The set of 2026 World Cup Qualifying matches has been a shower of horse manure. So, it may be impossible for the Super Eagles of Nigeria to save face. Eric Chelle’s men have won three games out of nine, and while they have lost the fewest in the group, they are depending on South Africa’s misfortunes to get into the World Cup. Nigeria’s last chance at World Cup qualification comes against Benin Republic today.
Even more misfortunes, that is. With South Africa losing three points and three goal-difference points, you would think the Super Eagles would be in a much better position. With Bafana Bafana playing against Rwanda, depending on Hugo Broos’s men to drop points may prove useless.
Nigeria should have left the Lesotho match with at least +2 in goal difference, but a silly moment from first choice Goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali cut that into two. He nearly made another error, which would have made it 2-2. The Eagles seem to prefer to do things the hard way.
Nigeria is Lucky to Still Be in the Running
Nigeria has gotten several chances to pull clear of the others in this group. The group is not filled with strong footballing nations. Even now, the top three teams are separated by just three points, and the last day of the qualifiers could go any number of ways. The only thing Nigerians are sure of, is that they need South Africa to not win against Rwanda. Which brings us to the permutations.
Nigeria, first of all, has to ensure a win against Benin, but to ontrol her destiny, the Super Eagles need to cover the goal difference between the two teams. This means Chelle’s men need to beat Benin by at least two goals.
The issue, however, is that the only team that has defeated Nigeria so far, is Benin Republic. Chelle’s men have failed to score more than one goal in more than one game in these qualifiers, and it came last Friday against Lesotho.
The PlayOff Mathematics
Nigeria can qualify for the World Cup directly, as long as the stars align. If she wins by enough goals to cover Benin Republic’s goal difference and South Africa doesn’t win, the Super Eagles go straight to America. If those factors don’t come together, Chelle’s men have to hope to go through the playoffs.
There are nine Qualifying groups, and the winners from all nine will go through to the world cup directly. The best four second-placed finishers will come together for a playoff, and the winner of the playoff goes to a FIFA Play-Off Tournament. That Tournament will have two teams from the The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), one team from the Confederation of African Football (CAF), one from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), one from the Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL), and one from the Oceania Football Federation (OFC). These six teams will play to decide the final 2 teams to join the World Cup.
As things stand, Nigeria cannot qualify for the playoffs anymore. Why? Well, there are already too many teams ranking higher than the Super Eagles in that table. Hence, the only way for Nigeria to qualify is directly.
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What Happened the Last Time We Faced Benin Republic?
The last time we faced Benin was in this competition, and it was a 2-1 loss. Raphael Onyedika opened the scoring 27 minutes into the game. The lead didn’t last for long though, as Benin’s Jodel Dossou struck back 10 minutes later.
Benin took the lead in extra time of the first half, through Steve Mounie. The Eagles never recovered. The match was significant in other ways too, as in the dugout for Benin, is former Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr.
Rohr has recently said that having been the only team that has defeated Nigeria in the qualifiers so far, his team can do it again. Nigeria will want to prove that they don’t miss the German coach, but it may be difficult to do, considering where both teams are placed.
Six African nations have already secured a 2026 World Cup spot, and Nigeria will join should results go her way.
Conclusion
Having missed the last World Cup, Nigeria needs to qualify for this one, unfortunately, the Eagles could do their part and still not go through. With the squad at Chelle’s disposal, the team should be doing much better. With 14 points after nine matches played, Nigeria had a set of qualifiers to forget.
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