Nigeria’s Onuche Ogbelu was in action for 90 minutes for Esperance in their 2-0 loss to Flamengo of Brazil in the Group D encounter of the FIFA Club World Cup played in Philadelphia, while most football loving Nigerians were asleep.
The match began at 2.am Nigerian time and Flamengo wasted no time to stamp their feet from the blast of the whistle. Goals from Giorgian de Arrascaeta and Luiz Araujo sealed the victory for the more enterprising side.
The Brazilian side asserted their authority from start to finish on a chilly evening at a half-empty Lincoln Financial Field, with Esperance managing only two attempts on goal throughout the 90minutes.
Flamengo opened the scoring in the 17th minute when Guillermo Varela surged down the right and delivered a pinpoint cross to Luiz Araujo, who cushioned the ball into the path of Arrascaeta to fire home.
Despite the dominance from Flamengo, Ogbelu still gave a good account of himself with well time tackles in the midfield tussle, sublime passes and linking the defence, midfield and attack of Esperance in quick transitions during the game.
Unfortunately, the performance of former Fosla Academy could not rescue Esperance from the jaws of defeat.
Esperance enjoyed their best moments after the break with Youcef Belaili providing a rare spark. His curling shot narrowly missed the net in the 63rd minute and Belaili forced Flamengo goalkeeper Augustin Rossi into a sharp save with a close-range effort five minutes later.
Ogbelu and his teammates will file out in their next game against Los Angeles FC, which suffered same 2-0 loss against Chelsea in the opening game in Group D.
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