\u00a0Do you know that one of the most famous names in the history of Nigerian football, described as one of the best strikers ever, scored only two goals for the national team of Nigeria?<\/p>\n
\u00a0Do you know that a certain famous Nigerian player captained the national team, yet played only once for the country in his entire career?<\/p>\n
\u00a0Do you know the first Nigerian player to score 4 goals in a single match for the country?<\/p>\n
\u00a0Do you know that many famous Nigerian football players only ever played once for the national team?<\/p>\n
\u00a0This article should interest you.<\/p>\n
I was reading\u00a0Dayo Oke\u2019s<\/b>\u00a0book on the history of Nigeria\u2019s national team,\u00a0\u2018From UK Tourists to\u00a0Super Eagles\u2019<\/i><\/b>\u00a0again early this week, published some 20 years ago. I took my time to digest and enjoy the well-written historical documentary.<\/p>\n
\u00a0I found out some very interesting things about Nigerian footballers that made me start to take down some notes.<\/p>\n
\u00a0At the end of my exercise I found myself staring at some awesome revelations that deflated so many myths, legends, and assumptions, and birthed new facts and understanding that should tickle all those interested in a technical forensic of football players that have represented the country in 50 years, from 1949 to 1999.<\/p>\n
\u00a0In 1949, it was a hurriedly assembled team of Nigerian players that toured the UK and participated in the first international football engagement of the Nigeria Football Association. Yet the players cannot be listed amongst those that played for the national team. The 9 matches played during that tour were against amateur clubs and not against any national team in the United Kingdom. They do not count, therefore, as full international matches, even though they represent a milestone in Nigerian football history.<\/p>\n
\u00a0After that tour, however, Nigeria started to play international matches, mostly against the Gold Coast (Ghana) and neighbouring countries on the West Coast of Africa.<\/p>\n
\u00a0The following facts derive from Dayo\u2019s detailed documentation and records, and do not cover any player in the period from 2000 to the present.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Meanwhile, I invite readers to read, enjoy and digest just as I did.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Do you know that:<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The first Black national team to play in England was the Nigerian selected XI of 1949. They played against 9 amateur clubs during their one-month tour of the UK. They played 9 matches, won 2, drew 2, and lost 5.<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Nigeria\u2019s first full international match was against Gold Coast (Ghana) in 1951. It was played in Lagos. Nigeria won by 5-2. Nigeria\u2019s first International goal was scored during the match by\u00a0\u2018Diamond Toe\u2019<\/i><\/b>\u00a0 Peter Anieke. The first Captain of that match was winger Titus Okere. That was also the last match he played for Nigeria.<\/p>\n
3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a04 years later in 1955, captained by Peter Anieke, Nigeria recorded their first heavy loss to Ghana. Played in Accra, Nigeria lost 7-0.<\/p>\n
4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Despite being described as one of the greatest players and goal scorers in Nigeria\u2019s football history, Teslim\u00a0\u2018Thunder\u2019<\/i><\/b>\u00a0Balogun, only scored 2 goals for Nigeria during his entire career.\u00a0\u00a0He scored both goals in a single match against Gold Coast (Ghana) in 1954.<\/p>\n
5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Elkanah Onyeali was the second Nigerian to play in the UK as a semi-professional.<\/p>\n
6.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The only player that ever Captained the national team on his debut match was\u00a0Godwin Achebe<\/b>\u00a0in 1959<\/p>\n
7.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In November of 1959, in a match against Dahomey (Benin Republic) in Lagos, Nigeria\u2019s Elkanah Onyeali became the first Nigerian to score 4 goals in a match. Nigeria defeated Dahomey by 10 \u2013 1<\/p>\n
8.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The first Nigeria to score an on-goal (against Nigeria), was Isaac Nnado in 1959.<\/p>\n
9.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The first time the Nigerian team wore their new national colours of Green and White and became known as the\u00a0Green Eagles\u00a0<\/i><\/b>was against Ghana on October 9, 1960.<\/i><\/b>\u00a0That was Ghana\u2019s first win over Nigeria on Nigerian soil.<\/p>\n
