On Wednesday night at Brentford's Gtech Community Stadium, a strike from Cyriel Dessers and forced own goal helped Nigeria's Super Eagles claim a 2-1 win over West African rivals Ghana in the 2025 Unity Cup.
As is often the case with encounters between Nigeria and Ghana, the game was a feisty affair laced with equal parts meaty challenges and absurd skills, despite of both sides sending out significantly less than full strength lineups.
Nigeria, missing the likes of Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman and WIlliam Troost-Ekong, started with three players from the domestic league.
But the Nigerians looked the better side for most of the first half and richly deserved their two-goal advantage. It should have been at least three, but for Razak Simpson making a goal line clearance just before the half.
The second half largely belonged to the Black Stars, especially after Eric Sekou-Chelle's three-player substitution on the hour mark, and they were rewarded when substitute Brandon Thomas-Asante stretched to poke past Stanley Nwabali.
The result means that the Super Eagles proceed to the final of the four-nation Afro-Caribbean tournament, where they will meet Jamaica on Saturday.
The Reggae Boyz claimed their place in Saturday's showpiece with a 3-2 triumph over fellow islanders Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday at the same venue.
Revenge not so sweet?
Brentford is a city that provokes some banter-trauma amongst Super Eagles fans. It was the venue when the Black Stars handed the Eagles a 4-1 hiding in a 2007 friendly.
For those who may argue that it was just a friendly, it most certainly was not. Not for the players at the time and certainly not for the fans. The long standing rivalry between both teams apart, that score was unexpected.
Going into the fixture, Nigeria were riding an eight-game unbeaten streak against Ghana going back 15 years to 1992, the last time they lost to the Black Stars, at the Africa Cup of Nations in Senegal.
Despite the usual haphazard preparations, the expectations were for another win, or at least a tie, but nothing prepared Super Eagles fans for the nightmare of that night.
Austin Eguavoen's side were so demolished by Ghana that stunned Nigeria fans were frozen into disbelieving silence... and not just by the freezing conditions.
It has been 18 long years since, and the Super Eagles have claimed various victories against Ghana, but that memory sticks around like a bad smell.
Wednesday's victory, at the scene of the original pain, has gone some way to avenge that loss, but it will be a while before it is finally assuaged.
Have domestic players convinced coach Chelle?
True to his pre-game promise, Eric Chelle handed starting roles to four new players, three of those from the domestic league, the NPFL.
Slavia Prague's Igoh Ogbu was handed his international debut alongside home boys Taiwo Alimi and Papa Daniel, with Ismaila Sodiq winning a start on his second international appearance.
One thing was not in doubt, all three fizzed as they brought exactly the sort of energetic display of lung and muscle that Chelle wants to see in his players.
Sodiq was especially eye-catching when he challenged for what looked like a lost cause, won the ball, bounded down the line and delivered a measured cross that avoided the defence and landed on a plate for Rangers' Dessers to open the scoring.
The Super Eagles were pushed to the back foot when they were yanked back to parity on the hour mark.
The question however, would be if they are better than or even as good as what is currently available to the coach. One would be hard-pressed to pick Sodiq over Ola Aina or Bright Osayi-Samuel; Alimi over Lookman, or Moses Simon and Papa Daniel still has a ways to go before he can challenge Alex Iwobi or Frank Onyeka.
Still, the sample size is still small and it is the opening chapter of their international experience.
As long as they do not run off to some backwater club abroad and drop off the radar, but continue to learn, improve and be mentored by the more experienced players, the promise is certainly there.
Is Nwabali getting complacent?
Let's start by saying that Chippa United's Nwabali remains the best Nigeria has in goal at this time, and he showed it with minutes to go when he went down to make a game-saving save late in the second half.
However, the goalkeeper appears to have either become lax, or way too comfortable in his position without a lack of real competition, at least during this game.
Twice, his laissez-faire attitude saw him come close to gifting Ghana goals. A lazy play out pass that was meant for Wilfred Ndidi in the first half was intercepted by Ghana and only a contortionist save by Nwabali himself made up for the error.
There is no excuse for such lapses in judgement, especially for an international goalkeeper, irrespective of the opposition.
Chelle will need to light a fire under Nwabali, perhaps by playing Maduka Okoye in the second game, or even against Russia. Such g a kick up the backside might be exactly what the doctor ordered.
Are late goals becoming an issue?
It is only three games so, deep breath, we are not panicking. Yet. But a pattern of conceding late in the game seems to have developed recently.
Against Rwanda, the Super Eagles were under the cosh for large parts of the latter stages of the game. They weathered the storm and returned with three valuable points in the bag. Such a barrage is to be expected when playing away from home and holding onto a lead.
But alarm bells went off a bit when they surrendered a late, late goal to Zimbabwe at home, a goal that severely compromised their World Cup qualification hopes.
On Wednesday against Ghana, a similar late collapse led to Ghana's goal and but for Nwabali's timely last-stand goalkeeping, could well have turned a victory into a tie.
Three games, three variations of self-implosion late in the game... It is hard not to be more than a little concerned, and it's something to keep an eye on when Nigeria play Jamaica on Saturday, and Russia a few days later.
So... did Musa 'prove himself'?
Ahmed Musa is the elephant in the room. On the one hand, his leadership and tribal knowledge of the Super Eagles would make him an invaluable resource to the team, both player and coaches.
On the other hand, with his dwindling powers as time catches up with him, would the team benefit more from having a younger player in the squad?
Chelle said ahead of the game that Musa would get the minutes he needed to prove his worth and earn a place in the squad. Against Ghana, he got half an hour. On the basis of those thirty odd minutes, it is hard to make a case one way or another.
There are another 90 minutes to go, and perhaps at least another thirty in there for the Nigeria captain. After 108 appearances, his international future hangs in the balance of the next game he plays for Nigeria.