The Yak Bows Out
Yakubu Aiyegbeni retired from football last Wednesday, which is his 35th birthday. He said, “I would like to officially announce my retirement from professional football today. I would like to thank God for the career I had. I would like to thank the entire Nigeria Football Federation and my national teammates for the memorable years I had playing for the Super Eagles. I would also like to thank all the clubs I played for. The managers, owners, fellow players and my dearest family and friends who immensely supported me throughout my career.”
As he says goodbye to the round leather game, his 2010 World Cup miss and his true age will continue to be subjects of discussions for a long while.
Former England international, Alan Shearer described Yakubu Aiyegbeni’s goal bound miss against South Korea at the 2010 World Cup as “the greatest miss in football history”, though the culprit does not see it as something out of this world in as much as he regretted missing the goal.
“No striker love to miss a goal; it is the joy of every player to score because it does not only bring excitement to the player, it changes the atmosphere at the stadium, everybody get ecstatic, more especially when it is a goal that determines the fate of his side. Of course, I felt sad when I missed the chance against South Korea because I knew what the goal could have meant to Nigeria, but that is football and I would not kill myself for missing a goal,” Aiyegbeni told THISDAY.
He said further, “Most great players in the world, including legends like Pele and Diego Maradona have missed greater chances during their football career despite having scored memorable goal and I’m no exception. After all, I’m human too. A very good example is Ghanaian striker, Asamoah Gyan, who despite almost single handedly taking the Black Stars to the quarter finals of the 2010 World Cup with his fantastic goal against United States in the second round of the competition, but when it came to the crunch in the last-eight against Uruguay, he lost a penalty that would have rewritten African history in the World Cup. He felt bad to let his country down when it mattered most but he did not kill himself and he has since been forgiven by Ghanaians. He’s still idolised back home in his native country. So, I expected the same consideration to be extended to me by Nigerian fans.”
Asked how he was able to get over the ordeal of missing such a great opportunity after Nigeria’s exit at the Mundial, Aiyegbeni said: “I knew how passionate Nigerians are about football and I could understand their feelings, but thank God for my family, especially my wife for standing by me and made me realise that it was not the end of the world. Though, I must confess it was not the best of time for me, but then this world is full of ups and downs. I also took consolation in the fact that great players have had their down sides too and they managed it.”
Aiyegbeni’s next game in front of Nigerian fans after the South Africa ordeal was at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos when he starred for the Eagles during the Nwankwo Kanu testimonial match and every of his moves were jeered by fans whose memory of his miss against Korea lingered.
“I was not surprised at their jeering, I understand Nigerian fans very well and I knew what to expect. It’s just a matter of time before they would forgive and forget and start remembering some of the great goals I have scored for the national team. After all, I have appealed to them and begged for forgiveness on different occasions. John Terry suffered similar fate in England, when he was booed at every stadium in England, but with time