Who are the Super Eagles?
Nigeria’s national football team – the three-time Africa Cup of Nations winners – go by the nickname Super Eagles. This is a football team built of Nigeria’s brightest and most talented players. It’s no surprise that most of them play for European clubs of international renown. Every year, while the Africa Cup of Nations lasts, England’s biggest clubs are scrambling to find a substitute for players like Wilfred Ndidi, Alex Iwobi, Kelechi Ihenacho.
It’s incredible how much Nigerian football has progressed in the past few years. The most recent title of the national team is the Africa Cup of Nations 2013 when they defeated Burkina Faso. While not an easy final against the tough team of Burkina Faso, this is far from the best achievement of the Super Eagles. They have six FIFA World Cup appearances and are representatives of FIFA and CAF (Confederation of African Football).
Speaking of FIFA, the Super Eagles of Nigeria’s peak year was 1994 when they were ranked fifth in the FIFA rankings. However, sports and the best online casinos in Nigeria only took off in recent years. They managed to go through the group stage finishing in the first place but were no match for Italy in the first round of the elimination phase and the dream to win the world cup was soon over. A valiant effort nonetheless.
The Biggest Stars of the Super Eagles of Nigeria
The Super Eagles of Nigeria wouldn’t have been half as successful throughout the years if it wasn’t for their superstars. We’ll briefly give you the highlights of the best Nigerian players from both the past and the present. In the list below you’ll see names that fans of sports betting in Nigeria know full well.
- Jay-Jay Okocha was not only the best Nigeria player at his time but easily the best in the whole of Africa. Known for his amazing skills and faints, he quickly earned the nickname ‘The Wizard’ and is still considered one of the best worldwide. Many modern football stars admit drawing drawn their inspiration from Jay-Jay.
- Obafemi Martins is another Nigerian football player from the not so distant past. At his prime, his formidable speed would cause all sorts of problems for the opponent’s defence. As he aged, his game lost some of its glamour, but Martins still manages to compete on a top level even at his mid-thirties, having played for clubs like Newcastle United, Wolfsburg, Rubin Kazan, Birmingham, Inter Milan throughout his career.
- Alexander Chuka Iwobi is a young (born in 1996) former Arsenal player currently part of Everton’s side. Possessing speed and amazing dribble, Iwobi represented England on a under-18 level and debuted for Nigeria in October 2015. He has a 2018 FIFA World Cup and 2019 Africa Cup of Nations appearances under his belt. However, some of his most memorable career years he spent in Arsenal.
- Kelechi Ihenacho is yet another Premier League top gun who has played for Manchester City and is currently defending Leicester City’s side. Even at his young age, Ihenacho has a 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup title and a 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup appearance. Wherever he goes, he brings speed, power and accuracy, so that makes him one of the promising Super Eagles players.
New Blood in Nigeria’s National Football Team
Nowadays creativity for the Super Eagles is largely attributed to foreign-born players, especially some young individuals who made their first appearance. In 2018, there were four players born outside Nigeria, while the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations squad included three foreign-born players. As was said earlier, prior to his 18th birthday Iwobi was representing England so he was out of the equation until October 2015. There are other first-timers the news of whose debut sounds more than exciting.
The born to a Belgian Father and Nigerian mother Cyriel Dessers has been called for the qualifiers for the next edition of the Africa Cup of Nations. He’s made a very good impression in season 2019/2020 in that, he’s the top goalscorer in the Dutch Eredivise. His 15 goals were enough to solidify Heracles’ position in the top 10 of the Eredivise.
Another much-anticipated appearance is this of first-timer Kingsley Ehizbue, taking the position of right-back in FC Koln. He is no stranger to Bundesliga football having been born in Germany, albeit raised in the Netherlands. 25-year old when he makes his first appearance, Ehizbue has decided to represent Nigeria instead of the country he’s been raised in.
Nigeria National Football Team Results
The fixture with Sierra Leone comes on the heels of a fantastic performance in the last four matches. The Super Eagles of Nigeria have not lost any of their last four matches having pulled off a 2-2 draw against Ukraine and a 1-1 draw with Brazil. Arguably what’s even more encouraging is the Nigerian national team won their games against the two African teams Lesotho and Republic of Benin. With that, they are sitting pretty at first position in Group L of AFCON 2021
Nigeria finished in third place in last year’s edition of the African Cup of Nations held in Egypt. Algeria’s side was the team to put an end to the winning streak of the Super Eagles with a close win of two to one goals. Even so, Nigeria’s side pulled it together and beat Tunisia to take the rightful third place in 2019’s AFCON.
If we go back to Nigeria’s national football team 2014 results, we’ll see that it took third place in the African nations Championship. The Super Eagles were topped only by Libya and Ghana. That year brings mixed feelings to the fans also because of the upset early on in the knockout stage. Nigeria’s team was eliminated by France with a 2:0 win in the round of 16. All in all, no one can blame them for the loss to France nor Argentina, so feedback on the 2014 FIFA World Cup campaign is more or less positive.
Super Eagles of Nigeria News
The latest update on Super Eagles of Nigeria is Odino Ighalo’s (30) decision to retire from the team. Much to Nwankwo Kanu’s regret, the thirty-year old Manchester United pulled out of the team announcing his retirement. Ighalo seems to be doing more than fine in Manchester United, but it’s highly unlikely that he will become a permanent replacement for Marcus Rashford.
Even so, scoring three goals in seven matches is a solid performance for the high standards of the Premier League. That is the main reason why Nwankwo Kanu is convinced Ighalo can still contribute a great deal to Nigeria’s national team. However that maybe, his immediate future still hangs in the balance as he could reverse the decision at any time and he would certainly more than welcome to return to the Golden Eagles.
Francis Uzoho – the top choice of Gernot Rohr for a goalkeeper – will miss the upcoming match against Siera Leone. Although worrisome enough, Maduka Okoye and Daniel Akpeyi show incredible form so seemingly, there’s no place for concerns for Rohr. The two will compete for the top spot in the Nigeria national football team, but we have to say the chances of Daniel Akpeyi seem better as Maduka was banned for two matches in the game against Homberg. The youngster was sanctioned with a two-match ban for a rough tackle on Cagatay Kader. The suspension, of course, applies only for Bundesliga matches.
