Here are the Top Five Super Eagles matches of the last decade;

#5 NIGERIA 6 TAHITI 1
Fresh from their Africa Cup of Nations triumph in South Africa, Stephen Keshi’s team headed for Brazil as Africa’s sole representative at the Confederations Cup.

Nigeria were drawn into a tough group that included Uruguay and eventual runners-up Spain, nonetheless, they began their campaign on a flying note by hitting the South Pacific islanders for six, with Nnamdi Odumadi leading the rout with a hat-trick inside Belo Horizonte’s Estadio Mineirao.

Despite the Super Eagles missing several notable scoring chances, and Jonathan Tehau profiting from a slack defending to get Tahiti’s consolation goal, the match remains one of the country’s most impressive outings of the last decade.

Notably, it was Nigeria’s biggest ever win in a Fifa-organised competition.


#4 NIGERIA 1 BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA 0
The Super Eagles ended a 16-year wait for a place in the Fifa World Cup knockout phase thanks to a 1-0 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina at Brazil 2014.

Coming into the game after a hard-earned 0-0 draw versus Iran, Stephen Keshi and his men knew that anything short of victory would spell doom for their qualification ambitions.

However, at the Arena Pantanal, Peter Odemwingie found the sumptuous moment to fire Nigeria to victory after slotting past his Stoke City team-mate Asmir Begovic in the 29th minute.

Although the team lost 3-2 to Argentina in their last group game, the campaign had been a success, with Nigeria reaching the knockouts for only the third time in their history.

#3 NIGERIA 1 BURKINA FASO 0
This encounter no doubt is Nigeria’s most important game in the last ten years.

A 1-0 defeat of Burkina Faso in the Africa Cup of Nations final thanks to Sunday Mba’s first-half strike ensured the Super Eagles conquered Africa for the first time in 19 years despite a stuttering start.

In the process, coach Keshi became only the second man to lift the trophy as a player and as a coach after Egyptian Mahmoud El Gohary.


#2 NIGERIA 4 CAMEROON 0
When the Super Eagles were pooled alongside Algeria, Zambia and Cameroon in 2018 World Cup qualifying, many predicted that the fixture against the Indomitable Lions would be the country’s prime test owing to the fierce rivalry between both nations.

Many claimed that defeat for Nigeria in any of the two-legged affair would deny the country a sixth World Cup place.

However, the clash against the five-time Africa champions was the easiest for Gernot Rohr’s men as Hugo Broos’ troops were torn apart by a rampant Super Eagles team thanks to goals from Odion Ighalo, John Obi Mikel, Victor Moses and Kelechi Iheanacho at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium.

Rohr’s team secured an encouraging 1-1 draw in the return leg in Yaounde, and that guaranteed Nigeria a place in the quadrennial football showpiece.


#1 NIGERIA 2 COTE D’IVOIRE 1
Tag this the country’s biggest game of the last decade, you may not be far from the truth. This encounter saw an inexperienced Nigerian team prove bookmakers wrong to send a star-studded Cote d’Ivoire team packing from the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.

Keshi had faced a barrage of criticism owing to the calibre of players who made his squad, but that did not matter in the quarter-final against Didier Drogba’s Elephants with an unheralded Mba completing the damage.

Victory at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium not only pushed the Super Eagles through to their fifth semi-final in seven Afcon appearances, it also brought the curtain down on the careers of several of the Ivorians’ Golden Generation.