When the Nigeria Football Federation earlier announced that their Super Eagles would battle with the Seleção in a high profile friendly during October's international break, it was with a feeling of nostalgia laced with anxiety that the local folks in the West African nation greeted the news.
It would be effortless to decipher the reason why.
Brazil is the jewel of South American football and the thought of watching the country's cream of the crop; the likes of Neymar, Gabriel Jesus, Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Alves, to mention a few, showing their skills against the Nigerian national team makes for quite an exhilarating perception.
"I hope we emerge victorious on Sunday", said enthusiastic national team fan Seyi to BabaGol, from the suburbs of the football-crazy Mende, Maryland, Lagos. "They have a team of world-class stars in their team, and I understand they beat us convincingly the last time they were here. But this is football. Our Eagles are the real deal!"
That is just a glimpse of the level of optimism, belief and tough talk that have been making the rounds leading up to the eagerly anticipated cracker and it is thus, fitting to explore a bit into the history of this fixture.
It has been over 16 years since a Ronaldinho-led Samba team turned up at the opening of a newly-built Abuja National Stadium to thrash the Super Eagles 3-0, with Gil, Luis Fabiano and Adriano all finding the net on the day.
The sour memory of that defeat remains, but Nigerians would always turn to the 1996 Olympics for their own national pride. In the final group stage game, Brazil beat Nigeria 1-0 with a Ronaldo goal - a result that allowed both teams to qualify to the next stage. Fate pitted the two teams together again in the semi-final, and that one was an absolute classic: Brazil were cruising with a 3-1 lead after 38 minutes, but the Super Eagles produced a stunning comeback, winning 4-3 after a Nwankwo Kanu Golden goal. The momentum carried the Nigerians towards a final comeback against Argentina as well, winning a historic Gold medal.
Back to the present, the friendly is happening in Singapore, and with Brazil having negotiated the 'minor' business of playing Senegal on Thursday, an affair which ended a goal apiece, Tite has been forced to admit the tedious nature of having to face African teams because of their physical approach. ''They are teams that seek contact, bring compaction, strong aerial ball. And we are still finding the best way to play against the African teams,'' he told TV Globo shortly after the Senegal game.
The Super Eagles will present yet another stern test for his charges, and it promises to be a thrilling matchup, the withdrawals and arrivals in the Nigerian team notwithstanding. Both sides possess players of incredible skills and sheer talents — Victor Osimhen who is expected to lead the lines for Nigeria is the rave of the moment in France, while the duo of Samuel Chukwueze and Alex Iwobi have good seasons with Villarreal and Everton respectively, and Emmanuel Bonaventure is in the best of form leading up to this one.
On the other hand, superstar Neymar is on the brink of a record for the Seleçao: just if you might have forgotten, the Paris Saint Germain ace is the third-highest goalscorer for the Brazilian national team, with 61 goals in 99 matches, only one behind the legendary Ronaldo (62 goals in 98 games). Throw in other names such as Liverpool duo Roberto Firmino and Fabinho or Manchester City's Jesus, and you sense that the West Africans will have their potentials well tested come Sunday.
For the record, Cameroon remains the only African side ever to have beaten Brazil, a 1-0 victory during the 2003 Confederations Cup, and a win for Gernot Rohr's team here will more than a massage for the ego of the Nigerian folks even though there is little riding on this game, besides prestige.
The stage is set for what is looking to be an exciting afternoon in Singapore — you might not get a better friendly game because when such rivalling continental cultures and different societal symbols square up against each other in clashes such as this, be assured that it would produce sparks.