10.\u00a0\u00a0The first\u00a0Junior International football<\/b>\u00a0Nigeria ever played was against Ghana in 1961. Two Nigerian players from that squad were later invited to the senior national team and they became amongst the first set of school boys to represent the country at a full international match \u2013\u00a0Johnny Egwuonu and Mike Nwokedi<\/b>\u00a0(The first student-player was Jonathan Nwaiwu in 1955 against the Gold Coast). The Nigerian junior team lost to Ghana in Accra by 5-1.<\/p>\n
11.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Johnny Egwuonu was the first school boy player to score a goal each in three consecutive matches – against Cameroon (twice) and Dahomey.<\/p>\n
12.\u00a0\u00a0During the Africa Cup of Nations preliminaries in 1967 in a crucial away match against Ivory Coast in Abidjan,\u00a0Tunde Disu<\/b>, a student, played his debut match for the\u00a0Green Eagles.<\/i><\/b>\u00a0Nigeria lost by 2-0 and were ousted from qualifying for AFCON.<\/p>\n
13.\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0Green Eagles<\/i><\/b>\u00a0that went to the Olympic Games in 1968 had\u00a012 players from Stationery Stores<\/b>, the only club to achieve that feat in Nigeria\u2019s football history. In the team\u2019s best match at the Olympics, against Brazil, 9 of the players in the starting line-up were from Stores. The two \u2018outsiders\u2019 were\u00a0Kenneth Olayombo<\/b>\u00a0of Lagos Railway, who was substituted later in the same match by another Stores player,\u00a0Clement Obojememe,<\/b>\u00a0making him the 10th<\/sup>\u00a0player from one team, and\u00a0Ganiyu Salami<\/b>\u00a0from Leventis FC of Lagos. The team played a deserved 3-3 draw against Brazil!<\/p>\n 14.\u00a0\u00a0The first player to score a goal against the\u00a0Green Eagles<\/i><\/b>\u00a0when the new National Stadium in Lagos was opened was Ghana\u2019s\u00a0Kwesi Owusu<\/b>\u00a0during the first Nigeria\/ Ghana Sports Festival in 1972.<\/p>\n 15.\u00a0\u00a0Haruna Ilerika<\/b>, one of the most celebrated players in Nigeria\u2019s football history played 24 times for the\u00a0Green Eagles<\/i><\/b>\u00a0but scored only 3 goals during his entire career for the national team.<\/p>\n 16.\u00a0\u00a0Sunday Oliseh<\/b>, played 35 times, and scored only 2 goals during his entire career in the national team.<\/p>\n 17.\u00a0\u00a0Richard Owobokiri,\u00a0<\/b>a goal scoring machine in Europe club football, played 7 times for Nigeria 7 times, and scored only 1 goal against Zambia.<\/p>\n 18.\u00a0\u00a0There have been very many great players in Nigerian football that made a name mostly playing in the domestic league and\/or junior national teams, but only appeared\u00a0once\u00a0<\/b>in the colours of the\u00a0Green Eagle<\/i><\/b>s. The following are just a few amongst, otherwise, legends in their own right:<\/p>\n i.\u00a0 Niyi Akande \u2013 WNDC, Ibadan, 1972, against Guinea<\/p>\n ii.\u00a0 Dehinde Akinlotan, Abiola Babes, 1984, Morocco<\/p>\n iii.\u00a0 Amir Angwe, BCC Lions, 1989, against Zimbabwe<\/p>\n iv.\u00a0 Sunday Atuma, Jos Highlanders,1962, against Ghana<\/p>\n v.\u00a0 John Benson, Leventis United, 1984, against Malawi<\/p>\n vi.\u00a0 Tajudeen Disu, Abiola Babes, 1984, against Liberia<\/p>\n vii.\u00a0 Arthur Egbunam, Enugu Rangers, 1978, against Zambia<\/p>\n viii.\u00a0 Rufus Ejele, Airforce, 1978, against Uganda<\/p>\n ix.\u00a0 Samuel Elijah, BCC Lions, 1991, against Togo<\/p>\n x.\u00a0 Godwin Ironkwe, Lagos Railways, 1955, against Ghana,<\/p>\n xi.\u00a0 Yomi Bamiro, WNDC, 1973, against Ghana<\/p>\n xii.\u00a0\u00a0Joseph Ladipo (Jossylad), WNDC, 1966, against Dahomey.<\/p>\n xiii.\u00a0Christian Madu, Enugu Rangers, 1976, against Sierra Leone<\/p>\n xiv.\u00a0Stephen Musa, Saarbrucken, Germany, 1998, against Iran<\/p>\n xv.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jonathan Nwaiwu, Port Harcourt, 1955, against Ghana<\/p>\n xvi.\u00a0Alex Nwosu, Enugu Rangers, 1976, against Egypt<\/p>\n xvii.\u00a0 Taiwo Ogunjobi, IICC, 1984, against Morocco<\/p>\n xviii. Chris Ohenhen, Compostela, 1997, against Kenya<\/p>\n xix.\u00a0Titus Okere, Railways, 1951, against Ghana.<\/p>\n xx.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mike Okotie, Sharks, 1974, against Ivory Coast<\/p>\n xxi.\u00a0Pius Oleh, Bendel Insurance, 1989, against Gabon<\/p>\n xxii.\u00a0 Anthony Ottah, Bendel Insurance, 1973, against Ghana<\/p>\n xxiii.\u00a0 James Udemba, Vasco dagama, 1981, against kenya<\/p>\n xxiv.\u00a0 Duke Udi, IICC, 1998, against Burkina Faso<\/p>\n xxv.\u00a0 Ernest Ufele, Enugu Rangers, 1970, against West Germany?<\/p>\n \u00a0Do you know that one of the most famous names in the history of Nigerian football, described as one of the best strikers ever, scored only two goals for the national team of Nigeria? \u00a0Do you know that a certain famous Nigerian player captained the national team, yet played only once for the country in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-football"],"gutentor_comment":8,"yoast_head":"\n