Tijani Babangida powered forth from a hopeless game in FIFA 1998 in Denmark to make a point. A fatal accident in Kaduna on May 9 just benched him now. His fans hope he’ll come from the rear to spring one more surprise: hold on to life still.
There are always things to love about the Super Eagles’ bullish winger. Those are in addition to the face-saving goals he scored after Denmark pounded Nigeria 4.
1) Tijani Babangida scored 81 goals in 285 appearances in his football career. They include the 36 matches and five goals for the national side, and the 249 matches and 76 goals for his club side. He played in five countries across three continents, including The Netherlands
2) The most historic of them, according to him, is the lone goal he gave Nigeria in the 1998 FIFA World Cup in Denmark.
3) After losing his wing in the victorious Olympic ’96 squad, he missed the 2002 World Cup. His come-back in the 2004 African Cup of Nations when many could have thought him a tired boot emphasized his talent.
4)His nemesis then, Finidi George, now Super Eagles’ coach, often limited his chances for call-ups.
5) Tijni Babangida scored the two goals that nailed Nigeria’s victory for the 2002 African Nations Football qualifier in Ghana.
6) There’s the Dutch midfielder, now in AC Milan, Tijjani Reijinders, whose father named after Tijani Babangida.It was an honor from Reijinders’ father Martins who loved Babangida while he played for Ajax FC.
This is no accident in football history though accidents do happen.
Like the auto accident TJ just had.
It took his brother Ibrahim Babangida, injured Tijani’s wife, and other family members, and nearly crippled the football legend.
Now president of the Professional Football Players, would definitely chalk this up as part of his history. And his bounce-back, too.
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