BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

When the Super Eagles take on the Palancas Negras of Angola in the first of the quarter-final matches of the Africa Cup of Nations this Friday in Abidjan, the quest of vengeance could be uppermost in the minds of the players and their band of supporters.

The bitterness of Nigeria’s elimination from the 2006 World Cup qualification will easily come mind. The 1-1 draw that Angola forced in the return leg not only cost Nigeria the qualification for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, it led to a chain of sacking.

First casualty was the Super Eagles’ coach, Christian Chukwu who was removed from his post and replaced with his deputy, Austin Eguavoen.

With both tying on points on the last match day and Nigeria losing out to Angola on the head-to-head rule since Angola beat Nigeria 1-0 in Angola and Nigeria had a 1-1 draw at home, it was advantage Angola.

The statement by the then NFA chairman, Ibrahim Galadima that the World Cup ticket was not Nigeria’s birthright triggered a chain of events that eventually led to his ouster.

With Angola again facing the Super Eagles in an encounter with zero tolerance for failure, adverse result could be devastating especially in a shock-filled tournament.

Confrontation between the two have been low, just nine so far at Grade A level, Nigeria only won twice, and by low scoreline of 1-0. Five of the other confrontations were drawn.

While Nigeria boasts of Osimhen as the lethal attacker and reigning African Footballer of the Year, Angola in also not in short with an almost equivalent.

Jacinto Dala Gelson has been in his best element at this tournament while Osimhen is yet to get to the peak of his potency.

Osimhen is still on just a goal while Gelson with four goals is aspiring to upstage Equatorial Guinea’s Emilio Nsue who scored five before his team’s ouster.

While goal-scoring by Nigeria has been low, it is almost an habit for Angola who not only finished the group stage unbeaten, they had provided one of the most potent attacks of this tournament having scored nine as against Nigeria’s five in four matches.