Nigeria Ghana rivalry  retold as Eagles, Black Stars clash in Marrakesh

Super Eagles
March 22, 2024

Nigeria and Ghana are fierce West African brothers when it comes to football. As both nations begin life after the 2023 AFCON in a friendly game today in Morocco former footballers have given the Super Eagles tips on how to approach the intense rivalry between both nations writes TUNDE LIADI. 

The Super Eagles will begin life after the reins of Portuguese gaffer, Jose Peseiro with a friendly encounter with the Black Stars of Ghana in Marrakech, Morocco today.

Finidi George, who is the senior national team’s chief coach and next in command after the departed Peseiro, has been picked as head coach for today’s friendly tie and the one to follow on Tuesday next week against Mali also in Morocco. 

George  who is the incumbent coach of Enyimba FC, could put himself in front of the queue of coaches that have applied for the exalted job  if he is able to grind  good results in both games while also ensuring that the Eagles play with flair as the senior national team is noted for in the past.

He will endear himself more to Nigerians if he is able to stop the Black Stars of Ghana today by getting a win since  the  two West African nations seem to like to edge each  other in all sporting competitions.

For instance, Ghana’s  Men’s 4X100m athletes celebrated to high heavens when they finished ahead of favourites, Team Nigeria in the final of the relay event of the then All Africa Games hosted by Nigeria in 2003. No wonder Team Nigeria anchor-man for the 4X100m relay at the ongoing 2023 African Games,

Usheoritshe Itsekiri, ran as if his entire tire depended on it to exert the revenge on Ghana on their home soil. Both names have maintained the same level of competition in almost the tournaments they have always met.

No wonder 3rd  February 2002 would always remain unforgettable for  former national team goalkeeper,  Ike Shorunmu  because of what befell him in Bamako, Mali during the AFCON quarter final tie against Black Stars of Ghana.

 It was a day he would never pray to happen after losing consciousness following a collision with a Ghanaian player during the encounter. Nigeria later won the game with a 80th minute goal by Garba Lawal.

“The rivalry between Nigeria and Ghana has been ongoing for so long. This is a match Nigeria has to win because if we don’t, Ghana would have bragging rights over us,” Shorunmu told NationSport ahead of the ill-fated  Super Eagles campaign  for the Qatar 2022 World Cup .”The atmosphere playing with Ghana is always tensed because I can remember when we played them in the quarterfinals of the 2002 AFCON in Mali, I was in goal.

Read Also: Eagles will invoke AFCON form against Black Stars, says Iwobi

“ Before the game we had to tell ourselves that we had to be focused and tighten ourselves and not let the Ghanaians have a feel of the ball. Thank God we tried our best and at the end of the day we were victorious.

“The most memorable moment I have played against the Black Stars would be the same quarterfinals of the AFCON in Mali in 2002 because that was the game I was unconscious and I was rushed out of the game to the hospital. I didn’t even know we had won the match until I gained consciousness in the hospital,” Shorunmu said.

Former Green Eagles winger, Felix Owolabi, equally described the previous games with the Black Stars as something akin to  political war  in a file interview, adding that the Ghanaians would devise all underhand means to win just like they did when they hosted the Africa Cup of Nations in 1978 where they were paired in Group A along with Nigeria.

“As far back as 1960, the rivalry between Ghana and Nigeria had existed. It had been more political than the sportsmanship values we craved to get out of those games. It is like war so to say each time Nigeria is playing Ghana,” Owolabi, who was capped 35 times by Nigeria revealed.

“I can remember vividly in 1978 when Ghana hosted the 11th  African Cup of Nations. We were in the same Group A with Ghana. Our encounter in that match was an eye saw. Segun Odegbami had scored an early minute goal with a powerful header.

“Ghana did all the maneuvers to ensure they equalized. Several times without number the floodlights were switched off and on because the game was played at night. It was a period when the government in power was going for another election and used the platform of the Black Stars of Ghana to campaign for victory.

