Former Super Eagles striker, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, has bemoaned the bullying he suffers in the hands of Nigeria football enthusiasts over the goal he missed 13 to 14 years ago.
Aiyegbeni cried out in a video shared on X, from a recent interview, lamenting that he is still getting messages from angry fans who are demanding an explanation of how he missed the tap-in with the goalkeeper and defenders out of the way.
On June 22, 2010 when Aiyegbeni missed a tap-in during a World Cup game between Nigeria and South Korea and most Nigerian football lovers are finding it difficult to let go off it.
The miss came when Nigeria was trailing the Koreans 2-1 in their final Group A match at the Moses Mabhida Stadium, South Africa.
The ‘Yak’ as he was fondly called would later score from the penalty spot but Super Eagles fans were, at the time, unable to move past the unbelievable miss.
Aiyegbeni said, “I still get messages from people. Different messages. I remember one was sending a message last week and he was like ‘how do you explain that goal missed to you daughter Kayla’ he mentioned my daughter’s name ‘Kayla’. I was like 13 to 14 years ago and people still think about that,” he said.
“I got a message today and someone was like ‘you’re the worst Super Eagles striker’ because of that particular goal I missed. They never think about all the other goals I’ve scored.
“They never think about when I scored goals in Sudan when nobody thought we’d qualify for Korea Japan 2002. We went to Sudan. Nobody ever thought we’d qualify because the weather there was crazy. If we get a draw or lose we’re out.
“There I scored 2 goals. Julius Aghahowa scored one and Jay Jay Okocha, ‘pa Jay’ scored another one. We won 4-0. That gave us the ticket and went to Korea-Japan 2000.
“But people in Nigeria never speak about how I made them qualify but didn’t go to the World Cup. I was shocked. I played 99.9% of every game to qualify Nigeria for Japan/Korea and I was dropped.”
