What happened the last time Super Eagles hosted Ghana at the National Stadium in Abuja?

As attentions turn from the first leg of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying playoffs to the second leg, the venue looms even larger as a factor.

This time - unlike the first leg where Ghana were hosts - Nigeria welcome Ghana to the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, formerly called the National Stadium, Abuja. 

It will be the first time in almost 20 years that both teams will face each other at the stadium, after having clashed in the semi-final of the LG Cup in 2003.

The LG Cup, an international exhibition football tournament organised - since 1997 - by South Korean electronics giants LG Electronics, was hosted and won by Nigeria in 2003.

The four-nation tournament in 2003, had Iran, Ghana, and Cameroon senior team B as participants, and had the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja and the National Stadium in Lagos as venues. 

Of the four games at the tournament, two were played in Abuja: both semi-final games, one of which was Nigeria's clash with Ghana.

The game played on May 30, 2003 had the likes of Joseph Yobo, Abbey George, Ifeanyi Udeze and Uche Ugochukwu make up a star-studded Super Eagles squad. 

The Black Stars shone very brightly in the first minutes of the game with Patrick Agyema netting the opener in the second minute. By the second half though, a brace from Yakubu Aiyegbeni and another goal from Joseph Enakarhire turned Ghana's first-half lead into a defeat at full time.

The defeat for Ghana came just three months after the Black Stars had drawn with the Super Eagles in an international friendly in Nigeria - but in Warri.

For the Super Eagles, victory over Ghana meant they progressed to the final of the LG Cup, where they played Cameroon's senior team B in Lagos and won 3-0.

Since that game, the Black Stars have never stepped foot in Nigeria again, with the 2007 and 2011 international friendlies between both nations played at neutral venues in England.

Distancing, however, is about to come to an end as the Super Eagles play a FIFA World Cup qualifier in Abuja for the first time since they last did in October 2009: a 1-0 win against Mozambique.

But this time, it's Ghana, a team that has not played at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium for 19 years since they suffered defeat there at the hands of the Super Eagles.