Nigeria’s latest football humiliation has sent Segun Odegbami reaching deep into the Super Eagles’ history for two extraordinary reminders of what can happen after a crushing defeat, Footynaija reports.
Nigeria were beaten 3-0 by Guinea-Bissau in Bissau on September 29, with Franculino Djú striking in the 15th minute, Mama Baldé adding a second in the 66th and Álvaro Djaló completing the collapse in stoppage time. It was Eric Chelle’s first competitive defeat as Nigeria coach.
Odegbami, Nigeria’s 1980 AFCON-winning star, said the Eagles left Guinea-Bissau “heads bowed, and tails tucked between their legs” and lamented that there had been nobody to ask what went wrong or take responsibility.
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Yet he sees a historical escape route.
“I could not put my finger on anything beyond the consolation that in history, the last two times the Nigerian national team lost as badly as they did last week, although under different circumstances, Nigeria immediately bounced back,” Odegbami wrote in his column in the Guardian.
The first example came at the 1990 AFCON in Algeria. Nigeria were blown away 5-1 by the hosts in their opening match at the Stade du 5 Juillet in Algiers on March 2. Rabah Madjer scored twice, Djamel Menad twice and Djamel Amani once, while Emmanuel Okocha scored Nigeria’s consolation eight minutes from time.
“They came back from a 5-1 loss in the very first match of AFCON 1990 to get to the finals and to lose narrowly to the same Algerian team by 1-0,” Odegbami recalled.
Nigeria did not fold. They beat Egypt 1-0 through a Rashidi Yekini strike, defeated Ivory Coast 1-0 and then beat Zambia 2-0 in the semi-final to reach the final. Algeria won that rematch 1-0 on March 16, but Nigeria had transformed a five-goal humiliation into a runners-up finish.
Six years later came another bruising setback. Odegbami recalls a 4-1 defeat by Togo in Lagos before the Atlanta Olympics. Although, archival records list the June 9, 1996 friendly as a 3-1 Togo victory.
Odegbami added, “In 1996, Nigeria also woke up from the slumber of a 4-1 defeat on home soil in a friendly in Lagos (main bowl of the National Stadium) against Togo. Their backs against the wall of humiliation, they came back a few weeks later fighting like wounded lions to clinch the Gold medal of the Atlanta Olympic Games.”
Weeks later, Nigeria became the first African nation to win Olympic football gold. They overturned a 3-1 half-time deficit to beat Brazil 4-3 in the semi-final before defeating Argentina 3-2 in the final, with Emmanuel Amunike scoring the decisive late goal.
“Both were reminders of who we are as Nigerians, a proud race of fighters that never give up,” Odegbami said.
Nigeria will have the chance for an immediate response when the Super Eagles face Russia in an international friendly on Tuesday, October 6.
