Twelve years on, Ogenyi Onazi still thinks about the afternoon in Brasilia when he was running the show against one of the most expensive midfields in the world until a Blaise Matuidi challenge ended his night and, arguably, Nigeria’s best chance of reaching the World Cup quarter finals.
With the 2026 FIFA World Cup underway in North America and Nigeria painfully absent from the tournament for the second consecutive time, former Super Eagles midfielder Ogenyi Onazi has been revisiting the moments that made representing Nigeria at a World Cup feel special. For Onazi, there is one game that stands above everything else and it is not one where the Super Eagles won.
“I know a lot of people will be surprised by this answer, but I have participated in two World Cups and, for me, the game against France in the Round of 16 is my best,” Onazi said in a recent interview. It was June 30, 2014. The Estadio Nacional in Brasilia. Nigeria against France, with a quarter-final place against Germany on the line. Fans reliving the Super Eagles’ greatest World Cup moments can also check the Bet9ja promo code ahead of the 2027 AFCON qualifiers, which Nigeria will treat as their first major step back towards the global stage.
When Onazi Ran the Show
Nigeria had arrived in the knockout rounds in confident form. They finished second in Group F with four points, behind Argentina on goal difference, after beating Bosnia-Herzegovina and drawing with Iran before losing narrowly to the South Americans. France, who topped their own group without conceding a goal, were heavy favourites. The expectation on the outside was a comfortable French win. What happened on the pitch for the first hour was something different altogether.
Onazi, then 21 years old and a key midfielder at Lazio in Serie A, was extraordinary in the opening exchanges. He dominated the central zones, won tackles, picked passes, and made life genuinely uncomfortable for a French midfield containing Paul Pogba then 21 himself and in the early stages of his Juventus breakthrough and the experienced Blaise Matuidi. The Super Eagles were organised, compact, and dangerous on the counter, and Onazi was the heartbeat of it all.
“I was playing very well and dominating that French midfield that had Paul Pogba and Blaise Matuidi. I felt we could get something from the game,” Onazi recalled. “I was really happy with my performance and the team’s performance against the French, whom many thought would overrun us.” Supporters who want to follow the next generation of Nigerian midfielders as they attempt to build a legacy of their own can keep track with the Bet9ja YOHAIG welcome offer ahead of the qualifying campaign.
The Matuidi Challenge That Changed Everything
Then came the moment that has lived in Nigerian football memory ever since. Matuidi went in hard on Onazi with a challenge that forced the midfielder off the pitch on a stretcher. It was the kind of foul that altered the entire course of the match. With Onazi gone, Nigeria’s midfield engine lost its primary driver. France, who had struggled to impose themselves while he was on the pitch, took control almost immediately after his departure.
Paul Pogba’s header from a corner broke the deadlock in the 79th minute his first World Cup goal. Joseph Yobo’s own goal from a Karim Benzema cross sealed the result at 2-0 and ended Nigeria’s campaign. The question of what might have happened had Onazi stayed fit for the full 90 minutes is one that still circulates among Nigerian football supporters. “Unfortunately, I suffered a nasty injury when Matuidi tackled me. I had to leave the game and it was from there that they took the initiative and won the game. It was a bittersweet experience for me, but it remains my best game at the World Cup,” Onazi said.
France went on to lose to Germany in the quarter finals, 1-0 in Rio. Had Nigeria held on and advanced, they would have faced a German side that was ultimately world champions. The path was possible, and on the evidence of the first hour against France, not entirely out of reach. Fans who want to place their faith in the next Super Eagles generation reaching the 2030 World Cup can get set up now with the Bet9ja sign-up bonus.
A Career That Deserved More
Onazi’s broader international career places that France match in its proper context. He was part of the Nigeria squad that won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa the Super Eagles’ third and most recent continental title and went on to earn 53 caps for his country. He played at the 2018 World Cup in Russia as well, though he remained on the bench throughout the group stage as Nigeria were eliminated at the first hurdle.
His club career took him from Lazio to Trabzonspor and beyond, and injuries including an Achilles rupture in 2018 prevented him from ever quite recapturing the level he showed at that 2014 tournament. But the memory of that afternoon in Brasilia, when a 21 year old from Kogi State was outplaying Pogba and Matuidi on the grandest stage in world football, endures. It is the kind of story that Nigerian football needs to hold onto as it navigates the painful absence from two consecutive World Cups, and as it builds towards 2030 with a new generation of players trying to create memories of their own.
That game against France remains the last match the Super Eagles have played at a World Cup. The hurt of knowing it ended in a defeat they did not deserve is part of what makes it so memorable. Onazi, at least, can look back on his own performance with genuine pride.
📌 Did You Know?
- Nigeria’s 2-0 loss to France in Brasilia on June 30, 2014 remains the last World Cup match the Super Eagles have played a run of absence that now stretches across the 2018, 2022, and 2026 tournaments without a single appearance.
- Paul Pogba’s header in the 79th minute against Nigeria was his first ever FIFA World Cup goal. He was 21 years old at the time, the same age as Onazi during that match.
- Joseph Yobo’s own goal from a Karim Benzema cross sealed Nigeria’s fate at 2-0 a heartbreaking moment for a captain who had played so well in the tournament up to that point.
- France went on to lose to Germany 1-0 in the quarter finals, meaning Nigeria would have faced the eventual world champions had they beaten Les Bleus in Brasilia.
- Ogenyi Onazi won the 2013 AFCON with Nigeria in South Africa the country’s third continental title and the most recent. That squad also included Vincent Enyeama, John Obi Mikel, Victor Moses, and Emmanuel Emenike.
- Onazi suffered a serious Achilles tendon rupture in 2018 that significantly impacted the later stages of his career and prevented him from building on the promise he showed at the 2014 World Cup.
- Nigeria finished second in Group F at the 2014 World Cup with four points, behind Argentina on goal difference after a 3-2 defeat to the South Americans in their final group game a match widely regarded as one of the tournament’s most dramatic group-stage encounters.
