Super Eagles on a five-match no-win run…1st time in 59 years

Kunle Solaja

Jun 3

***Super Eagles of Nigeria have now gone on a five-match streak without winning***

BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

Nigeria's national football team, the Super Eagles are now on their fifth match without a win since beating Guinea Bissau 2-0 on 19 January in Garoua, Cameroon.

Early this Friday morning in New Jersey US, they were beaten 1-0 by Ecuador in what is also the new coach's second match on the saddle.

The last time the team had gone on a long streak without a win was in 1963 when they played five consecutive matches without winning any.

At the time, they lost 6-3 to Egypt and 4-0 to Sudan at the Africa Cup of Nations in Kumasi, Ghana and followed up with another 4-1 loss Morocco in Casablanca bringing their aggregate score line in the 1964 Olympic Games qualifier to 4-4.

In the tie-breaker match, the fifth consecutive game since losing to Egypt in Kumasi, Nigeria lost 2-1 in Dakar, Senegal.

The current streak began with a 1-0 loss to Tunisia in the round of 16 of the Africa Cup of Nations in Garoua. They followed up with two drawn matches with Ghana in the World Cup qualifying play off before the last two friendly matches lost to Mexico and Ecuador.

Their next match will be a home game against Sierra Leone, the team that recorded the biggest come-back episode in matches involving the Nigerian team.

When they came back from a 4-0 deficit to draw 4-4 with the Super Eagles in Benin City on 13 November 2020, it turned to be the highest number of goals Nigeria ever conceded at home since losing 6-2 to Egypt on 13 November 1959 in a Rome 1960 Olympic Games qualifier.