Duro Ikhazuagbe
After claiming a precious silver at the last Africa Cup of Nations in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire last February, Nigeria’s Super Eagles will have to wait till December of this new year starting today before making another attempt at gunning for the trophy of the tournament to be held in Morocco. The AFCON 2025 will definitely cap Eagles year performance.
But the real deal will be Nigeria’s performance in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification resuming in March. Irrespective of whatever gains recorded at both the AFCON 2025 in Morocco and the African Nations Championship to be jointly staged by Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda between February 1 and 28, Nigeria must qualify for the Mundial to be jointly hosted by USA, Canada and Mexico. Based on the fact that Nigeria missed the last edition of the Mundial hosted by Qatar, the Super Eagles will certainly not want another failed attempt at qualification for the World Cup.
However, Nigeria’s campaign has not been good with the Super Eagles languishing in the fifth place with the three front runners, namely, South Africa, Rwanda and Benin Republic all on seven points each. The team in the fourth placed, Lesotho, on five points are two better than Nigeria! This is the mountain standing between the Super Eagles and grabbing the Group G sole ticket to join the rest eight other automatic qualifiers from the continent.
With six match-days yet to be played, incurable optimistic Nigerian ball fans, still believe that all is not lost yet so long as the Super Eagles are able to win all their remaining six matches.
And so, as the home-based Eagles kickoff the 2025 football season for Nigeria with the CHAN in East Africa, March will stroll in with Austin Eguavoen and his Eagles praying for good luck with the trip to Rwanda and at home to Zimbabwe. These two matches will set the tone of what to expect in the remaining four games in the 2026 World Cup qualification battles.
Already, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has assured Nigerians that the task to get the World Cup qualification back on track has began.
“Our commitment is to see how we can cobble back that Super Eagles squad that did the nation proud at the AFCON in Cote d’Ivoire, coming within 23 minutes of lifting the trophy. If we can find a way to do that, we can be sure that the target of winning the six remaining matches in the qualifiers to gain automatic qualification to the World Cup is achievable.
“Getting that FIFA World Cup ticket will set the momentum for a sterling outing at the AFCON in Morocco later in the year,” stressed the President of the Federation, Ibrahim Musa Gusau while projecting expectations in the new year.
Although speculations of plans by the National Sports Commission to set up a Presidential Committee to assist the NFF in ensuring the qualification of Nigeria for the Mundial has been on, nothing concrete has been seen to show such moves.
What however is benumbing to many ball fans in the country is how Super Eagles fluffed opportunities to take commanding position in the group having Rwanda, Benin Republic, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and South Africa?
A stroll into history shows that the Eagles have been struggling long before Finidi George took charge and got fired after just two competitive games. The three-time African champions have been winless in their first four matches in Group G with the 2-1 loss to Benin Republic last time out following three consecutive draws.
Overall, the Super Eagles are winless in their past seven World Cup Qualifiers, a remarkable drought that stretches back to November 2021.
Nigeria’s Remaining Games in the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers
Founded on January 22, 1995, THISDAY is published by THISDAY NEWSPAPERS LTD., 35 Creek Road Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria with offices in 36 states of Nigeria , the Federal Capital Territory and around the world. It is Nigeria’s most authoritative news media available on all platforms for the political, business, professional and diplomatic elite and broader middle classes while serving as the meeting point of new ideas, culture and technology for the aspirationals and millennials. The newspaper is a public trust dedicated to the pursuit of truth and reason covering a range of issues from breaking news to politics, business, the markets, the arts, sports and community to the crossroads of people and society.
You can email us at: hello@thisdaylive.com or visit our contact us page.
