Oluwashina Okeleji

IT MIGHT have been a story of failure in South Africa, but, as we found out when we sat down with him after Nigeria’s first match, the Everton defender is keen on lighting up dimmed hopes

We have to speak about the World Cup – you guys came to South Africa with so much optimism, but it all went up in smoke?

TRULY, WE had ambitions but we paid the price for our inability to take our chances in front of goal. It is really sad that our World Cup circle ended this way. In our opening match against Argentina we deserved a draw but narrowly lost 1-0, and then we suffered a sending off against Greece before losing 2-1. But in the last game against the Koreans which ended in a 2-2 draw I can say we beat ourselves. We created many chances, more than the Koreans, but we refused to take them. It’s unfortunate, it’s very frustrating. The Koreans had their own chances and took them.[m1] .

What are the positives you can take away from this disappointing campaign at the World Cup?

Although we did not compete well against Greece and South Korea, we did against Argentina – one of the best sides in the world

(Full story in Y! September 2010)

Oluwapelumi