Nigeria’s Super Eagles have been drawn in Group C alongside South Africa, Benin Republic, Rwanda, Lesotho and Zimbabwe for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
The African qualification draw for the 2026 World Cup to be co-hosted in USA, Mexico and Canada, was held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire on Thursday, July 13, 2023.
It will be a reunion between the Super Eagles players and former coach Gernot Rohr who is the current handler of Benin Republic.
The German coach led the Eagles to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, where they crashed out in the group stage.
The last time the three-time AFCON faced South Africa in the World Cup qualifiers was the race to the 1994 edition.
Both teams clashed in the first round with the Eagles triumphing 4-0 in Lagos before holding South Africa to a goalless draw in Johannesburg.
Also Read: 2023 COSAFA Cup: Lesotho Qualify For Final As Hosts S/Africa Lose To Zambia In Semi-finals
Also, the Eagles faced Zimbabwe and Rwanda in the same qualifying group for the Germany 2026 World Cup.
The Eagles failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar after losing to Ghana on goals difference (0-0 in Kumasi and 1-1 in Abuja).
Meanwhile, the first round games of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers will begin on November 13, 2013 and end November 18, 2025.
The qualification format adopted by CAF will see nine groups of six teams play in a home and away round-robin matches.
The group winners will qualify for the 2026 World Cup while the four best group runners-up will be drawn into play-offs to determine the CAF representative at the inter-confederation play-offs.
2026 World Cup qualifying groups (Africa)
By James Agberebi
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COMMENTS
We need to sort out a coach to lead us through this hurdle.Very important.
We don’t need a local manager.I wish we could poach rohr
Thank God your wish on this will never come to pass.
AS A FOCUS MAN, SERIOUS & BUSINESS MINDED PRESIDENT, I WILL LIKE TO ADVICE OUR MR. PRESIDENT AHMED TINUBU TO DISSOLVE NFF AND BAN SUPER EAGLE IN PARTICIPATING IN WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS. I SAID SO DUE TO UNSERIOUSNESS OF OUR PLAYERS ON THE FIELD OF PLAY ON ONE SIDE AND MORE ALSO, DUE TO CORRUPTION & UNSERIOUSNESS OF NFF ON OTHER SIDE.
DOING SO, THIS WILL HELP THE NATION MASSIVELY, IN ORDER TO AVOID MONEY WASTING WITHOUT ACHIEVING RESULTS FOR ECONOMIC BENEFITS TO THE NATION.
ANOTHER REASON BEHIND THIS IS THAT, WE CAN IMAGINE OUR SUPER EAGLE’S TEAM IS CURRENTLY WITHOUT A COACH. IF WE HAVE, WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE TO PROVE THE VALIDITY OF THE CONTRACT OF SUCH COACH. AND WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS IS AROUND THE CORNER. THAT SHOWS UNSERIOUSNESS ON THE SIDE OF FOOTBALL MANAGEMENT OF THE NATION. IS IT WHEN QUALIFIERS REMAIN A MONTH WILL NOW VALIDATE THE CONTRACT OF THE COACH OR LOOKING FOR A NEW COACH. BY NOW A SUBSTANTIVE COACH SUPPOSE TO BE FOCUS & BEGIN TO STRATEGISE HIS PLAN TOWARDS AFCON & WOTLD CUP QUALIFIERS.
ALTHOUGH, IT NEVER TOO LATE NOW, THERE IS ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT.
If Nigeria cannot be one of 9 qualifiers in Africa blame it on the corrupt NFF.
NIGERIA should be able to race to the finish line here pretty quickly and let the others cancel each other out.
I think it’s a fair group. Nigeria should be able to top this without much sweat. Obviously, we had to come up against a strong foe in Pot 2 (Burkino Faso, Ghana, South Africa, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Guinea, Zambia, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea). Ghana, Zambia, Burkina Faso, DR Congo, and Guinea would still have given us headaches from that pot. But we keep coming up against South Africa, so it’s going to be another long round of rivalry and e-fights with their vociferous crowd online and on DSTv.
