History
Nigeria made their world cup debut at USA 1994. Since Clemens Westerhof built the 1994 side and left the Super Eagles, the team has had a number of quality managers such as Jo Bonfrere, Philippe Troussier, Bora Milutinovic and Berti Vogts. Their two most successful World Cup performances both ended at the last 16 stage, in 1994 and 1998, and their most recent campaign (2002) ended at the group stages. Despite not making a great impact in the World Cup, they have a rich history at other worldwide tournaments, having won the 1985, 1993 and 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup as well as the 1996 Olympic Football Tournament.

Prospects
Nigeria will have strong hopes of reaching the knock-out stages in South Africa. 2010 will be the Super Eagles’ fourth visit to a World Cup, and the first of those four occasions – in 1994 – remains their most successful. They qualified from a group that included Argentina and Greece – two of their opponents again in South Africa – and were close to making the last eight, only to lose to eventual runners-up Italy in extra time. The collective talents of Joseph Yobo, John Obi Mikel and Seyi Olofinjana ensure that the Super Eagles are strong defensively, while Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Obafemi Martins and Lokomotiv Moscow’s Peter Odemwingie provide decent variation up-front, and on their day Nigeria can be a match for anyone. It would be no real surprise if they did qualify from Group B, but it would be a surprise if they improved on their last 16 best.

Qualification
Despite not losing a game throughout the whole of the lengthy African qualification campaign, Nigeria left it extremely late to seal a place at the World Cup. The Super Eagles cruised through round two of African qualifying, winning all six of their group games – including home and away against World Cup hosts South Africa – and conceding just one goal. However three poor results in the final group stage of qualifying left the Nigerians trailing Tunisia in top spot with two games remaining. A stoppage time winner from Victor Obinna against Mozambique ensured that qualification was still mathematically possible going into the final round of games, but Nigeria still needed to win and hope that Mozambique also bagged a shock win over Tunisia. However, the group leaders did indeed suffer a surprise defeat, and Obafemi Martins bagged a late winner in a nail-biting clash with Kenya to send the Super Eagles to their fourth World Cup.