3 Stunning Miracles from Nigeria National teams | You Don’t Mess with the Eagles!

Never say never! It’s not over until it’s over! Nigerian football has witnessed some amazing miracles, with the latest being the victory against Morocco at the recently concluded CHAN. Let’s look at the top three unbelievable moments in Nigeria’s football history.

Miracle of Dammam

Nigeria faced The Soviet Union (today’s Russia). The Europeans had a strong team and unsurprisingly went into the break with a 2-0 lead. The Russians continued controlling the game after the restart, and added two more goals- the last from Oleg Salenko. It looked like the Europeans had wrapped up the game and their key players were taken off, but that proved to be an unwise decision.

In the space of 30 minutes, Nigeria fought back to equalize 4-4 and take the match into penalty shoot-out. Christopher Ohenhen, who later played club football at Spanish side Compostella, started the comeback with a brace- the first a stunning free-kick. His goals came in the 61st and 75th minutes.

On 83 minutes, Samuel Elijah pushed Nigeria further, and captain Nduka Ugbade completed the comeback a minute later. The Russians were stunned beyond their imagination. In the penalties, Nigeria triumphed 5-3.

Funnily enough, when the USSR scored their fourth, some people started leaving the stadium, as the other city, Jeddah, was hosting the big game- Argentina vs. Brazil- and the game was about to start.

I wonder how shocked they were when they learnt of the final result.

America Wonder

World champions Brazil were favourites for Olympic gold in the Atlanta 1996 men's football competition - with their squad including star names such as Bebeto and Ronaldo.

The Samba stars lined up to face Nigeria in the semi-finals, a team they had beaten 1-0 in the group stage, and what happened was one of the greatest matches in Olympic history.

Brazil led 3-1, but with 12 minutes left, Victor Ikpeba drilled home from 20 yards, before Nigeria skipper Nwankwo Kanu scrambled the ball into the net in the last minute to send the game to extra-time.

Kanu then scored his second just three minutes into extra-time and with the golden goal rule applying, that was enough to send Nigeria into the final, where they met Argentina.

The Miracle in South Africa

In the most recent of comebacks, Nigeria came from a 3-0 disadvantage to beat Morocco 4-3.
After half an hour of parity, Morocco took the lead when Moshine Moutaouali chipped over Chigozie Agbim in the 33rd minute.

Iajour doubled Morocco’s advantage four minutes later with a curling free-kick, and five minutes later, Nigeria paid for the indiscipline in their defence when Moutaouali was freed from inside the box and he shot past the Nigeria goalkeeper.

Ugonna Uzochukwu pulled a goal back four minutes after the break when he toe-poked the ball from the top of the box.

Rabiu Ali then scored Nigeria’s second goal on 56 minutes as he smashed home from the edge of the goal area. It was his third goal of the tournament.

Ejike Uzoenyi completed a remarkable Nigerian comeback when he struck on the stroke of 90 minutes with a superb shot from outside the box.

Substitute Aliyu Ibrahim grabbed the winner for Nigeria in the 11th minute of extra time when he latched on to a spill by Morocco skipper Nabil Lamyarheri.

Hmm! Of the three, which is your “favorite” comeback?