How Nigeria's U20 team inked its name in the history books with the 'Miracle of Dammam'

The Miracle of Dammam also known as The Dammam Miracle is one of football's greatest comebacks. With the FIFA U20 World Cup hosted in Saudi Arabia, Nigeria's team was in the center of history.

The game was the closest the Flying Eagles came to winning the tournament that has only been won by one African nation.

Despite not winning, the team left some unforgettable memories in the hearts of football fans.

Nigeria qualified out of Group A ahead of Czechoslovakia and Saudi Arabia but were behind Portugal who topped the table.

The West Africans were seeded against the Soviet Union in the last eight in what would become the biggest comeback in football, Legit reports.

The entire first-half was dominated by the Soviet Union as they put two goals past the Nigerian side through Sergei Kiriakov and Bakhva Tedeev.

According to Legit.ng, Nigeria had to substitute their goalkeeper Angus Ikeji for Emeka Amadi but that did not stop the then USSR from scoring through World Cup legend Oleg Salenko and Kiriakov.

The comeback looked impossible and the morale of the Nigeria side even suffered more damages as the team were already thinking about packing their bags home the next day from Dammam.

Two minutes after Russia's fourth goal, Christopher Ohenhen pulled one back from a long-range free-kick a minute after the hour mark.

Ohenhen even scored a better free-kick than the first from a longer range to make it 4-2 in the 75th minute.

There was a glimmer of hope from 10,000 fans at the Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium and supporters back home in Nigeria glued to their TV sets.

In the 83rd minute, Samuel Elijah's shot was too hot to handle for the Russian goalkeeper as it became 4-3. The deficit was dramatically reduced to just one goal.

Nduka Ugbade then sent fans into rapturous celebrations and he intelligently tipped a through ball above the goalkeeper.

It was 4-4 with five minutes left to play and the impossible had happened as the Nigerian side spectacularly did the unbelievable.

The match went into penalties as the Qosimov missed Russia's third spot-kick after Salenko and Serhiy Bezhenar had converted the first-two.

Nigerian on the other hand were brewing with confidence as Ohenhe, Peter Ogaba and Mike Onyemachara scored their respective spot-kicks.

Oleg Benko and Mutiu Adepoju scored their fourth penalties before Samuel Elijah netted the winner in what would go down as an unforgettable moment in the history of football.

The Flying Eagles won 5-3 on penalties after coming from 4-0 down during regulation time.

Nigeria defeated the United States by 2-1 in the semis but lost 2-0 to eventual winners Portugal in the finals.

Adepoju, Ohenhen and Ugbade were the only players who graduated to play for the Super Eagles.

Dimeji Lawal, Ohenhen and Adepoju's performances at Saudi 89' earned them a contract with Spanish giants Real Madrid, where they featured for their Team B.