David Prentice, Liverpool Echo

REMEMBER that toe-curling, but hilarious, incident when Manchester City tried to play out a draw at home to Liverpool to avoid relegation?

Except they really needed to win. The substituted Niall Quinn had to frantically race to the touchline to tell Steve Lomas – diligently playing out time near the corner flag – that he should be trying to get the ball forward.

Teams still aren’t doing their homework properly, and an on-loan Everton star was at the heart of the latest example of mixed message mayhem.

Nigeria will not be going to the African Nations Cup finals next year – after being caught out in a suicidal surge for a third goal against Guinea.

Winning 2-1, which would have been enough to reach the finals, Nigeria wrongly believed they needed another goal and recklessly poured forward. Predictably Guinea equalised.

Afterwards Nigerian captain Joseph Yobo explained: “We all went to attack because the officials told us we needed a third goal to ensure our qualification. That was our biggest undoing.”

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), however, has branded Yobo’s statement “desperate.”

“That was a desperate statement least expected from a player of Yobo’s status,” said NFF chief media officer, Ademola Olajire . “I think the players are simply unserious.

“During the days leading to the match day we informed the team that we need a win whether 1-0, 2-1, 3-1, etc to qualify.

“Then we have checked the other groups’ standings, we discovered that the groups that will finish on 13 points are Nigeria and Ghana’s group.

“We knew that at 13 points, it is either we top our group or we pick one of the two best loser’s tickets.

“We made this information known to the team way back before they stepped onto the pitch.”

As a result of the draw, Sudan picked up the remaining slot and will play in the tournament finals in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.