The Super Eagles of Nigeria faces a herculean task in their quest to qualify the country for the Mundial
The Zimbabwe’s Warriors have added another setback to Nigeria’s quest to join other nations in the 2026World Cup competition. The Zimbabwean team pulled a one-all draw with the Super Eagles of Nigeria last week at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. The match with Zimbabwe has brought Nigerians back to the reality of the country’s football which is seen to be losing strength by the day, with a well-executed counter-attacking game that earned them a 1-1 draw with the Super Eagles.
Coming the same day South Africa defeated Benin Republic 2-0 in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, but the draw put paid to Nigeria’s hopes of winning the Group C of the African World Cup qualifying series and picking the sole ticket to the 2026 Mundial.
Many pundits had written off the Zimbabwean Warriors before the match because in five games, they were only able to get three points and sat bottom of the table. In their last home game against Benin Republic, they barely managed a 2-2 draw, which all but extinguished their hopes of qualifying for their first appearance at the World Cup.
However, last week in Uyo, they looked a different side, with a well-marshalled defence absorbing all that Nigeria threw at the them.
Nigeria had many chances to win the game in the first half, but a combination of poor marksmanship and bad decision making at crucial moments ensured that the half ended goalless.
The star striker for Nigeria, Victor Osimhen, gave the Super Eagles the lead midway into the second half, before a last grasp equaliser by Tawanda Chirewa ensured the game ended 1-1.
Despite taking the lead, the Super Eagles failed to kill the game off. In the 76th minute, Zimbabwe came agonisingly close to an equaliser when Knowledge Musona saw his effort bounce off the underside of the crossbar after a mix-up in the Nigerian defense.
The Super Eagles would have doubled their advantage in the 83rd minute when Moses Simon found Wilfred Ndidi in space, but the midfielder sent his shot wide when it was easier to score with the left foot.
The Super Eagles would rue that miss shortly after, as Chirewa bamboozled William Troost-Ekong before poking the ball beyond Nwabali for a dramatic equaliser.
The result gave South Africa the chance to open a five-point lead in Group C following their 2-0 defeat of Gernot Rohr’s Benin Republic in Abidjan.
The Bafana Bafana claimed the win thanks to second half goals from Lyle Foster and Jayden Adams, with the result taking them to 13 points from six matches. In the third game of the group, Rwanda were held 1-1 by Lesotho in Kigali.
Rwanda are second in the group on eight points, tied with third-placed Benin, while Nigeria with seven points, Lesotho (six) and Zimbabwe (four) make up the remainder of the log. Only the group winner will qualify for the World Cup automatically, but the second-placed team could stand a chance of playing in a play-off at the end of the group stage, to determine Africa’s 10th entrant at the World Cup.
But the Super Eagles coach, Eric Chelle, has blamed errors made on the field of play for the inability of his team to defeat Zimbabwe last week in Akwa Ibom.
Chelle made the submission in his post-match press conference after the Eagles played out a 1-1 draw against their visitors from Zimbabwe.
“We made some mistakes, we were the best team on the pitch. This is football. It is difficult for me to analyze the game right now; we will review it later, Chelle said.
The coach also avoided blaming any particular person for the frustrating draw, noting that the whole team was responsible for whatever outcome they got.
He said, “I don’t want to blame the defenders.”
