Just over 12 hours after that massively disappointing result at the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Nigerians have woken up to the realisation that their beloved country will not be at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Waking up the morning after, the disappointment hits afresh, you realise it was not a dream, Nigeria will really not be at the FIFA World Cup for the first time since 2006.
And while the disappointment may yet linger, here are a few sure-fire methods to help you feel better.
Virtual revenge
FIFA always serves as therapy for football fans after a loss but the latest edition of the most popular football video game does not have any African teams so PES will have to make do for now.
Here is how it can help you as a Nigerian; load up PES 2021, select Nigeria for yourself and Ghana as the opponent, set the difficulty to beginner and absolutely destroy them.
Score as many as you can and when the game is over, rematch and do it all over again until you are satisfied, forget about your dignity, it was most likely already lost at the Moshood Abiola Stadium.
Go on a social media cleanse
Social media platforms especially Twitter are known for adding petrol to the fire so it’s best for Nigerians who are still hurt by this result to avoid it for now.
But if you cannot completely avoid social media then here are some keywords for you to mute today in order to avoid seeing all the brutal troll tweets circulating today.
“Super Eagles”, “Francis Uzoho”, “Eguavoen”, “Partey” and most importantly “World Cup” are the words to mute on Twitter for now, stay safe and protect your mental health from these brutal Ghanaians.
If you can’t beat them, join them
If you can’t relate to any of those above tips, then this might be your only hope to get over the disappointment, reverse psychology.
Change your name to Koffi, Kweku, Akwaaba or something else very obviously Ghanaian and join them in trolling the Super Eagles.
Remember, you don’t necessarily have to root for Ghana going forward, just jump ship long enough to avoid getting trolled by doing the trolling, save yourselves, brothers and sisters.
Pick your World Cup team now
Instead of revelling in the pain of Nigeria missing out on the World Cup, pick another team to support at the showpiece tournament and do so right now so you can develop sufficient emotional attachment before December.
26 serious teams have already confirmed their place in Qatar, so there are lots of options for you to pick from.
It is advisable to not pick an African team though, not out of loyalty to Nigeria but because you do not want to waste this rare blank cheque, unashamedly bank on the winning horse.
Pick a team that actually has a shot at winning in Qatar, you deserve it, abi 'suffer no dey tire you?’