Rashidi Yekini finally becomes Superstar and noticed in the rest of the world 

 It was 1994 and the Nations Cup took place at Tunisia. Nigeria had qualified for the World Cup 1994 and Rashidi Yekini had been elected African Footballer of the year 1993. Team selections had been discussed but Dutch coach Clemence Westerhof had been succesful with Nigeria like almost no other coach before and after he had been trying out more than a hundred players during his four year period his picks had been 22 players of almost equal qualities and he even had had to leave out some more. A lot of Nigerians had started to establish themselves in European leagues because of the success of the Nigerian youth program. Many had drawn the attention of European scouts on Nigerian potential when Nigeria became U16 world champions 1985, runners-up 1987, and only knocked out after penalties without conceding a goal in the tournament of 1989. They had won the U17 WorldCup, the biannual successor of the biannual U16 World Cup in 1993 and the streak of top level youth performances had opened the gate for many Nigerian players from a country that had been ignored before by European eyes for two reasons: First of all Nigeria is not part of Francophone Africa and so lacks the access to the more open to Africa minded leagues in France and Belgium and second they had not been successful on senior level in the time when African footballers had begun to become accepted in leagues such as the German Bundesliga.  

 But despite severe economical problems there had been some money (wasted) because of the oil program and some Nigerian players had been able to travel abroad and offer themselves such as Augustine 'Jay Jay' Okocha, who became a star player at Eintracht Frankfurt later. So the Nigerian squad was a selcetion of European based players that enjoyed to come together and celebrate their football. In the same time it was a bunch of competitors for spotlight places guaranteeing a market price increase and it was not a unit as later in the 1996 Olympics. 

 But there was one player above all: Rashidi Yekini. The 30 year old muslim among christians had not had the career he had deserved, judged only by the club names on his career list. He already had displayed his qualities in the finals of the Nations Cups before, but Nigeria had not won it. This time there was no doubt left this team was a favorite, after they displayed their abilities in the opening match. 

 It was 'only' Gabon they played against, a newcomer on this level, but the way Nigeria won it, demonstrated class. Controlling and dominating the entire game in medium tempo, and suddenly exploding with style. Germans know this way of playing from dominators Bayern Munich in the early seventies. And the goals of Rashidi Yekini had been irresistible. An elegant receprion, followed by a lob over the keeper and a header into the goal and a freekick that could have distroyed the goal itself and precisly into the triangle the same time. Those two goals alone demonstrated the completeness of the Nigerian forward. The match was 3:0, featuring another goal by Mutiu Adepoju. 

 It was a three teams group and two would advance. After Egypt had thrashed Gabon 4:0 it was already clear, both had qualified for the quarter finals before their encounter. So Nigeria played their controlled game and Egypt did not do much as well, so the match resulted in a 0:0. Nigeria was ready for the quarter finals. 
 
 

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 Zaire was the team to beat. Zaire had won against Mali, the cinderella team of this 1994 Nations Cup. This had set up a match against hosts Tunisia in which the Tunisians needed a two goal victory. But Zaire equalised the score after a mistake in Tunisian defence and such had won their group in front of Mali. Nigeria again played their controlling style luring for the right moment to speed up. It came in the second half when an substitute Okocha long ball was perfectly received by Yekini and shot into the triangle. A few minutes later Yekini was brought down in the box and fired the penalty into the net. 2:0, Nigeria in the semi. 

 Côte d'Ivoire already had been their opponent in the World Cup qualification and they had only qualified on goal difference. Côte d'Ivore were the reigning champions and they had convinced by their inspired attacking game. They had thrashed Sierra Leone 4:0, had lost 0:1 against Zambia in for them meaningless match, and had beat archrivals Ghana convincingly 2:1 in quarter-finals. Both teams were completely even, but Côte d'Ivoire excited with their attacking game and took the lead two times in the first half. But Iroha and Yekini stroke right back and so it was 2:2 at halftime. But what was more important: Côte d'Ivoire had lost their fabulous attacking line Tiehi and A.Traré to injuries. The match remained even but Yekini had the big opportunities which he set up great but missed close. So penalties had to decide. Yekini converted his one and Nigeria won 4:2. 

 The final was against Zambia. Zambia, who had a sloppy start, were the comeback team, after a planecrash had killed most of their national team a year before. They had not been great but they had improved each match. Anyway it seemed doubtless that Nigeria had won the tounament in the semi-final. But a corner in the third minute left Nigerian defence look odd and Zambia took the early lead on a Litana header. A similar situation on the opposite site brought the early equaliser in the fifth minute by Amunike, who had been left out of the squad in the tounament before. After this the teams were more settled with Nigeria looking stronger but could not capitalise. At halftime it was 1:1. The second half saw a quick start of Nigeria against sleepy or nervous defenders and Amunike scored his second argument for his later election as the African footballer 1994. The match seemed decided but received a miraculous almost turn when Zambia fought the last 30 minutes in the Nigerian half, completely dominating the match, conducted by Kalusha Bwalya and denied the deserved success by the goalpost. When the final whistle blew the best team of the tournament had won, but it had been very lucky. 

Nigeria was African champions of 1994 and ready to enter the World stage.  

Diagram: the soaring Super Eagles in a typical flight formation. Note that Westerhof utilised his possibilities and changed the squad each match. 

A Rashidi Yekini song