THE failure of the national team, the Super Eagles, to beat their Ghanaian opponent in Sunday's World Cup qualifier in Accra, has led to the tragic death of two persons in Umuahia, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

One of the two men made good his threat to kill himself if Nigeria did not collect the three points at stake while the second was knocked down by a vehicle after the game.

According to Mrs. Joyce Onwuka, the middle-aged man had threatened to kill himself if Nigeria failed to win the match.

Onwuka said the incident occurred in the World Bank Housing Estate in the Abia State capital.

She said: "When he said it, we thought he was joking but surprisingly, immediately after the match, he took out a small bottle from his pocket and drank the content."

She added that it was when the deceased started foaming in the mouth, few minutes after drinking the content and subsequently died, that they realised he was not joking.

The second incident took place at Ubakala near the Enugu/Port Harcourt Expressway when another middle-aged man was knocked down by a 504 Peugeot station wagon while returning home after watching the telecast of the match. The man had gone to watch the game at a Guest house across the highway after power outage in his residence but met his death on his way back.

Meanwhile, sports fans in Umuahia blamed Supper Eagles technical adviser Jo Bonfrere for the poor performance of the team for his reliance on Austin Okocha and Nwankwo Kanu who were too mindful of their legs.

Mr. Hyacinth Okoh, a sports writer, said that the Ghanaians were determined to hack down the Eagles. "Bonfrere should have used local boys like the Ghanaians who fielded players from their leading clubs," Okoh added.

He is, however, optimistic that Nigeria still had good chances to qualify for the World Cup with four matches to go in the qualifiers.