Nigeria, a team expected to dominate its group, was held to a scoreless tie in Ghana on Sunday in African World Cup qualifying. In so doing, Ghana's Black Stars have maintained their unbeaten 18-year record against West African arch-rivals Nigeria.
The Super Eagles, despite a lineup that included international stars Nwankwo Kanu, Tijjani Babangida and Augustine Okocha was held to the tie at Accra, Ghana, by a team of local-based players. There were seven yellow cards in the game, five issued to Nigeria.
The result is a moral victory for Ghana's exclusively home-based team which many expected to be completely over-ran by Nigeria's more experienced team made up exclusively of foreign-based stars.
Coach Jones Attuquayefio fielded an all local team, dropping the foreign-based players whom he and soccer fans accused of indscipline and lack of dedication. Indeed, all but one of the players play for Accra Hearts of Oak, the Africa Super Cup Champions.
Ghana's World Cup dream still desperately needs a revival with a victory, after shocking defeats at the hands of Liberia (1-3) and Sudan (1-0). Victory for Nigeria would have boosted their campaign to win the Group and represent Africa once again in Japan/Korea 2002.

David and Goliath

The Nigerians also wanted to end an 18-year victory drought against their smaller but powerful West African arch-rivals. Ghana - joint record four-time-winners of the African Cup of Nations - have suddenly become a sleeping giant on the continent.
In fact the Black Stars have never qualified for the World Cup finals.
Nigeria, on the other hand, have been to two successive World Cup finals in the USA 1994 and France 1998, with the help of several prominent players in the big leagues of Europe.

Eagles landed

When the Super Eagles arrived by road in Accra, Nigerians living in Ghana as well as journalists trooped to the team's hotel to set eyes on squad. The Eagles, who arrived with a squadron of bodyguards, turned down the hotel the Ghana Football Association had booked for them, initially leaving their followers in a state of confusion.
And on Saturday, the Super Eagles training session was declared out of bounds, and some reporters and journalists were restricted to the stands at the Accra Sports Stadium, while few were permitted to go close to the pitch. The Nigerians also chose to camp in the capital of neighbouring Togo rather than train in Ghana.

Ghana's home gamble

For Ghana, the build-up to the match has been rather modest and quiet as local coach Cecil Jones Attuquayefio take the biggest risk of his career by naming an exclusively home-based squad.
The majority the Ghana squad are from recently crowned African club champions, Hearts of Oak, which Attuquayefio coached successfully to African Super Cup glory a few weeks ago.
There were divided opinions among Ghanaian fans after the squad was named, but many are now convinced that the home-based players could cause a surprise because they are unknown to the Nigerians.

Lineup
Sammy Agyei, Mireku, Nettey, Tetteh, Agyeman Duah, Adjah Tetteh, Joe Ansah, Charles Allotey, Ishmael Addo, Emmanuel Osei Kuffour, Charles Taylor


The Super Eagles Squad:
Goalkeepers: Ike Shorunmu (Besiktas/Tur), Peterside Idah (Tembisa Classic/S Africa) Defenders: Taribo West (Derby County/Eng), Isaac Okoronkwo (Shakhtar Donetsk/Ukr), Ifeanyi Udeze (POAK Salonica/Gre), Emeka Ifejiagwa (Wolfsburg/Ger), Godwin Okpara (Paris Saint Germain/Fra), Celestine Babayaro (Chelsea/Eng) Midfielders: Garba Lawal (Roda JC/Ned), Sunday Oliseh (Borussia Dortmund/Ger), Augustine Okocha (Paris Saint Germain/Fra) Strikers: Benedict Akwuegbu (Grazer AK/Aut), Tijani Babangida (Gencerbirligi/Tur), Victor Agali (Hansa Rostock/Ger), Nwankwo Kanu (Arsenal/Eng), Finidi George (Real Mallorca/Spa), Julius Aghahowa (Shakhtar Donetsk/Ukr), Bina Ajuwa (Benfica/Por)

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Sierra Leone 0 Sudan 2 - World Cup qualifier result
African World Cup qualifier, group B
Scorers: James Moja Joseph 43, Khaled El Bakhit 44
Halftime: 0-2; Attendance: 30,000

 Standings 
 P W D L F A Pts 
 1. Liberia      4 3 0 1 6 4  9 
 2. Sudan        4 3 0 1 5 3  9 
 3. Nigeria      3 2 0 1 6 2  6 
 4. Ghana        3 1 0 2 6 4  3 
 5. Sierra Leone 4 0 0 4 0 10 0 

Playing later on Sunday: Ghana v Nigeria, Accra