As the Super Eagles begin their quest for a seventh World Cup appearance this Friday in Lagos, here is seven points of interest as Nigeria host Liberia at the Teslim Balogun Stadium.
Till date, no African side has raked up as many World Cup qualifying victories as Nigeria which has overall record of 58 wins in 105 matches. They are followed by Morocco’s 53 victories in 116 matches.
The duel with Liberia will be the third time that the Super Eagles will be playing at the Teslim Balogun Stadium. In the previous two matches, Nigeria won 2-1 against Sierra Leone in a friendly match on 9 February 2011 and 3-0 against Lesotho in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match on 30 March 2021.
With 30 players in the Super Eagles’ armoury, this is the largest assembly of Nigerian foreign-based footballers.
Save for their last encounter which technically is categorised as exhibition match owing to the featuring of president George Weah, Nigeria and Liberia have met 17 times, the Super Eagles winning 10 and drawing four times. The remaining three encounters were won by Liberia.
If fielded, the match with Liberia will be Ahmed Musa’s 99th international match, just one game for him to enter the famed FIFA Century Club.
If Nigeria wins, Coach Gernot Rohr will be moving closer to equalling the number of victories Nigeria raked up under Dutchman, Clemens Westerhof whose under, the Super Eagles had 27 wins. Till date, Nigeria under Rohr have won 22 matches.
How the Super Eagles will perform today against Liberia may determine the team’s success next Tuesday against Cape Verde.
Since making debut at the FIFA World Cup finals in 1994, the Super Eagles have only been missed participation in the finals once – the 2006 edition in Germany. They were denied of that berth courtesy of CAF’s head-to-head rule that favoured Angola – a huge disappointment football enthusiasts would live to remember.
Source: Page3 News Website
