After a disappointing 1-1 draw with Equatorial Guinea in their opening Group A game, Nigeria’s Super Eagles will take on AFCON 2023 hosts Côte d’Ivoire in their second fixture.
The game is billed for Thursday, 18 January inside the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan.
Ahead of the crucial encounter, Completesports.com’s JAMES AGBEREBI takes a look at how the three-time African champions have performed in previous clashes with AFCON hosts.
– GHANA 1-1 NIGERIA (1978/Group Stage)
Known back then as the Green Eagles, the Nigeria senior men’s national team first encounter with an AFCON host was Ghana at the 1978 tournament.
It was the second Group A fixture for both teams which ended 1-1 inside the Accra Sports Stadium.
Legendary winger Segun Odegbami gave the Green Eagles the lead on 33 minutes before Willie Klutse equalised for the Black Stars on 76 minutes.
– ALGERIA 5-1 NIGERIA (1990/Group Stage)
The opening game of the 1990 AFCON was between Algeria and Nigeria’s Super Eagles.
It was a game to forget for the Super Eagles as they were hammered 5-1 by a Rabah Madjer-led Algerian side.
Emmanuel Okocha, elder brother to Super Eagles legend Austin Okocha, got his side’s only goal on 82 minutes to make it 4-1.
– ALGERIA 1-0 NIGERIA (1990/Final)
Despite a disappointing start to the 1990 AFCON, the Eagles managed to go all the way to the final and once again crossed path with hosts Algeria.
This time it was a respectable scoreline as the Algerians triumphed 1-0 to land their first-ever AFCON title.
Also Read: AFCON 2023: Rival Fans’ Voices Echo in Abidjan Ahead Cote d’Ivoire Vs Nigeria
– SENEGAL 1-2 NIGERIA (1992/Group Stage)
Once again the Eagles were involved in the opening game of the 1992 AFCON where they faced Senegal.
Unlike the 1990 AFCON, the Eagles won 2-1 thanks to goals from Samson Siasia and the late Stephen Keshi.
– MALI 0-0 NIGERIA (2002/Group Stage)
The Eagles had to wait until the 2002 AFCON in Mali before they clashed with the host country.
In their second Group A game against Mali, the Eagles battled to a goalless draw.
– MALI 0-1 NIGERIA (2002/Third-placed)
The Eagles clashed with Mali again this time in the third-placed play-off and won 1-0.
Yakubu Aiyegbeni got the only goal of the game as his 29th minute strike was enough to seal the win.
– TUNISIA 1-1 NIGERIA: Super Eagles lost on penalties (2004/Semi-finals)
After eliminating champions Cameroon in the quarter-finals, the Eagles faced hosts Tunisia in the semis.
With both teams ending 120 minutes of football at 1-1, the game went into penalty shootout and Tunisia won 5-3.
– GHANA 2-1 NIGERIA (2008/Quarter-finals)
One of the games of the 2008 AFCON was the quarter-final fixture between rivals Black Stars of Ghana and the Super Eagles.
The Black Stars won 2-1 despite John Mensah receiving a red card for fouling goal-bound Osaze Odemwingie.
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COMMENTS
Of what use is all this history when everybody is waiting for CSN to tell us the lineup for today’s game? What kind of poor sports journalism is this?