Almost three and half years have passed since the events of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations. Much like its eventual winners, that tournament itself has come to be viewed as something of an interloper--played just a year after the 2012 edition, it was the first of the odd-year Afcons, an inherent anomaly.
The final, unlike that of the year before, did manage a goal in normal time and from open play. It however lacked the gravitas of Zambia's unlikely penalty shootout triumph over much-fancied Ivory Coast, achieved on the site of a great tragedy. Two things cannot be humanly beaten: death and time, and yet Sunday Mba made as good a fist of it as possible, juggling extravagantly before finishing to end 19 years of waiting.
His contributions, both in that final and in the quarters, of course against the Ivory Coast - forever destined, it seemed at the time, to attend the birth of fairytales - marked Mba out as the tournament's revelation. Yet, take the 2012 Afcon as an objective whole, and the one player in green who truly galvanized a jumbled bunch with no apparent focus or menace was Victor Moses .ith such unprecedented success coming in the middle of his first season after a big-money move to reigning European champions Chelsea, it appeared there was no way to go but up for the former England youth international. A Europa League title followed three months later, marking 2013 as the year of Victor Moses. Since then, it has been a downhill slalom, an avalanche that has also swept the national team; like a voodoo doll, Moses's pain has been Nigeria's.

It is downright uncanny: all of the Super Eagles' better moments have featured the Chelsea attacker in some capacity. Without the speedy winger, Stephen Keshi's side lacked bite at the Confederations Cup in 2013, barely scraped a draw and a win in World Cup qualifying, and made a complete hash of qualification for the 2015 Afcon.
In contrast, with him the Super Eagles won an Afcon, produced three professional displays to secure a ticket to Brazil, and progressed to the Second Round, equaling Nigeria's best-ever Mundial finish