Five Greatest Exploits of the Super Eagles

Nigeria is a football-crazy nation with a very rich history in the game. 

Our men’s national team, the Super Eagles are amongst the most recognizable teams in the world; colouring the game with their traditional green and white colours.

Like all things in life, Eagles have experienced plenty of highs and lows in the game, from the incredible triumph in Atlanta to the team’s failure to qualify for consecutive AFCONs in 2015 and 2017.

In this article, we pick out the five greatest exploits of the Super Eagles of Nigeria.

South Africa 2013

Nigeria is considered one of the giants of the game in Africa, but their title haul at the Africa Cup of Nations has not exactly backed that up.

Up until 2013, Nigeria had only managed two AFCON titles- in 1980 and 1994.

At that point, Egypt had already amassed seven titles, including a hat-trick of triumphs between 2006 and 2010, while Cameroon and Ghana had four titles.

The Super Eagles needed to get on the move.

And they made a move in 2013, winning their third AFCON crown in South Africa.

Stephen Keshi’s men tiptoed through the group phase, finishing second to Burkina Faso with five points, but they got better as they moved through the tournament. 

Nigeria defeated a very impressive Cote d’Ivoire team 2-1 in the last eight before ripping apart Mali 4-1 in the semi-finals.

The title match against Burkina Faso was a cagey affair, but Sunday Mba popped up with the all-important goal to give Nigeria her third AFCON title.

In terms of quality, that wasn’t the greatest Super Eagles team, and not many betting sites in Nigeria would have fancied the team to go all the way, but they defied the odds to deliver a much-needed Nations Cup triumph to the country.

Tunisia 1994

When Nigeria won her first Africa Cup of Nations title on home soil in 1980, it was expected to be the first of many.

However, the Eagles had to wait another 14 years before they regained the title!

It wasn’t for a lack of trying. There were plenty of close shaves along the way, with Nigeria losing to Cameroon in the 1984 and 1988 finals, but they finally got over the line in Tunisia 1994, defeating Zambia in the final to become African champions for the second time.

After taking out Zaire 2-0 in the quarter-finals, courtesy of a fine brace from Rashidi Yekini, Nigeria battled past Cote d’Ivoire on penalties, before securing a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Zambia in the final- Emmanuel Amuneke scoring twice to give Clemence Westerhof’s men the title.

Nigeria 1980

The first edition of the Africa Cup of Nations was staged in 1957, but Nigeria did not get her hands on the trophy until 1980, when we hosted the tournament.

Known then as the Green Eagles, Nigeria won the title in style.

Spearheaded by the “mathematical” Segun Odegbami and “chairman” Christian Chukwu, the Eagles took out Tanzania and Egypt (and drew with Cote d’Ivoire) in the round-robin phase, scored a slim 1-0 victory over Morocco in Lagos, before outclassed Algeria 3-0 in the final.

Being the country’s first AFCON triumph, it remains one of the most special moments in Nigerian football history.

USA 1994

It took a while for the Super Eagles to get to the World Cup, but when they finally qualified for the Mundial, boy did they make an impression!

Parading arguably the most entertaining team in the country’s history, Nigeria played with an exciting combination of power and flair, tearing apart Bulgaria 3-0 in their opening match to properly signal their arrival.

Nigeria played with verve and vigour, and often left their more experienced opponent’s floundering. Finidi George was flying down one side, Amuneke was tearing down the other side, and there was the lethal finishing of Yekini, Daniel Amokachi, and others down the middle.

Their inexperience showed in the 2-1 loss to Argentina, but they hit back superbly to blow away Greece in their final group match and book a spot in the second round.

The debutants caused Italy all sorts of problems and were minutes away from a sensational upset, but they conceded a late penalty, scored by Roberto Baggio before going on to lose in extra time.

They might have just missed out on a quarter-final berth, but as World Cup debuts go, Nigeria in 1994 was as good and as entertaining as it gets.

Atlanta 1996

Nigeria may have lost out early at the 1994 World Cup, but they made up for it with their glorious run in the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games.

Technically, the Atlanta team weren’t the Super Eagles (the Olympic men’s football event is for under-23s and three over-aged players), a bulk of the team were also part of the senior national team.

It almost feels incomplete to discuss the Eagles’ greatest exploits without including the Atlanta feat!

Nigeria was terrific in Atlanta, scoring a miraculous victory over Brazil in the semi-finals and sealing the gold with a memorable 3-2 win over Argentina in the final, having come from behind twice.

Meanwhile, you might want to check out The 10 Greatest Sports-Persons In the History of Nigeria.