BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
The quarter-finals pairing of Nigeria and Angola is possibly a thriller. They are meeting for the first time at the Africa Cup of Nations’ final tournament, although this will be their 10^th meeting overall.
In the lesser African Nations Championship, they had also met in 2018 in Morocco in a nail-biting encounter that ended dramatically. A 55^th minute by Angola was cancelled by Nigeria’s Anthony Okpotu on the dot of 90^th minute before Gabriel Okechukwu got the winner for Nigeria in the extra time.
For Friday’s quarter-final clash, www.sportsvillagesquare.com comes out with the following points of interest.
Christian Chukwu began and ended his Super Eagles’ managerial position with encounters with Angola. The Nigeria’s former captain started his managerial career with the Super Eagles in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Angola on 8 September 2002. He also ended the career with another match with Angola, a 1-1 draw in Kano on 18 June 2005.

Angola was the team that last beat the Super Eagles before the team began an undefeated streak of 35 matches , an African record. The streak, one of the longest in the World Cup qualifying series was only terminated in the match with Algeria which ended 1-1, but was awarded to Algeria on account of Nigeria fielding an unqualified player.

It was in a World Cup qualifying match with Angola that Samuel Okwaraji died in 1989.
Nigeria-Angola: Head-to-Head
4 April 1981 – (F) Nigeria 0-0 Angola
9 April 1983 – (AfconQ) Nigeria 2-0 Angola
24 April 1983 – (AfconQ) Angola 1-0 Nigeria
22 Jan. 1989 – (WCq) Angola 2-2 Nigeria
12 Aug. 1989 – (WCq) Nigeria 1-0 Angola
8 Sep. 2002 – (AfconQ) Angola 0-0 Nigeria
21 June 2003 – (AfconQ) Nigeria 2-2 Angola
20 June 2004 – (WCq) Angola 1-0 Nigeria
18 June 2005 – (WCq) Nigeria 1-1 Angola