It was an agonizing thing to watch. As a Nigerian, even though the outcome of this match had not been in doubt for me, I still had a glimmer of hope that Nigeria might just show up to play in their last group match against South Korea, Tuesday at Durban, to determine who goes through to the next round of the World Cup from Group B. In the end, it was Argentina and South Korea.

Nigeria had a promising start. An early lucky goal, through Kalu Uche in the 12th minute, put them on course to qualifying. However, though there were some changes in today's line up, with Rabiu Afolabi replacing the injured Taye Taiwo, Kanu Nwanko starting in place of Osaze Odemwingie, and Yusuf Ayila replacing the suspended Sani Kaita, little was different from what we've seen from the Nigerians in their previous matches.

Sloppy midfield passes resulted in two set pieces that South Korea converted to their advantage, one, an equalizer in the 38th minute through Jungsoo, a result of poor marking from Afolabi, the other, to take the lead in the 49th minute through Park Chu Young.

And though Nigeria came into this match needing a win, it appeared as though they were playing for a draw: slow on the ball, not challenging for loose balls, retreating to their own halve when not in possession, and most of all, playing without verve.

They had a few chances to score goals but poor finishing was on hand each time to expose the poor quality of the Nigerian side. It required a penalty in the 69th minute, converted by Yakubu Ayegbeni, to get them leveled with the South Koreans, after Ogbuke Obasi had been tripped in the Korean penalty area.

While Obafemi Martins could have won the match for Nigeria in the 79th minute, his finishing wasn't any different from Ayegbeni's 63rd minute miss, where the latter had the goal mouth only a few yards from him, with the goalkeeper already beaten, but managed to put the ball wide.

Kanu had a good game but tired out in the second half of the game. Two substitutions for Nigeria, Martins for Kanu and Nsofo for Yakubu, injected some energy into the game, although the resultant play from Nigeria was far from qualitative. A last ten-minute scramble by the Super Eagles came a little too late.

Nigeria certainly did not deserve to go through to the second round. Any glimmer of hope I nurtured was for Africa, but come to think of it, with poor preparation, should Africa have deserved any better than their poor outing in South Africa?

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/409899-nigeria-versus-south-korea-review