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AFTER 20 YEARS, SUPER EAGLES RETURN TO LAGOS FOR COMPETITIVE MATCH

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The Nigerian lead sports brand, Super Eagles are set to make a sensational return to Lagos as Coach Gernot Rohr has revealed that the Africa Cup of Nations’ qualifying game with Lesotho will be played in Lagos.

The last time the Super Eagles played a competitive match in Lagos was 20 years ago when they beat Zambia 1-0 in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier on 13 January 2001 at the National Stadium in Surulere.  

The mercurial Austin Okocha lost a penalty kick in the game. But this time, the proposed venue for Nigeria’s Africa Cup qualifiers is the Teslim Balogun Stadium.

Should that happen, Sports Village Square recalls that it will be only the second time that the national team will play at the stadium which previously had artificial turf.

Super Eagles’ only other match at the arena was the 2-1 defeat of Sierra Leone in a friendly match played on 9 February 2011.

Rohr, in a YouTube video shared by the media officer of the Super Eagles rationalized the choice of Lagos for the match. He explained that with Nigeria’s next game holding in either Porto Novo or Cotonou against Benin Republic, it was safer for the players to be assembled in Lagos which is close to the Benin Republic.

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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