Sunday Oliseh on the ACN final

By Sunday Oliseh Former Nigeria captain and BBC TV pundit

I was fortunate to play in two Africa Cup of Nations finals playing for Nigeria. I won one in 1994 in Tunisia and lost one at home in 2000 when I was captain.

Understandably, the first final was the most special but because we had not won the title in 14 years, it was really stressful and we had to play the underdogs Zambia.

Finals are made harder because with the other games, especially the first round, you can usually make amends. With the final it gets even worse because you have the trophy right in front of you as you walk onto the pitch.

In 2000 we were robbed of the trophy in a controversial penalty shoot-out but that's history now Former Nigeria captain Sunday Oliseh

You see it; you know it is what everyone is playing for and that if you win you'll be crowned kings afterwards.

Of course there is a lot of pressure, but as a football player you either seize up or you really show the world who you are. That is the mentality I took then and always do now.

Sleeping the night before the match was easy for me, in fact sleeping too much was the only problem I had! It was not so difficult for us Nigerian players because we always thought we had the best team and that gave you confidence.

In preparation for the final we usually had our pre-match meeting, everybody went for lunch and then the moment we got on the bus we got into a state, ready for the game.

That's the special thing about African footballers, when we get into a state we start to sing to the extent that we are already warmed up when we arrive at the stadium!

It certainly helps relieve the pressure as everybody takes turns to sing motivational songs one after another.

I'm not much of a singer, I usually followed the other players, but I was mostly the one that did the group prayers during that time. But in the 2000 final it was Taribo West who took over that role.

As someone who has tasted victory and defeat in the final I can say when you win you are on top of the world especially in our country.

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When we got to the airport we had almost 30,000 fans waiting for us and we had to have a military escort to the airport in Lagos where we eventually flew to present the trophy to the president.

When we lost the 2000 Cup of Nations final to Cameroon, it was kind of special too on a personal level. We did our best but we were robbed of the trophy in a controversial penalty shoot-out but that's history now.

It was a memorable tournament because I fell very sick and it came to the point where people thought I was going to die because I had a fever. And in fact, for the team, the tournament should have been over.

I had to come out of my sick bed to play in the quarter-finals against Senegal because we were losing and we had to take a risk. I came on with 10 minutes to go, we equalised and we eventually won 2-1 in extra-time.

Then we beat South Africa in the semi-finals and in the final it ended 2-2 before it went to the spot-kicks.

It was a very emotional time for me because I was thinking of flying to Europe to get treatment but eventually I played against doctor's orders to try and save my country.

It was also very sad because the country was hugely disappointed.

Imagine 130m people distraught by your actions and you can begin to understand the pressure the players are under on Sunday.

Sunday Oliseh was talking to Alistair Magowan