Although their coach Bora Milutinovic has been to the quarter-finals before as the Mexico boss in 1986, Cameroon in 1990 are still the only African side to play at those exalted heights.

Nigeria feel all Africa is willing them on to equal Cameroon's achievement and ultimately better it.

``The Danes should be ready for defeat,'' said mid-fielder Finidi George. ``It's the only way to show the African presence and repay our fans after losing to Paraguay.''

Nigeria qualified for the second round as group winners after beating Spain and 1994 semi-finalists Bulgaria. But they were upset3-1 by Paraguay on Wednesday, although they were without many of their key players.

The Nigerians must now reassure concerned compatriots that there will be no repeat of the 1994 failure when they conceded an 88th minute equaliser and lost in extra time. Striker Daniel Amokachi, one of the best players in 1994, will miss the match due to a knee injury but captain Uche Okechukwu comes back from suspension.

The Danes, with their main players wandering into the sunset of their careers, are the underdogs intent to prove their critics wrong and show that they still have teeth.

``Nigeria has played so well that all around the world they're saying: `Nigeria, they could be the first African team to win the Cup,''' said goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel.

But he and other players warned that over-confidence could lead to Nigeria's downfall.

Probable teams

Nigeria: 1-Peter Rufai; 3-Celestine Babayaro, 5-Uche Okechukwu (captain), 6-Taribo West, 7-Finidi George, 8-Mutiu Adepoju, 10-Jay-Jay Okocha, 11-GarbaLawal, 15-Sunday Oliseh, 20-Victor Ikpeba, 9-Rashidi Yekini.

Denmark: 1-Peter Schmeichel; 3-Marc Rieper, 4-Jes Hogh, 5-Jan Heintze, 12-Soren Colding, 2-Michael Schjonberg, 6-Thomas Helveg, 7-Allan Nielsen, 10-Michael Laudrup, 11-Brian Laudrup, 19-Ebbe Sand.

``The Nigerians are probably not saying it out loud but I am sure that they regard Denmark as just a tiny obstacle on their way towards the world title,'' said Fenerbahce defender Jes Hoegh, a club mate of Nigeria's Jay-Jay Okocha.

``Their weakness is that they are too lighthearted and overestimate their own chances while they underestimate us,'' said Brian Laudrup, one of Denmark's key players.

``This is perhaps our chance -- a chance we may not have had against teams like for example Germany, the Netherlands or Yugoslavia. That is why we think that something big is in the making,'' added the newly signed Chelsea player. Denmark have never before gone beyond the second round either, thrashed 5-1 by Spain in the 1986 tournament, and they scoredonly three goals in their first three games here.

But they have a great weapon in Schmeichel, who has shown he is one of the world's great goalkeepers at Manchester United, while Nigeria's Peter Rufai has been far from impressive.

Both sides have much to prove and unprecedented success to gain. That alone bodes well for the Stade de France.