BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

This appears to be a period of penalty shootout. On Thursday 1 October, Arsenal overcame Liverpool 5-4 on penalties in Carabao Cup Round of 16 clash.

On the same day, seven-time European champions AC Milan scored a penalty at the end of extra-time before winning a 24-penalty shootout against Portugal’s Rio Ave to squeeze into the Europa League group stage.

The following day which is today, it is 44 years since a penalty shootout decided a continental match for the first time in Nigeria.

Penalty shootout was introduced as a tie-breaker after its adoption on 27 June 1970 at the annual general meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) which is responsible for the formulation of Laws of the Game.

Shooting Stars became the first team in Nigeria to experience it at continental level in 1976.

The club went on to become the first Nigerian team to win a continental title – the African Winners Cup which was in its second edition.

But the road to the final was not easy. One of the most recalled encounters in the club’s history was the return leg of their semi-final match of the competition.

Shootings had reached the semi-finals of the second edition of the competition without losing a game, having beaten Kenya Breweries home and away in the opening round and later defeated Zambia’s Rokana United 3-2 in Lagos and drew 1-1 in Ndola.

But the first leg of their semi-final game with Zamalek was a different ball game.

Shooting Stars with their array of young talents like Muda Lawal, Segun Odegbami, Kunle Awesu, Philip Boamah and Best Ogedegbe among others were more than intimidated by the large and cheering crowd at the Cairo Stadium when they faced Zamalek on Friday 24 September 1976.

After holding on grimly for 75 minutes, a tightly knit defence suddenly crashed under a 10-minute blitz and conceded two goals by Zamalek’s Wahid Kamel which gave the home team a 2-0.

Perhaps the tally could have been more but for the agility of Goalkeeper Best Ogedegbe who had been thrown into the international assignment, owing to the injury sustained by first choice goalkeeper, Zion Ogunfehinmi.

The eventual score line was enough to paint a picture of gloom for the Shooting Stars despite their putting up brilliant performance.

They fell for the antics of the capacity Cairo crowd who continuously whistled, causing confusion to the Shooting Stars players.

As was the case with Enugu Rangers the previous year when the Nigerian side had a two goal margin to offset in the semi finals of the African Cup of Champion Clubs against an

Egyptian side, Ghazl El- Mehalla, Shooting Stars faced the same daunting task.

The club went straight to close door camping at Olugbon Hotel, Ipetumodu, some 50 kilometres from their base in Ibadan.

The hotel is owned by the family of Femi Adesina who is the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Training was intensified and they included penalty kicks into their schedule.

The Oyo State Sports Council had to pay N30, 000 to allow IICC Shooting Stars play the return leg match in Ibadan instead of Lagos.

In addition, the insurance premium on the players against injuries was doubled from N10, 000.

Tension gripped the entire Ibadan city, if not the whole country. Twenty four hours to the match, tickets were already on sale at the then Liberty Stadium, Ibadan.

Good luck wishes were coming from all and sundry. All the newspapers were awash with news on the match.

The airwaves were agog with news and jingles on the match. There was mass mobilisation in the support for the home side, apparently drawing from the type the Egyptian crowd gave to Zamalek in the first leg match.

In Cairo, until the last quarter of the match that produced the two goals, the crowd was very vociferous in their chants for the home side.

On match day, the tension was very palpable. Before noon, the stadium had already been filled up.

Months, before then, the old Western State of which Ibadan was the capital had been divided into three – Oyo, Ogun and Ondo.

The three state governors – Colonel David Jemibewon of Oyo State, Lt. Colonel Saidu Ayodele Balogun and Wing Commander Ita David Ikpeme of Ondo State – were among the capacity crowd at the match venue.

The match was fixed to kick off at 3pm in the afternoon so that the weather would have effect on the Egyptians.

 Alas! An early morning rain ensured that the weather was cool. All the same, the atmosphere was frenzied.

Amid rhythmic sensation of talking drums and other musical instruments, the game kicked off.

The dream of early goal did not materialise despite Shooting Stars opening the game with ferocious attack.

Zamalek were forced to concede a corner kick within two minutes. In the first 15 minutes, the visitors had conceded five corner kicks as Kunle Awesu on the left flank and Philip Boamah from the right, created a lot of opportunities for Segun Odegbami and Moses Otolorin in the central position to connect.

They piled pressure upon pressure, but the Egyptians were able to absorb all.

Goalkeeper Adel El-Maamour was particularly very outstanding, making saves after saves. At a point, it appeared the ball would never get past him.

Skipper and striker, Hassan Shahetan, who in 2006 coached Egypt to win the Africa Cup of Nations,  also fell back to help the defence as the anxious crowd was kept on the edge.

Otolorin and Odegbami’s sizzlers either hit the post or got blocked by the defenders.

The agony increased as the minutes ticked away. The pressure was intense and the misses were many and also very painful.

After the half time, with goals refusing to come, it appeared the Shooting Stars were on a ‘mission impossible’.

The crowd at the stadium was getting frustrated. So also it appeared the Shooting Stars’ players too.

At half time, Skipper Samuel Ojebode reportedly broke down in tears in the dressing room and had to be psyched up by Governor David Jemibewon.

In the second half, the crowd cheers had given way to deafening silence.

The match seemed to be heading for a scoreless draw and an elimination of Shooting Stars.

There was even a terrible fright mid way into the second half when a Zamalek striker almost scored.

But barely 15 minutes to the end, just as it happened for the Egyptians in the first leg, Skipper Ojebode, overlapping from the left steered the ball past two defenders, floated the ball into the Egyptian penalty box. Odegbami took a great leap to nod the ball past Goalkeeper Adel El-Maamour.

Even defender, Mahmoud El-Gohary’s last ditch effort to retrieve the ball failed. Shooting Stars were a goal up.

There was renewed vigour in the attack. The stars were all over the field looking for the important second goal.

Then six minutes to end the match, Otolorin volleyed in from a goal mouth scramble for the second goal.

The crowd went wild with joy. The game then went into penalty shoot-out. Ojebode, Otolorin, Odegbami, Idowu Otubusin and Ogedegbe all took the kicks successfully for Shooting Stars.

After three kicks, the pendulum was already swinging in Shooting Stars’ favour as they converted all, while Zamalek had lost one.

Idowu Otubusin took the fourth kick which Adel El-Maamour made spirited efforts to stop, but it slipped off his hands into the net. He was in agony.

Goalkeeper Best Ogedegbe took the decisive kick to give the Shooting Stars a 5-3 win by penalties! The first time an international match in Nigeria was so decided!