Bafana Bafana gave up the chance of a rare victory over Nigeria last November when they let a late two-goal lead slip in Uyo, but they can scarcely have a better opportunity to defeat the Super Eagles than Sunday's latest meeting.

A deflated Nigeria arrive in Johannesburg today off the back of a 1-0 home defeat to Uganda on Wednesday, another sign of the decline of the west African side.

It means Bafana have a chance to improve their dismal record against Nigeria, having managed just a single victory in their past 11 meetings. The Super Eagles have out-scored Bafana 21-5 in that time.

Nigeria's seven victories and three draws in the past 23 years have been a painful reminder of the gulf in class between the two nations for much of that time.

South Africa were handed a football lesson in their first meeting with Nigeria in 1992.

The Super Eagles won 4-0 in Lagos in front of 70000 fans.

South Africa then escaped with a 0-0 draw in the return match in Johannesburg.

It wasn't until the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations semifinals that the teams would meet again and Nigeria had the upper hand once more on home soil in Lagos, winning 2-0. They followed that up with a 4-0 romp in the 2004 Afcon pool stages in Tunisia.

Later that year there was joy at last for Bafana fans as they beat a depleted Nigeria 2-1 in the 2004 Nelson Mandela Challenge at Ellis Park.

It was, unfortunately, normal service resumed after that .