Nigeria, a footballing powerhouse in Africa, only relatively recently debuted in the world’s most followed competition in 1994, but the team’s star potential is obvious for all to see.
After qualifying for the World Cup for the first time in the nation’s history in 1994, the Super Eagles also became the highest ranked African nation ever, ranking fifth in the FIFA World Rankings. Nigeria lived up to expectations, pulling off a successful first ever World Cup run in the United States in 1994. Nigeria managed to defeat Bulgaria 3-0 in their first ever World Cup game, before losing to Argentina 1-2 and then redeeming theirselves with a 2-0 win over Greece to progress to the next round finishing first in their group.
However, eventual silver medalists Italy halted the Super Eagles progress in the round of 16. After Emmanuel Amuneke had given Nigeria the lead in the 25th minute, the team looked set to hold out for an all important victory over a powerful Italy side. Despite Amuneke’s first half goal, Roberto Baggio pulled one back for Italy in the dying moments of the game in the 88th minute, taking the match to extra time. The Super Eagles then gave away a penalty in the 102nd minute, which Baggio put away and ended Nigeria’s World Cup dreams.
The Super Eagles returned to the tournament again in the 1998 World Cup with high hopes of surpassing its performance in the United States. Manager Bora Milutinovic had retained most of the successful ’94 World Cup squad, and many thought that with four more years of experience in a core group of players, Nigeria could build upon its 1994 run and progress into the quarter-finals and beyond. In fact, in their opening game, the Super Eagles managed a massive upset, defeating favorites Spain 3-2. The team came from behind twice to pull an important victory from Spain. The Super Eagles then beat Bulgaria 1-0 before falling 1-3 to the hands of Paraguay. Nigeria had progressed through the group stage with flying colors and looked set to break their previous run to the round of 16. Unfortunately, disaster struck again in the round of 16, as the team were crushed 1-4 by Denmark.
With most of the ’94 and ’98 World Cup players getting close to retirement age, Nigeria qualified for the 2002 World Cup with a sense of new optimism that came along with a fresher, younger squad. However, the Super Eagles were drawn with an extremely tough group comprised of Sweden, Argentina, and England. Nigeria bowed out of the group stage with a loss to both Argentina and Sweden before drawing 0-0 with England. Following the disappointment of 2002, Nigeria faired even worse in 2006, when they failed to qualify for the competition after drawing level on points with Angola but having an inferior head to head record.
Having qualified again for the 2010 World Cup, Nigeria had the chance to finally push for success. Disastrously, the team finished last in their group again, after tasting defeat to both Argentina and Greece before drawing 2-2 with South Korea. The disappointing showing at the World Cup prompted Nigerian President Goodluck Johnson to suspend the Super Eagles from international competition for two years. Five days later, the government rescinded its ban, but FIFA banned the national team from international football indefinitely due to reasons of political interference. Eventually, the ban was provisionally lifted and the case was dropped.
This summer, Nigeria have the chance to look past their recent struggles and make it to the round of 16 again. Coming off as recent victors of the Africa Cup of Nations, the Super Eagles have a strong chance of progressing in a group stage including Argentina, Iran, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Can the champions of Africa finally break past the round of 16?
