Can Eagles re-play 2004 history against South Africa?

Sometimes history repeats itself.  In fact if the history is one garnished with good news, the tendency to dream for and pray for such history to repeat itself becomes inevitable.  Although 14 years have rolled by since then and a lot of water has since passed under the bridge, yet a repeat performance will not only bring back sweet memory but also add icing on the cake. Flash back to the 2004 Nations cup hosted and won by Tunisia, the Super Eagles en-route to their third place finish posted one of the most superlative performances in the tournament beating South Africa 4-0 before beating Mali 2-1 in the third place.

Of course one of the most impressive midfield maestro the nation has ever produce, Jay-Jay Okocha was part of that squad and in fact got a special award for scoring the 1,000th goal of the African Nations Cup.

Now a lot has changed. And like the popular saying soldiers come soldiers go but the barracks remains open, players have left the national team and many others have joined but the competition and the rivalry remains.

The last encounter between this two teams ended at the Godswill Akpabio stadium in a 2-0 defeat of the Eagles with the second leg billed for the FNB Stadium on November 17 2018, not 2004 fourteen years after!

Just yesterday, Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa promised the Eagles who are due to depart for South Africa from their base in Asaba on Thursday $25,000 for each goal scored at the FNB stadium on  November 17.

Should the Eagles choose to repeat the magic of 2004, they would claim from the Governor $100,000 (about N36.5million).  The Ahmed Musa Captained side has four  choices to make.

Pull a goalless draw against South Africa which by the way is good enough for them to qualify for Cameroon 2019, lose the game and still qualify considering that the last match against Seychelles will end in victory no matter what; take a revenge for the 2-0 defeat and earn $50,000 and finally repeat what Joseph Yobo, Jay Jay Okocha and Osaze Odemwingie did in 2004 and claim Okowa’s cool $100,000.

For the records in the said encounter Joseph Yobo put Nigeria in front after four minutes from a corner before Okocha fired his milestone goal from the penalty spot to double the advantage on 64 minutes. Second-half substitute Osaze Odemwingie completed the rout with a brace in the 80th and 82nd minutes in Monastir, Tunisia.