International Football
Nigeria Face Togo After 26 Years
BY KUNLE SOLAJA
When the Super Eagles of Nigeria file out on Thursday at Stade Municipal de Saint Leu Lat Foret in Paris to face the Hawks of Togo, it will be the first encounter in 26 years for the two countries that are almost within shouting distance of one another.
Sports Village Square recalls that both teams last met on January 27, 1991 in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier which final event took place in Senegal the following year.
Already, the Super Eagles’ camp is bubbling with excitements and great expectations as the friendly encounter will be the last match before the crucial Africa Cup of Nations qualifying duel with South Africa in Uyo.
“Tomorrow night, our @NGSuperEagles battle @LesEperviers of Togo in Paris #NGATOG #SoarSuperEagles #SuperEagles” a tweet from the NFF twitter handle gleefully announced.
The match kicks off at 7pm Nigerian time. Ahead of Thursday’s encounter, both Nigeria and Togo had met 16 times with the results swaying largely in the favour of the Super Eagles.
Nigeria had won eight of the encounters, drew five, including the last match and lost three. These statistics only speak a little about the encounters. The two of the three matches Nigeria lost to Togo had immense effects.
Sports Village Square recalls that despite the good run that the Nigerian team had while hosting the West African zonal qualifier for the first All Africa Games held in Congo Brazzaville, it was the 2-1 loss to Togo in the opening match on December 27, 1964 that eventually cost Nigeria a place at the All Africa Games.
The 6-1 defeat of Burkina Faso (then Upper Volta), 4-0 mauling of Niger Republic and the 1-1 draw in the abandoned match with Benin Republic (then Dahomey) all counted for nothing as Togo also beat all those countries to get the ticket for the football event of the All Africa Games.
The next loss was a 0-1 away loss to Togo which was reversed with a 4-2 win in the return leg for the 1968 Africa Nations Cup qualifier. But the last loss was a bashing.
A star-studded Nigerian side parading the likes of Stephen Keshi, Muda Lawal, Ademola Adeshina, Kingsley Paul among others, was left dazed after a 5-2 bashing by Togo in the semi-final of 1983 WAFU Cup.
It remained the heaviest defeat Nigeria suffered from any West African side apart from the pre-history 0-7 loss to Ghana (Gold Coast at the time) in 1955.
Togo was the third country Nigeria faced in an international match after that of Sierra Leone in 1949 and traditional rivals, Ghana (formerly Gold Coast).
Nigeria’s first encounter with the then Togoland was on October 6, 1956 and had the then Premier of Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo in attendance. He came from Ibadan to watch the match which to most Nigerians was disappointing on account of the 1-1 draw and a foreign coach, Leslie Courtier handling Nigeria for the first time.
NIGERIA versus TOGO Head-to-Head
October 6, 1956: Nigeria 1-1 Togo (Lagos, Friendly)
December 29, 1964: Nigeria 1-2 Togo (Lagos, All-Africa Games Qualifier)
March 6, 1966: Nigeria 1-0 Togo (Lagos, Friendly)
April 9, 1966: Nigeria 1-0 Togo (Lagos Friendly)
April 2, 1967: Togo 1-0 Nigeria (Lome, Afcon Qualifier)
April 15, 1967: Nigeria 4-2 Togo (Lagos, Afcon Qualifier)
April 23 1975: Togo 0-1 Nigeria (Dakar, Friendly)
June 13, 1980: Togo 0-1 Nigeria (Lome, Friendly)
July 9, 1983: Nigeria 2-1 Togo (Ibadan, Olympics Qualifier)
July 27, 1983: Togo 1-1 Nigeria (Lome, Olympics Qualifier)
December 16, 1983: Togo 5-2 Nigeria (Abidjan, WAFU Cup)
July 29, 1986: Togo 2-2 Nigeria (Lome, Friendly)
March 18, 1987: Nigeria 2-0 Togo (Lagos, Afcon Qualifier)
April 2, 1987: Togo 1-1 Nigeria (Lome, Afcon Qualifier)
August 18, 1990: Nigeria 3-0 Togo (Lagos, Afcon Qualifier)
January 27, 1991: Togo 0-0 Nigeria (Lome, Afcon Qualifier)
A new trial over the death of Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona will begin on Tuesday, with seven members of his medical team charged with negligent homicide nearly a year after a previous case collapsed in a mistrial.
