Afcon 1994 vs 1996 Olympics: Which was Nigeria’s finest hour?

There have been two undeniable peaks in the history of Nigerian football, both of which essentially proved the making of whatever global reputation the country currently enjoys.

For all that it was not a maiden triumph, success at the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations was even more significant than that of 1980 for a few reasons.

First off, there was the fact it was won on foreign soil, as opposed to 1980’s, which was hosted in Nigeria. The win in Tunisia had no overwhelming 12th man force propelling the team from the stands, rousing them beyond their own capabilities.

Almost as significantly, Afcon 1994 was a 12-team tournament as opposed to the eight-team 1980 tournament; one (knockout) game more to play in the pursuit of ultimate glory.

However, perhaps the biggest factor was in the composition of the teams themselves. The Super Eagles in 1994 was just so much more rounded, the product of a slow-burn approach to team building that had seen the team claim both silver and bronze before gold, whereas 1980 felt more like a bolt out of the blue with what came before and after.

Nigeria effectively parlayed that 1994 triumph into a top five Fifa ranking, a Round of 16 finish at that year’s World Cup and then, subsequently, the event that would represent a second peak.

The gold medal won at the 1996 Olympics football event, notably achieved by collecting the scalps of Brazil and Argentina, further augmented the growing sense of Nigeria as a force just waiting to explode.

Aside the football itself, which was thrillingly expressive and proved technical parity, the manner of those victories against South American giants seemed to signify that the most pernicious block of all – the mental one – had been overcome. Shorn of a perceived inferiority, Nigeria could now expect to compete favourably on the world stage.

That promise never quite came true, of course. That moment remains a high-water mark above which the country’s national team has yet to rise, and so it is that, time and again, the eye and the heart is drawn to that two-year span, and those two tournament successes.

Deciding which was the greater achievement is difficult and, like picking between one’s children, seems a little immoral. It also is not black-and-white, even when one organically set the wheels in motion for the other, as established earlier.

Without the 1994 team gaining confidence in their own abilities by winning the Afcon and then impressing at the World Cup, it is only fair to question whether the Dream Team would have even been able to envision victory on a global stage down the line. Also, having the likes of Uche Okechukwu, Emmanuel Amuneke, Daniel Amokachi and Jay-Jay Okocha, all of whom had featured at the Mundial, was undeniably a fillip.

That simple then? Not so fast.

As a retort, one might point out that the Olympics triumph being defined as solely a legacy of the 1994 side does it a major disservice.

Sure, 1996 was propped up by a number of its influential personalities. That said, some of the more abiding memories of winning Olympic gold: a certain Kanu wheeling away after completing the brace that eliminate Brazil, and Celestine Babayaro’s drunken dance, came courtesy of players conspicuous by their absence two years prior.

There is also the fact that, in terms of difficulty, the Olympics offers more varied resistance than the Afcon can, being unrestricted in participation. With the element of familiarity that can lead to a parade of sameness at Afcon stripped away, and its quadrennial timing amping up the stakes, there was clearly more to do in pursuit of immortality.

It may be essentially an age-grade competition, but can anyone seriously contend that 23-year-olds are incapable of holding their own in terms of ability or physicality? In the likes of Ronaldo, Juninho, Hernan Crespo and Ariel Ortega, the Dream Team (as they were known) faced up to some true greats even at a young age, and that’s even before getting to the three over-aged players allowed.

In the end the Olympics triumph was simply the more aspirational event, a true first for an entire continent. It was achieved by the fusion of two generations – a ‘best of both worlds’ team, essentially – and proved a quantum leap forward for African football.