The Super Eagles of Nigeria recorded a stunning 10-0 win against Sao Tome and Principe in what was an utterly dominant performance in Agadir, Morocco.
The result is Nigeria’s widest winning margin in history and also only the second time the Super Eagles have scored double digits in any game.
One would have to travel down memory lane all the way back to 1959 for the only other time this has happened, when Nigeria defeated the Benin Republic (then known as Dahomey) 10-1 in 1959.
A performance like this has to come with multiple records, here are 10 new ones set and broken by the Super Eagles against Sao Tome in no particular order.
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1. Biggest winning margin
As earlier mentioned, Nigeria has scored 10 goals before but have never won by a 10-goal margin as they did against Sao Tome.
Back in 1959, they allowed Dahomey to score one goal which reduced to margin to nine; the current Super Eagles didn’t show such mercy.
2. Most goals scored in a competitive game
Yes, Nigeria had scored 10 in a game before but that was even before the country gained independence in 1959 and it was in the Kwame Nkrumah Invitational Cup which is not recognised as a competitive game.
The 10 goals against Sao Tome and Principe in the 2023 AFCON qualifiers have gone down in history as the most Nigeria has ever scored in a competitive game.
3. Sao Tome’s second-worst defeat
This thrashing will also go down in Santomean history as their second-highest defeat, topped only by the 11-0 whooping handed to them by Congo in 1976.
Although Sao Tome are ranked 50th in Africa, they are not entirely as bad as the result suggests as they have played against Ghana, South Africa, Cameroon and Morocco multiple times in the last six years and have not conceded more than three goals in any of those games.
4. The more the merrier
Nigeria had six different goalscorers in the game against Sao Tome as Victor Osimhen, Terem Moffi, Moses Simon, Ademola Lookman, Oghenekaro Etebo and Emmanuel Dennis all found the net.
Nigeria have never had more players score in a single game, according to all verifiable records in recent years.
5. Hat-trick hero
Victor Osimhen scored four in this game but his third goal made him the first Nigerian player to score a hat-trick for the Super Eagles since Odion Ighalo did so in a 4-0 win over Libya in an AFCON qualifier in 2018.
6. Osimhen the next Yekini?
Still speaking of Victor Osimhen, his four-goal haul is the most any Nigerian player has scored for the Super Eagles since the great Rashidi Yekini.
Yekini scored four times as Nigeria thrashed Burkina Faso 7-1 in 1991, also in an AFCON qualifying game.
7. Still Osimhen and Yekini
Osimhen’s four goals now take his total Super Eagles tally to 15 goals in 23 games at a goal ratio of 0.65 per game.
The 22-year-old is still 22 goals short of matching Yekini at the summit of the all-time top scorers list but he now has a better ratio as Yekini scored 37 goals in 62 games at 0.60 per game.
8. Direct free kick
Oghenekaro Etebo scored Nigeria’s fifth goal, a wonderfully placed direct free-kick straight into the top corner off the crossbar.
It is the first goal any player has scored for the Super Eagles direct from a free-kick since Kelechi Iheanacho did so in a friendly game against Argentina back in 2017. The five-year wait is over.
9. Debut scorers
Of the six players who found the net against Sao Tome, three were scoring their first Super Eagles goals, congratulations to Ademola Lookman, Emmanuel Dennis and Terem Moffi who scored a brace.
10. Jose Peseiro > Gernot Rohr
It’s only taken Jose Peseiro four games to set a lasting Super Eagles record having now led Nigeria to 13 goals in those four games.
This means Peseiro has already produced more goals than Gernot Rohr’s Super Eagles managed in his final 10 games in charge which produced 12 goals.