In 1994, shortly after the World Cup in the USA, Nigerian football was acclaimed as one of the most entertaining and exciting in the world. The country ranked fifth in the world in actual performance. The key to that achievement was in the style of play – fast wingers on both flanks creating wave after wave of goal scoring chances. Nigeria’s national team of 1976 in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia, was like that. It produced from the African Cup of Nations of that year the two best wingers in Africa and Nigeria’s closest attempt to win the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time. Beyond that, when only one team represented the continent in the World Cup, twice Nigeria, amongst 50 countries in Africa, advanced to the last qualification match before faltering, by playing a very effective but simple style of using the wings, with strong, clever and extremely fast players to break down teams. Indeed, several of the best and most effective players the country has produced in all its footballing experience have been wingers. Through the generations Nigerian football evolved a style that became our football culture – that of using our natural gifts and playing effectively down the wings, the only area of the football field where there is the space to do so.

I am very lucky to have watched the Nigerian Flying Eagles in their last two matches against Guatemala and Croatia in the ongoing Under-20 FIFA Championship in Columbia. I am lucky because watching the matches through 180 minutes leaves me happy and nostalgic. Nigerian football may be back on track. The next generation of the Eagles at senior level is looking like the real thing. We may already be witnessing a return to the days when the world was dazzled with the Nigerian typical style of play – fast-paced, unadulterated athleticism, simple, direct approach towards goal and extravagant dribbling skills.

I am writing this early on Thursday morning just as Nigeria’s match with Croatia is rounding off. I have already seen enough to know that this second match is completely different from the first. Those of us who thought that the Flying Eagles played so well against Guatemala only because the opposition were football minnows are having a rethink now. What is common to both matches is the consistency of the Eagles to maintain their playing style. They have played both matches, against two teams with very contrasting styles and ability, with the same supreme confidence and a distinctive style that reminds us of the great years of the Eagles of Adokie, Finidi, Babangida, Amuneke, and so on. The Guatemalans did not know what hit them until five goals had gone into their goal. The Croatians must have seen the first display against Guatemala and must have been better prepared. Yet they were hit even harder. Thats an indication of how good these Eagles.

It is morning. I am recalling the match and the scoreline is a true reflection of a match that will linger in the minds of all those that watched it from start to finish. The Flying Eagles were good. They were unstoppable. In two matches they have scored 10 goals! Even against the Croatians who put up stiff resistance the Eagles buried 5 goals in their net. The only difference between the two matches is that against a stronger Croatia the Eagles conceded two goals off, indicating that they are human and have some weak spots too. But on the whole, the Nigerian team put up a virtuoso performance, a beautiful demonstration of the effectiveness of wing play. On the night the Nigerian players stretched out their wings and flew like Eagles. From the right and left flanks we saw wave after wave of attacks. Playing that way any of the Nigerian national teams usually are such a delight to the eyes and a pain for any opposition. It was a classic reminder of how the Nigerian football culture evolved and became the toast of the world in the 1990s.

Power, speed and athleticism come naturally to the Nigerian and, when properly channelled and laced with some level of skills and organisation, could become a lethal combination. It is this realisation and its exploitation that started the gradual elevation of Nigeria in African football until it eventually conquered the continent in the days of Yekini, Rufai, Amokachi and company. It was a simple formula that worked and worked and worked: the Nigerian team is defending its goal. It takes possession of the ball, sends a long telegraphic pass from defence or midfield to either of the wingers racing to get behind opposing defenders. The ball is chased down by fast Nigerian wingers running at and past opposing defenders and sending lovely crosses to waiting attackers to be buried behind the goalkeeper! In the years between 1976 and 1996 Nigeria established a football culture of some sort using this simple but very effective style of play. Watch Real Madrid FC play and you will see traces of how the Nigerian national teams used to play, and why the Spanish team has remained one of the strongest teams on the planet. Through that period Nigeria produced some of Africa’s greatest left and right wingers starting with Baba Otu Mohammed, Kunle Awesu, Sam Okpodu, Clement Temile, Humphrey Edobor, Adokie Amiasimaka, Friday Elahor, Finidi George, Tijani Babangida, Emmanuel Amuneke, etc. The tradition sustained until the tail end of the 1990s when new coaches ignorant of the strides already made started to experiment with new styles that did not suit the Nigerian football style and left the national teams wandering in the wilderness of poor strategy. In the past 10 years or so, the national teams have almost become unrecognisable from how they used to be. The teams could not find decent enough players on the flanks (particularly the left side) and often attempted to fly with one wing, or trying to break through defences by attacking through the often crowded middle and never quite succeeded. Nigerian players are athletes first before being artists. To get the best out of them requires maximally applying their natural gifts in strength, speed and athleticism. Thats what distinguishes the young Nigerian team presently playing in Columbia from previous ones. Somehow, John Obuh, the Nigerian coach, has managed to assemble great athletes starting with Ahmed Musa who is growing in confidence and ability in leaps and bounds.

Without even one authentic left-footed player in the entire team John Obuh has managed to make the left side of the Nigerian team even more potent than the right through clever use of Musa and Suswan, the left-back. This unorthodoxy is not new. Recall that Brazil’s Ronaldinho, a right footed player plays most of the time from the left flank. Cameroon’s Samuel Eto, another right-footed player, drifts most of the time to the left flank. Argentina’s Lionel Messi, perhaps the most deadly left-foot in the world at the moment, plays more often from the right flank. Nigeria’s Adokie Amiasimaka, a right-footed player and a nightmare for defenders in our days, played most of his football on the left flank. Watch Ronaldo race down the Real Madrid left flank and you will understand what John Obuh is doing with Musa Ahmed, Nigeria’s new sensation, racing down the left flank these days.

Without question a new generation of players has been born. It would not really matter how far they go in the ongoing championship. What is clear is that the Flying Eagles are reminding us all again of the potency of wing play and the potential of Nigerian football producing some of the best teams in the world at all levels. It is not often that one finds in one country all the elements that can make it one of the best in the world. Barcelona had to assemble players from different parts of the world to get the mix right and become the best club side in the world. But in Nigeria we are naturally gifted with most of the ingredients – hunger, passion, population, power, pace, skills, and athleticism – but never quite succeed in getting the mix right.

Half-way through the ongoing FIFA Under-20 World Cup, I must appreciate what I have seen so far, and acknowledge John Obuh’s effort in putting together a great team that I hope will go all the way and, with some luck, win the championship for Nigeria for the first time. As the Guatemalian coach remarked after the Eagles had overwhelmed his team, the Nigerian players were just too fast and strong to be stopped. He is very right. The team is putting up a great show and delighting all Nigerians, reminding us all of what Nigerian football once was, and is likely to become in the future just ahead.