My real problem is the CAF President. I don’t trust that man. He seems desperate and clearly has a strong bias and agenda for SA and southern Africa as a region. He may influence or manipulate refs as he seems desperate to do something tangible for SA and COSAFA football before his tenure expires. And his people may not forgive him if South Africa misses out on the 2026 FIFA WC again. Funnily, Pinnick helped to install him so he (Pinnick)could get support for his own selfish FIFA seat ambition.
This means Nigeria’s new sports minister and NFF must be ready for potential football politics and intrigues and have their eyes peeled. Senegal once protested against a biased ref in a WCQ match against SA and got a replay which they won. If it was NFF, they would keep mum and the match would be as good as lost forever.
I will be SUPPORTING GENERAL ROAR’S TEAM BENIN REPUBLIC first before NIGERIA my CORRUPT COUNTRY… See d
Good for you and after he wins the WC, they’ll give you their citizenship
The caf president cannot do anything don’t just create unnecessary panninc
He can…Ahmad Ahmad did it for Madagascar. Hayatou did it for Cameroon many times. He raised a good point there. But we can make it difficult for him if we can win all our home matches and at least 3 away matches. But if we leave it to SA trailing us by a point or two going into the final round of matches against them, CAF will help them to qualify thorough our corrupt referes
If we don’t qualify for the 2026 world cup na to burn the NFF down and beat these football thieving bastards in the glass house like animals.
You are so right. The NFF are useless.
10 matches to be played. 30 points up for grabs. After the first 3 matches and still ugly football, NFF would quietly go. Waiting for end of qualifiers is too risky
Group A
Egypt
Burkina Faso
Guinea-Bissau
Sierra Leone
Ethiopia
Djibouti
Group B
Senegal
DR Congo
Mauritania
Togo
Sudan
South Sudan
Group C
Nigeria
South Africa
Benin
Zimbabwe
Rwanda
Lesotho
Group D
Cameroon
Cape-Verde
Angola
Libya
Eswatini
Mauritius
Group E
Morocco
Zambia
Congo
Tanzania
Niger
Eritrea
Group F
Cote d’Ivoire
Gabon
Kenya
Gambia
Burundi
Seychelles
Group G
Algeria
Guinea
Uganda
Mozambique
Botswana
Somalia
Group H
Tunisia
Equatorial Guinea
Namibia
Malawi
Liberia
Sao Tome and Principe
Group I
Mali
Ghana
Madagascar
Central African Republic
Comoros
Chad
It is not fair group as some said that, I think South Africa is tough team which Super Eagles will face , also Benin , cause Rhor is thier coach and more about SE team and thier players potential, also there is political issue which will hinder SE , that CAF president from COSAFA area, most of SE group c states from mentioned area like South Africa,Zimbabwe,Lestho who can unite to banish SE to qualify to the next World , then can push South Africa forward instead of SE with gouging and doctoring the matches versus South Africa; also CAF president can manipulate with matches for SA team with hiring corrpt refrees.But SE must win all home matches and three of away matches so that they can narrow SA chances to qualify;also NFF must hire formidable foreign coach who has defensive and drastic mentality like fromer Ghanain Serbian coach who has administrated them in World Cup 2010, or hiring France coach as Emmy Jacky or Duch coach Patric Kulivert or his counterpart Frank De Boer , all thoes coaches are World class who can extract excellent football from SE players; NFF must put a code of conduct on the contract of the coach as a condition to administrate SE , that if you would like to manage SE , you must approve this code of conduct which said’any recalled player for SE must perform strongly,with dedication and descipline and committment, the coach must play drastic defesive style of play , the coach also must select a quality players for this stint; any recalled player for SE team controvert this code of conduct he must be dumped from the team, if the coach can do this stint he must be sacked then the contract would be abrogated.NFF must pay coach and his assitant thier salaries on time, also must pay for the players thier bonuses on time after the winning match; NFF must hire pyscologist and nutrition doctors for SE so that the team can perform excellently.
