By Chris Wright
As we pithily noted last night, the World Cup opening ceremony sounded an awful lot like a shopping trolley falling down an endless flight of concrete stairs due to the risible sound quality – though even the hissy sound quality and dodgy mics saved us from having to sit through Jennifer Lopez, Pitbull and that other woman’s official dirge, so at least it served some purpose.
Amid the myriad fails on show (two of the released doves dying after colliding with the stadium, Pitbull’s tiny trousers, etc), the biggest perhaps came when, in the spirit of inclusion, the flag of every competing nation appeared on a giant ball in the middle of the pitch in Sao Paulo.
The only problem was, the organisers saw fit to use the flag of Niger (a nation who are not competing at the World Cup) over that of Nigeria (who very much are).
What a difference a couple of extra vowels make to a Google search.
Kudos to Twitter user @lawseyitfc who spotted the balls-up…
#OpeningCeremony The awkward moment when they use the Niger flag instead of Nigeria #NGA pic.twitter.com/qBJ2hru4AW
— Cameron Laws (@lawseyitfc) June 12, 2014
Bless them. They just can’t get anything right, can they?