Football World Cup 1994 / Nigeria

This article covers the Nigerian national team at the 1994 World Cup in the USA . It was Nigeria's first participation in the finals of a World Cup.

qualification

Nigeria made it to qualify for a World Cup finals for the first time. In the qualification of the African association CAF , the team first won the preliminary group D, then later first of the final group A. The results were as follows:

First round

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Nigeria	7-0	7: 1
2	South Africa	2: 4	5: 3
3	Republic of the Congo	0: 5	0: 8

Nigeria	-	South Africa	4: 0 (1: 0)
Congo	-	Nigeria	0: 1 (0: 1)
South Africa	-	Nigeria	0-0
Nigeria	-	Congo	2: 0 (1: 0)

Second round

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Nigeria	10: 5	5: 3
2	Ivory Coast	05: 6	5: 3
3	Algeria	03: 7	2: 6

Ivory Coast	-	Nigeria	2: 1 (0: 1)
Nigeria	-	Algeria	4: 1 (4: 1)
Nigeria	-	Ivory Coast	4: 1 (2: 0)
Algeria	-	Nigeria	1: 1 (0: 1)

Nigerian contingent

No.	Surname	Club before the start of the World Cup	birthday	Games	Gates
goalkeeper
1	Peter Rufai	Go Ahead Eagles	08/24/1963	4th	0	0	0
16	Alloysius Agu	RFC Liege	07/12/1967	0	0	0	0
22nd	Wilfred Agbonavbare	Rayo Vallecano	05.10.1966	0	0	0	0
Defender
2	Augustine Eguavoen	KV Kortrijk	08/19/1965	3	0	1	0
3	Benedict Iroha	Vitesse Arnhem	11/29/1969	1	0	0	0
4th	Stephen Keshi	RWD Molenbeek	01/23/1962	1	0	1	0
5	Uche Okechukwu	Fenerbahçe Istanbul	09/27/1967	4th	0	0	0
6th	Chidi N'Wanu	KSK Beveren	01/01/1967	4th	0	1	0
13	Emeka Ezeugo	Aalborg BK	December 16, 1965	1	0	0	0
19th	Michael Emenalo	Eintracht Trier	07/04/1965	3	0	2	0
20th	Uche Okafor	Hannover 96	08/08/1967	0	0	0	0
midfield player
7th	Finidi George	Ajax Amsterdam	04/15/1971	4th	1	0	0
8th	Thompson Oliha	Maccabi Ashdod	04.10.1968	1	0	0	0
10	Jay-Jay Okocha	Eintracht Frankfurt	08/14/1973	3	0	0	0
15th	Sunday Oliseh	FC Liege	09/14/1974	4th	0	2	0
18th	Efan Ekoku	Norwich City	06/08/1967	0	0	0	0
21st	Mutiu Adepoju	Racing Santander	December 22, 1970	4th	0	1	0
striker
9	Rashidi Yekini	Vitória Setúbal	23.10.1963	4th	1	0	0
11	Emmanuel Amuneke	al Zamalek SC	December 25, 1970	4th	2	1	0
12	Samson Siasia	FC Nantes	08/14/1967	3	1	0	0
14th	Daniel Amokachi	Club Bruges	12/30/1972	4th	2	0	0
17th	Victor Ikpeba	AS Monaco	06/12/1973	0	0	0	0
Trainer
	Clemens Westerhof		05/03/1940

Nigerian Games

Preliminary round

→ Main article : Football World Cup 1994 / Group D

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Nigeria	3	2	0	1	006: 200	+4	06th
2.	Bulgaria	3	2	0	1	006: 300	+3	06th
3.	Argentina	3	2	0	1	006: 300	+3	06th
4th	Greece	3	0	0	3	000:100	−10	00

Tue. June 21, 1994, 7:30 p.m. in Dallas
Nigeria	-	Bulgaria	3: 0 (2: 0)
Sat, Jun 25, 1994, 4:00 p.m. in Foxborough
Argentina	-	Nigeria	2: 1 (2: 1)
Thursday, June 30, 1994 at 7:30 p.m. in Foxborough
Greece	-	Nigeria	0: 2 (0: 1)

In Group D, Nigeria, Bulgaria and Argentina finished the group stage in that order with two wins and one loss each, and all reached the round of 16. Greece as the fourth team, arguably the weakest team in the tournament, went home after the preliminary round. The three leading teams had exciting encounters with each other, with Nigeria in particular making a positive impression and only suffering a 1: 2 defeat against Argentina. The Bulgarians, who, under the direction of Stoitchkov, Ivanov and Letchkov, defeated the Argentines 2-0, were also strong.

Round of 16

Tue 5th July 1994 in Foxborough
Nigeria	-	Italy	1: 2 n.v. (1: 1, 1: 0)

The up to then three-time world champions Italy asserted themselves in the round of 16 against the Nigerians who were leading until shortly before the final whistle of regular time. Amuneke had put Nigeria in the lead in the 26th minute, which lasted until the 89th minute. Then Roberto met Baggio. First he managed to equalize, then Italy's attacker scored 2-1 in extra time with a penalty kick. Nigeria missed several good opportunities during the game.