South Africa are a very strong opponent.They defeated Morocco lately and are currently well-conditioned.A robust side along with Benin because of their technically savvy manager will give the super eagles a good run.
I will be SUPPORTING GENERAL ROAR’S TEAM BENIN REPUBLIC first before NIGERIA my CORRUPT COUNTRY…
Southafrica and fast pace football against our slow defense
Slow defense? Say the right word: aged defense.
Tunisia has the easiest group followed by Ghana
I’d say Cote D’Ivoire (Group F) and Tunisia (Group H). Mali is going to give Ghana a run for their money. They were the seeded team in that group and are always, always a tough opponent. They, along with Burkina Faso, have been recently making loud statements as new powerhouses in West African football. That group ticket is between them and Ghana, just like ours is between us and South Africa. We should nick it, all things being equal.
Mali is always in Ghana wc group and we always make mince meat of them as usual lol
Every seeded team was praying to avoid GHANA and the question is why?
They know when it comes to WC, we are KINGS!
Clown crawls out!!!
The same way you guys were kings in 2018 qualifiers…..The same way you guys were kings in 2002 qualifiers…. Exactly the same way Ghana were kings in the WC qualifiers of the 90s,80s,70s and 60s.
Kings in deed
Lol
Did you say easy.. equatorial guinea is leading Tunisia in their Afcon qualifier group and note that equatorial guinea defeated Tunisia last month to top the group… Now this two side will fight for the world cup position.. Tunisia football is suffering recently because most of their stars are old are are retiring..
The simplest group for me goes to Algeria and Senegal..
Are you messing?Algeria has Guinea and Uganda these two teams are formidable.Senegal i can understand but Dr.Congo are a good opponent but we expect Senegal to edge them.
What’s your say about Ghana’s group?Wish they got Senegal or Cameroon haha..
Worry about ur group!! South Africa loves to PLAY NAIJA!! They are coming for u! At least u should be happy that u avoiding Ghana otherwise, it ll be no wc for the CHICKENS haha
All the seeded teams were praying to avoid the BLACK STARS and the question is why?
Our football is dead but they are all scared of us haha
They know we know how to play the wc qualifiers haha and is due to how what we did to the CHICKENS last year lol
Wishing Nigeria and Ghana good luck
Well it may not be business as usual this time against Mali.Not forgetting you also have your nemesis Comoros Island hapilly waiting,it’s going to be lots of fun hahaha…
Haha….
We played 10 against 11 in the Comoros match! People tend to forget that
Ghana have better head to head against all the team in our group and as I always says, THERES HISTORY in football
Ghana is beating em all!
Was hoping for a Nigeria meet so that NIGERIA can redeem themselves but I guess it didn’t happen my bro!
Wishing Nigeria nothing but the best tho
We are going to eat BANKU and come beat mali as usual lol
I know you guys will qualify just having a banter haha..
I wish Ghana and Nigeria well
Who is Ghana….what have they achieved in the last40 years
We can best south Africa if we get things right..I just pray we don’t play our first game in November against South Africa.. let’s start with either Lesotho or Rwanda then after the Afcon when we know of pesiro stays or leaves we can Play south Africa and benin.. rohn might not even stay on as the coach of Benin because they are likely not going to qualify for Afcon and some of the games of the world cup qualifiers will be played next year and the year after..
Let’s just start well
I’ve never been scared of SA. It will be easier for then to play Morrocco and win than beat Nigeria. SA seems to have it eady with with North Africans than wrst African teams. Their style of play with most North African teams is similar. But in our case, they should prepare for both the physical and technical side of the game. I discover of late that SA rely a lot on their pace, moving forward. Same with their female teams. If Nigeria can come up with a tactics that will frustrate their mobility and curtail their quick passing in the final third, they are done for.
