If signals emanating from the training session of the Su per Eagles ahead of their African Nations' cup quarter-final encounter with host s Ghana are anything to go by, Nigeria may file out Sunday with a totally differe n t tactic.

Nigeria performed dismally in the first two group matches -- against Cote d'Iv oire (lost 1-0) and Mali (drew 0-0) -- but came on strongly in the third against

Benin to win 2-0 and qualify for the encounter with the Black stars.

A PANA correspondent here reports that at Saturday's final training session, t he Nigerians ended by perfecting their penalty kicks -- an indication that they m ay have resolved to match the Ghanaians pound-for-pound and possibly take the ma t ch to the shootout stage.

The Nigerian team, seen by many pundits as the weaker of the two long-time riv als, may have opted for a more defensive play and hope the tie could go into sho o tout if a winner fails to emerge at the end of playing time.

“We will not play negative football against Ghana but we have to realise that they will want to come at us from the start and we have to be very conscious of t heir strength and determination to impress on home soil," a source close to the t echnical crew told PANA.

"we know we have to score more goals than they do if we have to reach the semi final,” the source said.

The match, which will be the 55th time both countries will meet since the firs t match 20 October 1951 in the then Jalco Cup and Nigeria won 5-0 while the Blac k Stars, who have been impressive in the on-going tournament won in the last conf r ontation with a 4-1 margin in an International friendly played in England almost

one year ago.

Of the 54 confrontations till date, Ghana has won 21 times and score 86 goals against Nigeria's 15 wins and 62 goals.

Below is Nigeria/Ghana Head-to-Head statistics:

GHANA (Gold Coast till 1957)

Played Won Drawn Lost Goals for Against Gha 54 21 18 15 86 62 Nig 54 15 18 21 62 86

20 Oct.1951(JalcoCup) Nigeria 5-0 Ghana 11 Oct.1953(JalcoCup) Ghana 1-0 Nigeria 30 Oct.1954 (JalcoCup) Nigeria 3-0 Ghana 30 Oct.1955(JalcoCup) Ghana 7-0 Nigeria 27Oct.1956 (JalcoCup) Nigeria 3-0 Ghana 27Oct.1957(JalcoCup) Ghana 3 -3 Nigeria 25 Oct.1958(JalcoCup) Nigeria 3-2 Ghana 10 Oct. 1959 (Olympic Qualifier.) Nigeria 3 -1 Ghana 26 Oct. 1959 (OQ.) Ghana 4-1 Nigeria 22 Nov.1959 (JalcoCup) Ghana 5 -2 Nigeria 28 Aug. 1960 (World Cup qualifier) Ghana 4-1 Nigeria 10 Sept. 1960 (WCq) Nigeria 2 -2 Ghana 9Oct.1960 (Nkrumah Cup) Nigeria 0-3 Ghana 29 Oct.1960 (Zik Cup) Nigeria 1-1 Ghana 8 April. 1961 (CANq) Nigeria 0 -0 Ghana 30 Apr. 1961 (CANq) Ghana 2-2 Nigeria 17 Dec. 1961 (Friendly) Ghana 5 -1 Nigeria 10 Nov.1962 (F) Nigeria 0-0 Ghana 23Feb.1963 (Nkrumah Cup) Ghana 5-0 Nigeria 30 Oct.1965 (Zik Cup) Nigeria 0-4 Ghana 7 Nov.1965 (Zik Cup) Ghana 3-0 Nigeria 28 Jan.1967 (Zik Cup) Nigeria 2-2 Ghana 12 Feb.1967 (Zik Cup) Ghana 2-0 Nigeria 22 Oct.1967 (Zik Cup) Ghana 2-1 Nigeria 23 Dec1967(Zik Cup) Nigeria 2 -2 Ghana 10 May 1969 (WCq) Nigeria 2-1 Ghana 18 May 1969 (WCq) Ghana 1-1 Nigeria 8 Jan.1973 (2AAG.) Nigeria 4-2 Ghana 10 Feb. 1973 (WCq) Nigeria 2-3 Ghana *Awarded 2- 0 to Ghana 25 Feb. 1973 (WCq) Ghana 0-0 Nigeria 11 Aug. 1974 (F) Nigeria 1-1 Ghana 17 Aug. 1974 (F) Nigeria 0-1 Ghana 24 Aug1975 (festival) Ghana 1-2 Nigeria 30 Aug.1975 (Festival) Ghana 3-0 Nigeria 4 Sept.1977 (Ecowas) Nigeria 2-1 Ghana 8 Mar. 1978 (ACN) Ghana 1-1 Nigeria 21 July 1978 (3AAG) Ghana 0-0 Nigeria 1 May1983 (ECA.anniv) Ghana1-0 Nigeria 15 Oct. 1983 (OQ.) Nigeria 0 -0 Ghana 30 Oct. 1983 (OQ.) Ghana 1-2 Nigeria 5 March 1984(ACN) Ghana 1-2 Nigeria 27 Jul. 1986 (F) Ghana 2 -0 Nigeria 2 Sept.1990 (ACNq) Ghana 1-0 Nigeria 13 April 199 (ACNq) Nigeria 0-0 Ghana 23 Jan. 1992 (ACN) Ghana 2-1 Nigeria 9 March 1994 (F) Nigeria 0-0 Ghana 28 Aug. 1999 (F) Nigeria 0-0 Ghana 11 Mar. 2001(WCq) Ghana 0-0 Nigeria 29 Jul.2001 (WCq) Nigeria 3-0 Ghana 3 Feb. 2002 (ACN) Ghana 0-1 Nigeria 15 Dec. 2002 (F) Ghana 0-1 Nigeria 30 May 2003 (LG Cup) Nigeria 3-1 Ghana 23 Jan. 2006 (ACN) Ghana 0-1 Nigeria 6 Feb 2007 (F) Ghana 4-1 Nigeria