Bafana Bafana of South Africa defeated Gernot Rohr-led Benin Republic 2-1 in Group C of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier in Durban on Saturday.
The win means Bafana Bafana go top of the group on three points.
Lesotho, Nigeria, Rwanda and Zimbabwe (all on one point each) are second, third, fourth and fifth respectively while Benin Republic occupy bottom spot.
Percy Tau gave Bafana the perfect start as he opened the scoring in the 2nd minute.
In the second minute of added time in the first half, Khuliso Mudau made it 2-0 for the home side.
Also Read: 2026 WCQ: Peseiro Must Improve His Tactics Against Zimbabwe –Esin
Benin Republic pulled a goal back through Steve Mounie with 20 minutes left to play.
Bafana’s next fixture in the qualifiers is an away tie against Rwanda on November 21.
The Super Eagles will face Zimbabwe on Sunday, 19 November in Rwanda.
It was not the best of starts for the Eagles following a shock 1-1 home draw with Lesotho.
21 Comments
Congratulations to them
HAAAAA, HOW NIGERIA SUPER EAGLE WILL SCAPE THROUGH. NIGERIA HAVE FORGOTTEN THAT CAF PRESIDENT COME FROM SOUTH AFRICA.
ANOTHER PERMUTATIONS HAVE STARTED NOW. AS WE LOVE PRAYER IN NIGERIA, BY NOW WE SHOULD BE PRAYING THAT ANGELS SHOULD COME DOWN AND HELP US TO BEAT SOUTH AFRICA BOTH HOME & AWAY.
*** I dey laugh ooooooo
*** Wonders shall never end both in POLITICS AND SPORTS
Against all odds, I have a hunch Nigeria will beat South Africa home and away and win the group with a game to go. We have the quality, just worried we presently don’t have a sound coach, just one whose only strategy is to sweep forward in numbers without any specific training ground tricks to unlock defenses. How many Nigerian indigenous coaches can even play a draw at home to Lesotho, yet we’re paying thousands of dollars monthly for heartbreaks every time,
When Gusau had the chance in June to offload this half-baked trainer Pinnick foisted on us, we begged him to appoint a combo of Ameuneke and Finidi. But no, they begged him to take a pay cut to continue the rubbish. Sack this coach after the Sunday match and we will qualify.
I watched Nigeria vs Lesotho game and they played good!
Nigeria needs a CREATIVE ATTACKING MIDFIELDER and they ll start beating ruff
They did @Selfmade, but the final ball was always missing. The coach plays attacking football but at the expense of a properly set-up midfield and the 18-yard box moves to unlock defences. Once the players get to the 18-yard, it’s all about your personal ideas. Plus I doubt the coach studied this Lesotho team. he probably thought we’d steamroll them, judging by our last results with them in 2021 (7-2 aggregate).
@Kel… this comment of yours is the only thing that has brighten my weekend. NFF knows he is not good but because of the under-the-table contract they have with him they wont let him go. Let South Africa pick the ticket so that we can all rest.
@JimmyBall, Gusau played a fast one on everyone, pretending to be consulting fans before making a decision. Meanwhile, it was all about backyard financial negotiations. Anyway, I believe Paseiro has 24 hours to save his job.
Let’s be patient. After AFCON which we will not get out of the group stage, his contract expires precisely January 2023 because e team no go smell February knockout games so na only 2 months remain. Make we relax. Good thing be say no world cup qualifiers till after cup of nations when he go don park e bags.
Na this coach wan find creative midfielders to unlock any defense for nations cup when we don already know e men for the area?
No miracle. Make we just watch more serious footballing nations for there. Na only we no win home match among hitherto serious African footballing nations, only we. Rubbish….
@Kel dear, there are countries Nigeria must not lose to in any aspect as long as it’s a competition. South Africa is one of them. We can forgive a lose to an unknown Kilimanjaro selected 11 but you see Cameroun, Ghana, Egypt, Senegal, Algeria and South Africa it’s as good as a lose when you play a draw.
You see this coach will never be asked if he beats South Africa home and away. Infact he will be praised for such a feat.
@zuka chris. Hahahaha very true. If it was any of those big rivals, the pain would be double.
CAF fixing match times to favor them with more resting days intervals but corrupt NFF will watch Eagles fixtures play in a congested fixture to create another disadvantage aside poor coaching.
CHUBA AKPOM IS A ATTACKING MIDFIELDER. HE CAN ALSO PLAY AS SUPPORTING STRIKER.
HE WAS A TOP SCORER IN ENGLISH CHAMPIONSHIP LAST SEASON AS A SUPPORTING STRIKER. I wonder why Paseiro is still ignoring him and keep inviting benchwarmer ARIBO.
Aribo is a multi-tasking midfielder.
Multitasking, is it showing in his games these days? And how is that the reason why he should not invite a midfielder that’s doing well when you always have large number of attackers and defenders in the team.
What we fail to understand is that Motsepe will do everything to ensure SA goes to the WC after so many many years of qualifying on their own. These SEs don’t seem to understand this with the rubbish they are playing, dropping points at home as if going to that WC is a walk in the pack. They will surely mess it up, with the nonsense I’m seeing in the team
Nigeria had only a day to train before the match against Lesotho but South Africa that majority play in their country are just playing their game today. Enough time to prepare after watching all the matches in the group. Nigeria need to be ready to play this qualifiers against all these countries and CAF. Motsepe is cooking something.
@sean if the players had taken responsibility we won’t be talking about all these. What I want from them is simple: convert the chances you get. You can concede because we have a
Basket keeper but score more goals from what you create
I tire ooo, at least let the player score legit goal and the ref. disregard it first before we cry now, after all SA won Benin today without any form of gimmick, if we do our homework well, we won’t have time of all this though.
If una like mek una go misbehave for Harare mtcheeew
Nigeria may qualify through playoff as things is going because with this coach, friendly matches he has play so far doesn’t suggest he has technical savvy when it matter most.
The current Super Eagles players are not passionate about giving their all when it is come to the national team, although I don’t blame them that much because, NFF AJĘWOMASAN the debtor, refused to pay our players their dues.
However, I took my time to watch Nigeria/Ghana 2000 Afcon, and I realized that only Iwobi is given his best whenever he calls upon.
Nonetheless, we have not had a coach for almost ten years now. Who shall we blame for this? Amaju Pinnick.
We all know his atrocities he has committed during his time with NFF as the president. We can not fix the current problem of the NFF without getting Amaju Pinnick involved.
Mr. Paseiro is not good enough to handle Super Eagles just like Oga Rohr. Unfortunately, Amaju Pinnick hired both of them.
I hope Oga Paseiro will not disgrace Nigeria in tomorrow’s match.
Why are we so biased to the extent that we can not allow Amunike or Egbo to be in charge of Super Eagles but NFF can give the job to a coach who has never coach a team before to be the Super Eagles coach. Our oppressors have messed Nigeria up, and if care is not taken, they may bring Nigeria down.
As I did before Lesotho match, I may do the same thing tomorrow, but my colleagues on here are still encouraging me to watch the match, but I will try sha. Abi, I have no choice.
I am not happy with what I saw against Lesotho. Instead of NFF continuing wasting time with Oga Paseiro, they should give Amunike or Egbo the job period. I am tired of this less quality foreign coach. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!