An enduring presence in Argentina – from towering murals to tattoos, opens new tab – Maradona died on November 25, 2020, at 60, after a heart attack while he was recuperating from brain surgery to remove a blood clot.
A court in San Isidro, near Buenos Aires, will hear testimony from just under 100 witnesses as it tries Maradona’s medical team over alleged negligence in the death of the 1986 World Cup champion.
His medical team has denied wrongdoing. The defendants are psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychologist Carlos Angel Diaz, physician Nancy Edith Forlini, nurse Ricardo Almiron, head nurse Mariano Ariel Perroni, and physician Pedro Pablo Di Spagna. An eighth defendant, nurse Dahiana Madrid, will be tried in a separate jury trial, with no date yet set.
Two months into the first trial, which started last March, a mistrial was declared when one of three judges, Julieta Makintach, resigned after video surfaced showing her being interviewed by a camera crew in the corridors of the courthouse and in her office as part of a documentary, in breach of judicial rules.
The retrial will require both prosecutors and defense lawyers to reassess their strategies after the first trial aired photographs, videos, audio recordings and forensic evidence. Many witnesses, including Maradona’s children and his former wife, Claudia Villafane, have already testified.
Prosecutors argued in the initial trial that medical professionals broke treatment protocols and that the home where Maradona was recovering from surgery amounted to a “theatre of horror,” where necessary care was not provided.
The defense countered that his death was inevitable given his longstanding health problems. Maradona struggled for decades with cocaine and alcohol addiction.
The negligence charges emerged in 2021 after prosecutors appointed a medical board to investigate Maradona’s death. The panel concluded his medical team acted in an “inappropriate, deficient and reckless” manner.
-Reuters
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Aliou Cisse has been named coach of the Angola national team, the country’s football federation (FAF) announced on Thursday, 24 hours after the Senegalese left his post in Libya.
The 50-year-old coach, who led Senegal to their maiden Africa Cup of Nations title in 2022, ended his short stint with the Libyan national team on Wednesday, after taking charge in March 2025.
“Welcome, Aliou Cisse, head coach of the Angola national team,” the FAF said on Facebook. Angola, which failed to reach this year’s World Cup, will start their 2027 AFCON qualifying campaign in September.
-Reuters
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Nigeria’s Super Eagles were held to a 2-2 draw by FIFA World Cup-bound Jordan in an eventful international friendly in Antalya on Tuesday night, with the contest overshadowed by a late red card to Alex Iwobi.
Iwobi, making his 98th appearance for the national team, was sent off in the closing stages, capping a dramatic encounter in which Nigeria surrendered a first-half lead and finished the game with ten men.
The match, played at the Mardan Sports Complex, brought Nigeria’s March international window to a close, but it proved anything but routine as both sides delivered a fiercely contested and entertaining clash.
Jordan, ranked 64th in the world and enjoying strong recent form, struck first in the 17th minute through Mousa Tamari. A well-worked free-kick routine caught the Nigerian defence napping, allowing the forward to fire home the opener.
Nigeria responded quickly and thought they had equalised six minutes later when Raphael Onyedika finished from a Moses Simon cut-back, but the goal was controversially ruled out.
The Super Eagles eventually drew level in the 30th minute. Stand-in captain Moses Simon, earning his 97th cap, reacted fastest after Ademola Lookman’s effort was blocked, slotting home with a composed left-footed finish for his second goal in as many matches.
Nigeria went ahead four minutes before halftime when Bright Osayi-Samuel’s pinpoint cross found debutant Emmanuel Fernandez, who showed great composure to control and finish, giving the three-time African champions a 2-1 lead at the interval.
The second half took on a more physical tone, with goalkeeper Francis Uzoho forced off in the 57th minute after sustaining an injury while clearing the ball. Adebayo Adeleye replaced him between the posts.
Head coach Eric Chelle introduced Wilfred Ndidi and Alex Iwobi to shore up the midfield, but Jordan continued to press and were rewarded with an equaliser in the 77th minute.
Nigeria pushed for a winner late on, handing a senior debut to Philip Otele, while Samuel Chukwueze came on for Moses Simon. However, the closing moments were marred by Iwobi’s dismissal, leaving the Super Eagles to see out the match with ten men.
Despite the draw, the encounter offered valuable insights for the coaching crew as Nigeria continues preparations for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
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