Football
The Super Eagles will be playing their
50th World Cup qualifying home matches when they take on the Fennecs of Algeria
at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo next week Saturday.
In their previous 49 home matches, the
Eagles had won 39 and drawn seven, while losing three.
The first home match for Nigeria was on
10th September 1960, when they tied 2-2 with Ghana’s Black Stars in Lagos. The
team had earlier lost the first leg 4-1 to the Ghanaians in Accra and crashed
out of the race to the 1962 World Cup finals in Chile.
The last was against the Sihlangu of
Swaziland at the Adokiye Amiesieamaka Stadium in Port Harcourt on 17th November
2015, in the preliminary round for Russia 2018. Nigeria won 2-0 courtesy of
goals by Moses Simon and Efe Ambrose, following a 0-0 draw in Lobamba four days
earlier.
The six other drawn matches were against
Cameroon on 7th December 1968 (1-1 in Lagos); against Sudan on 13th September
1969 (2-2 in Ibadan); against Tanzania on 6th December 1980 (1-1 in Lagos);
against Angola on 18th June 2005 (1-1 in Kano); against Tunisia on 6th
September 2009 (2-2 in Abuja) and; against Kenya on 23rd March 2013 (1-1 in
Calabar).
The Super Eagles’ three losses were
against Ghana on 10th February 1973 (the Black Stars were leading 3-2 in Lagos
when the match was abandoned; FIFA awarded it 2-0 to Ghana); against Tunisia on
12th November 1977 in Lagos (1-0 through a first half own goal by defender
Godwin Odiye) and; against Algeria on 10th October 1981 (2-0 in Lagos).
However, the Super Eagles have never
lost a World Cup qualifying home match played outside Lagos. In fact, the only
times they have failed to win a World Cup qualifying home match away from Lagos
was against Sudan (2-2 in Ibadan in 1969); against Angola (1-1 in Kano in
2005); against Tunisia (2-2 in Abuja in 2009) and; against Kenya (1-1 in
Calabar in 2013).
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