Aiyegbeni: I Won't Apologise for 2010 World Cup Goal Miss

Former Nigerian striker, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, says he won’t apologise for an open goal he missed at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

At the Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban on June 22, 2010, Yakubu notably missed an open goal from three metres against South Korea in the last Group game but later went on to score a penalty.

Aiyegbeni ‘s penalty made sure that Nigeria earned a 2–2 draw, but this was not enough for his team to progress out of the group stages.

The miss is often regarded as one of the worst misses ever in the World Cup and The Yak still receives angry messages eleven years later from angry Super Eagles fans.

Speaking on Wednesday during an interview tagged Live with Yak on NationTV, Aiyegbeni said he has no apology for the miss.

He said, “I won’t apologise at all. Why should I? I have scored so many goals for Nigeria too. I have sacrificed a lot for the country. Did anyone apologise to me?

“I cannot apologise because it wasn’t a deliberate miss. I seriously wanted to score. But it wasn’t to be. So many strikers have missed chances too and nobody apologise so I won’t.”

In May 2020, the 38-year-old revealed that Nigerians still send him messages to express annoyance over the miss.

“I felt bad when I missed it but people still talk about it and are saying if I had scored, we should have gone to the next round,” the former Everton forward said in May 2020.

“Even if I scored, are we going to win the World Cup? That I am not sure of.

“I have scored so many goals for Nigeria, even when people thought we will never qualify for the World Cup, I stood up to be counted.

“I have always done my best to help the country but it’s weird that people still send me messages till date even on social media about that miss.

“They would write things like ‘I never forget o, I never forget the goal wey you miss o’ [I haven’t forgotten the goal you missed], ‘we no go forgive you o’ [we won’t forgive you], etc and I would be like wow.”

Aiyegbeni, who is Nigeria’s third highest goalscorer with scored 21 goals in 57 appearances for the Super Eagles, retired from football in 2017.

He started his career with Julius Berger FC in Lagos as a teenager in the Nigerian Premier League. He was later loaned to Portuguese club Gil Vicente. He made 250 appearances in the English Premier League, playing for Everton FC, Middlesborough FC, Portsmouth FC, and Blackburn.

He made four African Cup of Nations appearances for Nigeria and also played at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Meanwhile, Yakubu has no interest in coaching the national team or any team in particular, saying he is available to render any other assistance to the Nigerian Football Federation except coaching.

When asked if he would consider coaching, Yakubu, who is the third highest scorer in the history of the Super Eagles said: “At this point, I am not thinking about coaching the national team.”

“I don’t even have a coaching license because I am not interested in coaching but if the federation needs my help, they have my numbers.”

January 28, 2021