“Poor officiating in that match gave Ghana a dying-minute equalizer. The Ghanaian government ensured that the Eagles were frustrated out of the competition that year even when we were the favourite team to win the tournament. We could only come back home as the third best.

“In 1980, two years later Nigeria too hosted the 12th  edition, and Ghana who were in Group B with the centre in Ibadan were booed by the fans throughout which caused them an early exit from the competition despite being the defending champions. It was a retaliation for what they did to Nigeria two years earlier.”

Also speaking  about  the intense rivalry between both nations, former Super Eagles’ midfielder, Garba Lawal stated that Ghanaians  belief that they are better than Nigerians  hence them strive to go out of their ways to ensure they emerge victorious.

The former  midfielder opined that Ghana’s determination to dominate the fixtures between the two nations also toughened him and his teammates to be extra motivated during his heyday with the national team.

“The rivalry between Nigeria and Ghana has been very tough. Back in my days in the senior national team, it was always an important game to play but at the same time, they felt they were better than Nigeria. They go the extra mile to see to it that they win,” Lawal, who played at four editions of AFCON and two FIFA World Cup competitions, stressed.

“I always have extra motivation against Ghana because they always feel they are better. We know we are on a better side. We have demonstrated in the past two decades that we are better than them. The atmosphere is always nice but sometimes aggressive. Both teams want to win.”

Former Super Eagles goalkeeper, Dele Aiyenugba said that the rivalry between Nigeria and Ghana has always been fierce as Ghanaians would prefer to lose to other nations than to Nigeria and he believes that the latest game between both West African nations would take a similar pattern even though it is just a test game.

“The funny thing is that Ghana can lose a match to other African countries but with Nigeria, they can go any length. I can’t say this is the reason for that but it has always been like that because we met it that way,” Aiyenugba said.

“I was in the team when we beat Ghana at the 2006 AFCON in Egypt and when Ghana hosted the AFCON in 2008. We lost 2-1. So, it is always a different atmosphere when playing Ghana. Previous games against them have always been tough. They are always very cautious against us and the results have always been very close too.”

The former Bnei Yehuda goaltender picked the Eagles’ 2-1 defeat to Ghana in the quarter-final of the 2008 AFCON as his most memorable game against the Black Stars. He noted that the Eagles had everything going for them to win the game including playing with one man advantage but the team was bundled out by the determined Black Stars side. 

Aiyenugba rued the inability of the Eagles to explore the advantages they had in the game to salvage a win that could have seen them lift the title under coach Berti Vogts.

“The memorable moment I had against them was in 2008 when we lost to them in Accra during the quarter-final of the AFCON. We had the chance to beat them before their fans because they played with a man down in the first half and still beat us. It was painful that we lost the game because we could have won that AFCON if we had made it to the final,” the Kwara United goalkeeper added.

Also, former Super Eagles star Sani Kaita recalled his experience against the Black Stars. “Ghanaian team is a good side, they always have good players. We all knew how difficult it was to beat them. 

“AFCON 2010 we lost against them, which was a painful defeat at the semi-final. 

For the fixture today in Marrakech, Kaita advised the Eagles, “Playing against Ghana isn’t an easy task, the players need to be 100 percent ready for the challenge, however, we got top quality players in the team, I believe they’ll deliver.”

Lawal further described the rivalry between both nations as massive.

He said the atmosphere while playing against Ghana was different in the past while the game’s intensity and the behaviour of the fans would make everyone stay glued to their seats throughout the encounter.

“Nigeria Ghana always top when it comes to football, the rivalry between the two countries is massive,” Lawal added. “The atmosphere against Ghana, the rivalry, the intensity of the match, the fans’ atmosphere is awesome.”

The 47-year-old who scored in the last three editions of the AFCON he attended picked his half-volley strike outside the 18 yards box in the quarter-final of the 2002 AFCON as his most memorable moment in the games he played against Ghana.

“My memorable moment against Ghana is the goal I scored against them at Mali 2002. It was a half-volley outside the 18 yards box and it was a fantastic goal,” said Lawal.

Subscribe to our Newsletter

* indicates required

Intuit Mailchimp