When the friendly match against Brazil was first making the rounds, many initially didn’t want to believe it!

It is a hoax; it is fake news; it will not happen – were the chorus on many lips.

Funny enough, when Aribo latched on to Simon’s beautifully threaded pass to bombard his way through visibly shocked Brazilian defence, it was as if the whole world paused for 5 seconds!

It can’t be; we are not about to take the lead against mighty Brazil, or are we?

Then reality struck! Aribo had the nerves to smash his shot beyond the hapless Man City goalkeeper confirming once and for all that this has to be a sort of hoax!

Nigeria can’t be leading Brazil, that was not even in the script!

But yes, it was happening; a sort of real hoax.

For long periods, the Super Eagles ceded possession to their more illustrious opponents, content to soak pressure, sit back and attempt to punish Brazil on the break.

Chukwueze: what is there more to say? The Villarreal man fits perfectly into this style of play. And so does Ahmed Musa who could also have given the Brazilians something else to think about.

But, as we were still in dreamland, the Brazil equaliser quickly woke us up and brought us back to the edge of our seats; back to familiar territory.

But the territory still somewhat remained rather not too familiar as we marvelled at the focus, concentration and application displayed by our boys to ensure that the scoreline remained a respectable 1:1 to cap a wonderful night for African football.

Perhaps Coach Rohr put it best when he said:”These results are good for African football when Senegal and Nigeria did not lose to Brazil, one of the strongest teams in the world.”