Nigeria were penalty kicks from reaching the quarterfinals of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup ahead of England, European champions and one of the favourites for the tournament.
The Super Falcons went through the group stage unbeaten, for the first time in their history of participating at the competition, and kept three clean sheets from four games; had they been a tad more adventurous in the final group game against Ireland, they could have won that fixture and topped the group ahead of tournament co-hosts Australia.
A remarkable accomplishment that would have been.
But all of this is nothing less than Nigerian football fans have expected since the Super Falcons made their stunning run at the 1999 Women's World Cup, when they won two group games and played out a pulsating quarterfinal against Brazil. Then, they looked dead and buried at halftime -- trailing 3-0 -- before storming back to tie the game 3-3 only for a red card to Patience Avre to leave them compromised; Sissi won the game for Brazil with a spectacular freekick.
And so going into the quarterfinal against England, expectations were at once high and tempered. High because Nigeria had shown enough, after going toe-to-toe with Olympic champions Canada and beating Australia, to illustrate they could compete with the best teams in the world. But tempered because England were highly favoured for a reason, having scored 80 goals in 10 games in qualifying, and 22 in six on their way to the European title.
England were far and away the runaway betting favourites to win, and that and, ultimately, the performance provided a mirror into the diametric pathways the teams have taken in the years since they first met.
The pathways offer a glimpse of what is possible when a team -- England -- is led by administrators with vision, a strategic plan and the resources to execute it, as opposed to another -- Nigeria -- that must wing its way through, year after year, cycle after cycle, with chaos and disorganization as a major staple.
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The Super Falcons had been plagued for months by disagreements: Players sought unpaid bonuses and allowances from friendly games; coach Randy Waldrum, who is only available on a part-time basis, was owed 14 months' unpaid wages; in-fighting within the technical staff; players boycotted training; a cancelled pre-tournament training camp; it would have been no surprise had they lost all three games and headed home.
It would not have been for the first time.
Back in 2003, still riding high from their display four years earlier, a more experienced and mature Super Falcons team was expected to do even better. Star striker Mercy Akide had moved to the U.S. and gone from setting scoring records at Milligan University to playing in the world's first professional women's league, the Women's United Soccer Association, thus becoming the first African woman to play professional football.
She was soon joined by captain Florence Omagbemi, and the largely unchanged squad from 1999 was more mature and experiencedl they were in their prime, and expectations were high that they could do even better than at the previous World Cup.
But that was not to be the case, after they were hampered by more than bonus and allowance issues leading into the tournament.
"The whole team were given yellow fever vaccinations less than a week to their departure to the USA for the tournament, and we only arrived there the day before our opening game," then coach Sam Okpodu told ESPN.
"All the girls, apart from Mercy who was already in the U.S. and didn't take the vaccination, fell sick and one had to be taken to hospital from the stadium after [a] game."
And so, despite all that talent and experience, the team returned home without a win in three games; it was one of the team's worst showings at the World Cup.
Troubles aside, the class of 2023 did not suffer similar indignities.
They played seven high-quality friendlies to prepare for the tournament, arrived in Australia ahead of the majority of other teams for a three-week camp, and remained focused despite the distraction that followed Waldrum's explosive interview attacking the Nigeria Football Federation.
"I advised [Waldrum] to ignore the noise and just focus on the football," Okpodu said. "We have been there before, and we know how all these things play out. This time was better than before so I just wanted him to focus on the task and ignore everything else."
That advice, the preparation and the players' determination to block out the issues were key to their success, Okpodu said.
"And then they had big motivation of big money from FIFA. That is enough to make any player to give everything on the field, especially our African players who do not see that kind of money usually."
The preparation paid off, as Waldrum found the right personnel and the tactics to bring the defensive discipline the Super Falcons had lacked over the years.
Waldrum was paid half of the wages he was owed, and the players were promised they would be paid from the FIFA World Cup funds; despite a lack of trust in the NFF, they focused on the football.
In the end, their results and performances showed what Nigeria can accomplish with the available talent and players' exposure to top leagues abroad.
Tom Hamilton recaps the round of 16 dramatic clash from Brisbane between England and Nigeria, as the Lionesses advance to the quarterfinals at the Women's World Cup.
England, by contrast, showed the roadmap that Nigeria needs to follow to go further.
The teams first met at the 1995 World Cup, when England edged a close game, winning 3-2. Subsequent meetings were friendlies, and the Super Falcons won both -- 1-0 in 2002 and 3-0 in 2004.
But where England have gone on to become one of the world's best teams, the Super Falcons have stagnated.
Forward Ify Onumonu laid it all out after the round-of-16 loss
"Yes I've seen what England have access to," Onumonu said in a post-match interview with the official broadcaster.
"In Nigeria we don't have access to much. Our training fields aren't great. Where we sleep isn't great. Sometimes we share beds. It's not good. It's not good enough.
"In terms of recovery, we don't have much of any of that. We don't have access to a gym in camp in Nigeria. There's a lot that needs to be done. Hopefully more people start to talk about it. Coming here, it's hard to adjust. We do what we can because we love playing for our country, but hopefully they make it easier for us to do our best.
"The turf isn't great. The grass is rocky, bumps everywhere. The stadium we play on for qualifying -- you'd be surprised. I was surprised. You don't even know where the ball is going to jump at you.
"Our under-20s went far in their World Cup, and when they were sent home they were sleeping in airports for 24 hours. That's not acceptable. What we have fight for is bigger for us."
Good organisation and planning are no guarantees for winning -- as the early elimination of the United States proved -- but England and the rest of the top teams show the lack of it guarantees failure.
It is a lesson the Nigerian federation will need to learn -- not just for the Super Falcons but for all the national teams under their care.