Seven Interesting Facts About The Super Eagles At The World Cup

This chronicle which would be the first of a continuous series, would bring to readers the numbers associated with the Super Eagles previous participation at the quadrennial world soccer mundial.

So, as the Nigerian national team who beat Zambia 1-0 to secure the much coveted ticket prepare for their sixth appearance at the world football fiesta slated for Russia next year, allnigeriasoccer.com brings to knowledge the country's historical numbers at the fiesta, with the current crop looking to write their own story.

1 — The number of red cards. The Super Eagles has had just one player sent off in a World Cup game since the national team's debut appearance at the USA '94 competition.

Defensive midfielder, Sani Kaita was shown a straight red by Colombian referee, Oscar Ruiz for a tackle on Vasilis Torosidis in their third Group B 2-1 loss to Greece at the 2010 edition.

And it proved costly as goals from Dimitris Salpingidis and the aforementioned Torosidis secured the European country's maiden victory in five attempts of their two World Cup appearances.

1 — The number of Super Eagles with a brace. Ahmed Musa remain the onlySuper Eagles player to net twice in a World Cup. The fleet-footed winger achieved this feat in a 3-2 loss to Argentina at the 2014 edition held in Brazil.

2 — The number of players to have bagged braces against Nigeria. Italy's Roberto Baggio and Argentina's Lionel Messi are the two players to have scored at least twice in a game against Nigeria at the FIFA World cup.

2 — The number of goals jointly held by Nigeria's goalscorers. Daniel Amokachi, Emmanuel Amuneke, Kalu Uche and Ahmed Musa are the Eagles to have scored twice at the World Cup. Interestingly, that number remain the highest a Nigerian has ever tallied since her debut.

3 — The number of stalemates the Super Eagles has recorded in the tournament. The national team has played out three draws against opponents at the competition; a goalless draw with England in 2002, a 2-2 with South Korea in 2010 and the latest coming in another drab affair with Iran in 2014.

4 — The number of times Nigeria has faced Argentina. Nigeria has squared off against perennial opponents, Argentina at the mundial a record four times and have lost by the odd goal on each occasion to the South Americans, the last coming in a 3-2 fall-out in the last edition in Brazil.

4 — The highest number of goals conceded by Nigeria in a single match. The (4) number also represents the number of goals the Super Eagles have shipped in a game at the fiesta.

The national team were trounced 4-1 by Denmark in a second round encounter at the 1998 edition held in France, with goals from Peter Moller, Brian Laudrup, Ebbe Sand and Thomas Helveg consigning Nigeria to their heaviest defeat till date. Tijani Babangida got the consolatory strike for the Super Eagles.

And that would be it for the first part of this article for our readers. The number continuation would be published later on, so do well to keep a keen eye on this page.

Emmanuel Chinaza