Confident Eagles plot Lions fall for 12th win
This evening at the ‘Nest of Champions’ in Uyo, the Super Eagles will be aiming for their 12th win over the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon.
It is the first leg of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying fixtures double header that has pitched the two African giants in the same group.
The Super Eagles have so far recorded a hundred percent run in the World Cup qualifiers having picked victories over Zambia in Lusaka and Algeria in Uyo.
According to available records, in 19 previous encounters, Nigeria have been winners 11 times, with Cameroon winning four times and four matches drawn.
Of these games, three happened to be the Final matches of the Africa Cup of Nations (all won by Cameroon, including a nail -biting penalty shoot-out session in Lagos in February 2000), and there were two different fixtures of FIFA World Cup qualifiers (1968 and 1989) shared equally.
Nigeria eliminated Cameroon from the qualifying race for 1970 World Cup finals, winning 3-2 in Douala after a 1-1 draw in Lagos. However the Lions took their revenge in 1989, snatching the minimum win they needed in Yaounde (1-0) to kick the Eagles out of the race for Italia ’90.
While Cameroonians treasure the wins in Abidjan (1984), Casablanca (1988) and Lagos (2000) that gave them three of their five African titles, Nigerians have sweet memories of a 2-0 defeat of the Lions in Ibadan (in 1989) and a gutsy 2-1 win over Cup holders Cameroon in the quarter finals of 2004 Africa Cup of Nations in the sunshine of Monastir.
The last encounter between the two countries in October 2015 at the Edmond Machtens stadium Brussels ended 3-0 in favour of the Super Eagles.