The Topsy Turvy Nature Of Football

The game of football is one that's filled with ups and downs. It's a game of passion and love that unites nations and tribes together. Countries with diverse cultures usually come together when the time is right; to render support to their national team. A notable example is Nigeria, who, irrespective of its diversity in tribes and regions, always come together to cheer on the national team.

Over the years, some football games have been hyped up to a certain level and most of them have lived up to the hype. As a football fan, I have been opportune to watch a lot of football games that have resulted in either pain or joy.

Football teams have won their opponents against all odds; some have scored goals against the run of play, and some have done comebacks that people never expected. In past years we've seen teams perform miracles to turn a tie around. In 2018, we saw AS Roma turn the tie around against Barcelona, they lost the first leg by 4 goals to 1 but won the second leg 3-0, thereby qualifying on away goals. In 2019, We also saw Liverpool turn the tie around against Barcelona, they lost the first leg 3-0 but won the second leg 4-0 to qualify to the next round. Most recently we saw Madrid overturn a two goal deficit against Manchester City in less than 3 minutes. 

ITS NOT OVER UNTIL ITS OVER

In 2014, I watched a game that would go on to change my perception of the game of football and most importantly, life in general. It was a game between cross city rivals Real Madrid and Athletico Madrid. Both teams scaled through a lot of hurdles, eliminating lots of big teams en route to the finals.

When the game began, both teams were playing in quite an unusually conservative manner, not until Athletico Madrid opened the scoring. They then led for the major part of the game. Major part in the sense that, they led from the minute they scored to the 94th minute of the game.

In the 94th Minute, Madrid had a late corner, which turned out to be the last kick of the game. They took the corner, scored from it and went further to win 4-1 in Extratime.

I shed tears that night, but they weren't that of pain but of joy.

That game also taught me never to give up on life, even when all odds are against me. Trials and tribulations would definitely come to mess with our mental and physical health, but if we keep up with the right mentality till the very end, we would definitely scale through.

I want to specially thank my friends and new sponsors @Talecharm and @Mofif Thank you so much for the encouragement, God bless you all.

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May 15, 2022.