Kanu Nwankwo was the Africa Best Footballer in 1996 following his classical performance in Atlanta scored twice against Brazil in Semi-finals to qualified Super Eagles to the finals with his Golden goal.
Do you remember the historic football match between Nigeria and Brazil in Atlanta 1996, Jo Bonfrere was the head coach of Nigeria Super Eagles at that time. Nigeria became the first African Country to win an Olympic gold medal in men football
General Sani Abacha was the Head of State Jim Nwobodo was the Minister of Sports while Jo Bonfrere was the head coach of the Dream Team. Kanu Nwankwo full-on ground as the Captain of the team
Brazil was the King of World Football and they knew it so Nigeria losing to them the night wouldn’t be a big deal
Gosh! Brazil dealt with us that night Tim around 77th minutes about 2 minutes to the end of the match Brazil was obviously dominating the game. The score be as Brazil 3 Nigeria 1
Despite the Brazil squad including star names like Carlos, Rivaldo, Bebeto, and Ronaldo. Nigerians watching the genesis thought Nigeria did not deserve such humiliation from the Brazilian boys. We had been beaten mercilessly. Nigerians became angry towards the end of the match many had turned off their television sets some were shedding tears while we hope and prayed that we would not be further disgraced with yet another goal.
But the unimaginable happened in the game
At about 78th minutes Victor Nosakire Ikpeba stroke from 20 meters to score the second goal, everything changed beyond the 32′ scorelines. Pressure came upon Brazil and hope for Nigeria players.
They became more motivated and began to fire shots from every angle.
Then another miracle at the 90th minute just before the final whistle, Kanu Nwankwo turned and flipped the ball over DIDA and it was another goal, the equalizer
What a wonderful match
There was a golden rule then. “The golden goal’ the first team to score in the extra time wins the game
Then came the decisive goal from Papilo Kanu Nwankwo in just 3 minutes into the extra time and that was how the messy game became a message.
Watch highlights of Nigeria vs Brazil Semi-finals of Atlanta 1996
Watch highlights of Nigeria vs Argentina Finals of Atlanta 1996
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