CHIEF Mike Umeh was boastful and Aminu Maigari sombre.

"We will teach Ivory Coast a lesson,"shouted Umeh while celebrating Nigeria's quarter final qualification at the ongoing Nations Cup in South Africa.

Nigeria almost lost hope when time ticked and it appeared they were crashing out of the Nations Cup in the first round.

Tension had overwhelmed all Nigerians here as only ten minutes remained in the game and it was still goalless with Ethiopia who were easily hammered 4-0 by Burkina Faso and all wondered why Eagles could not overrun them.

Victor Moses rescued Nigeria with two penalties that he created in the last ten minutes.

This sent Umeh, the Vice President of the Football Federation into wild celebration and he showed no respect for the star studded Ivory Coast that the Eagles will play on Sunday. "We'll teach them a lesson.

We will show that football can change and favourites may turn losers. Watch out for Nigeria on Sunday," Umeh said immediately after the match. Maigari, the President was calm.

"There's nothing prayers cannot do, there's nothing prayers cannot do," he said repeatedly as they walked out of the stadium.