Nigeria has forged a rich history of producing talented players who announced themselves at the much-anticipated continental tournament, the Africa Cup of Nations.
Sadly, some of these ones did not get to fulfill the promise of their early years and had to be taken as one-off wonders.
While the current crop of Super Eagles will hope to impress at the competition, they will aspire to eventually go on to enjoy amazing success in their various careers and not thread the paths to obscurity after now.
Below, we will profile four Super Eagles who never truly kicked on after putting up quite some phenomenal showings during African Cup of Nations adventures with the national team.
Sunday Mba: The first on this list, and perhaps, the most saddening is a certain Sunday Mba who inspired Nigeria to a third continental title in South Africa in 2013, putting a star-studded Ivory Coast side to the sword in the quarterfinals before striking yet again versus hard-fighting Burkina Faso in the grand finale, in some completely ruthless style.
And it was not just the midfielder's goals that caught the eye but the manner and guile with which he waltzed past opposing midfielders - it is such a shame fans have never seen him reprise such performances in the green ever since.
He was last seen slugging it out in the less-glamorous Turkish Super League with Yeni Malatyaspor, alas in the final years of a career which had promised so much but yet would fall short of the magnificent expectations.
Chinedu Obasi: So immense was his contribution to the team that finished third at the 2010 edition in Angola, dazzling as a Shaibu Amodu-led team beat a tricky Algeria in the third-place game- to go with his goal against Egypt in the group stages. But from there on, things has been less-than-stellar.
What has been more significant is that he's led a journeyman career so far and his inability to get any meaningful game time with his darling side AIK in his latest spell there just about sums up his predicament.
Godfrey Oboabona: Alongside Kenneth Omeruo, Oboabona was, aptly put, a delight to watch in the Super Eagles defence back in 2013. Then on the books of NPFL's Sunshine Stars, the central defender dutifully took to shielding opponents against finding a way past Vincent Enyeama in South Africa with unwavering abandon.
He was just 22, and was expected to form the core of the team for more years to come but fast-forward to September last year and the defender was only going to join Croatian club, Gorica after stints at Rizespor and Al Ahli.
He will surely not hit the heights most people had expected of him now, will he?
Obinna Nsofor: Blessed with the powerful ability to hit super shots, Obinna was quite a handful against opposition nations at the 2006 Nations Cup, playing in all of the team's games.
His goal against Tunisia in the second round was vital as the team went on to best the plucky North Africans in the penalty shootouts.
But for a Didier Drogba's strike in the 1-0 loss versus Cote'd'Ivoire in the semifinals, the attacker might have played in the final of the biggest African sports tournament.
And such was his sheer quality back then that one will shudder at how he spiraled out of relevance and eventually crash-landed into the murky waters of football triviality.
He's actually not had the best of his careers since the Chievo days and even when Serie A giants Inter Milan took a risky plump on the former Enyimba ace, the dividends the move paid were not so encouraging.
His latest team in the litany of transfers? South African club Cape Town City for whom he only managed to score once for in twelve PSL outings.
Emmanuel Chinaza
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