Nigeria easily qualified for the 1998 World Cup in France with the Olympic gold in hand and Bora Milutinovic, a man who specializes in leading teams to World Cups, on the bench. In a pre-World Cup friendly, the Super Eagles were humiliated 4-1 by the Dutch, and they were clearly the underdogs versus Spain. This loss severely damaged their confidence.
Sunday Oliseh’s piledriver, Andoni Zubizarreta’s own goal, and Mutiu Adepoju’s score all helped the Eagles win 3-2. Nigeria ultimately emerged victorious from their group and advanced to the next round, whereupon they were defeated 4-1 by Denmark.