I’d say Cote D’Ivoire (Group F) and Tunisia (Group H). Mali is going to give Ghana a run for their money. They were the seeded team in that group and are always, always a tough opponent. They, along with Burkina Faso, have been recently making loud statements as new powerhouses in West African football. That group ticket is between them and Ghana, just like ours is between us and South Africa. We should nick it, all things being equal.
Mali is Ghanas wife in football! They are like Nigeria, we always find a way to crack them whenever the need be and they ain’t happy meeting us again in another wc qualifers
We been playing them from time immemorial in wc qualifers and they always choke even when they had DIARRA( real madrid), KANONUTE( Barcelona), sissoko( liverpool) etc, we still went to Bamako and beat them and nothing is going to change this time around!
They know that HISTORY GOES ON and they are one of the teams like Nigeria that Ghana MANHANDLED anytime we play want
U see a CRACKING GHANAIAN all business as usual lol
At least kel be happy u avoiding GHANA otherwise every NIGERIAN ll be shaking haha
Wishing Ghana and Nigeria nothing but the best
Hahahaha @Self, you and your bragging, you don start, abi? Well, we’ll see at the end of the qualifiers. I see first-time African WC qualifiers. Better don’t write Mali off. This set is a lot better than the Konuate and Diarra set, which we made mincemeat of at the 2013 Afcon, dusting them away 4-0. Today’s Mali and Burkina Faso are always a strong bet anytime, any day.
U ll see how Ghana ll crack mali! These are the teams that we prepared for!
History is still important in football and nothing is going to change lol
Mali is very inconsistent team and they ll choke when it matters most
No problem we have heard u, but mind u history don’t play soccer,hope u know that if u don’t do ur homework very well history or no history u will get beaten black and blue.get ur things together and stop bragging football is beyond history u kept on talking about
Kel leave Selfie, we need his support when the women’s world cup commences next week.
One day, their girls will cease to play second fiddle to our great Super Falcons.
For now, the whole of Ghana should support us as we seek to be the first African country to lift the women’s world cup trophy.
@ Deo my bro…. Nice gentleman
Of course when Nigeria rises, Ghana also rises too!
As Nigeria is planing of choosing jj Okocha as the sports minister, Ghanaians are watching this move and ll replicate it too haha
Wishing Nigeria nothing but the best in the women wc!
We will be watching with one eye close tho haha
I was actually hoping to meet Ghana for once.
You see, when it comes to knock qualifiers, I worry about Ghana. But in a Group type format, like in 2002 WC qualifiers, I believe we would accumulate enough points in the other games to qualify even if we fail to beat Ghana home and away.
Anyways, I still apologise that we prevented Ghana’s passage to next week’s Women’s World Cup.
Each of our girls will get at least 30,000 dollars guaranteed. Ghanaian ladies will have to stay in the kitchen for another 4 years.
One love brother. 🙂
Hahahaha @deo. We start enjoying World Cup games from next week. Hopefully, the Falcons pull a surprise despite the negative stories that trailed their preparation.
Deo
That last year elimination pained a lot of Nigerians haha
We sorry for that my brothers haha
We will meet again in afcon if we qualify because rather now even qualifying to the afcon is uncertain for us hahaha
At least Nigerians have qualified easily but ur brothers are suffering to qualify by the likes of Madagascar and central Africa and we need all NIGERIAN to remember us in prayers to qualify so that at least we can settle it once and for all in Ivory Coast lol
Wishing Nigeria nothing but the best in the women’s worldcup! Ghanaians ll watch it on tv just as Nigerians watched Qatar on tv too haha
Selfie, Ghana’s victory against our U-20 girls in the Wafu Cup recently still hurts bro.
I hope it is not a start of Ghanaian dominance over Nigeria in women’s football for years to come.
The Super Eagles can continue being your wives, but we thoroughly enjoy having the Black Queens as our girlfriends.
I seem to find sex more satisfying with girlfriends. Hahahaha. 🙂
Bro, I don’t think so…
When it comes to women football, Ghana is way behind Nigeria but Ghana alway finds a way with Nigeria maybe Nigerians underrate us?
When it comes to women football, we sucks tho lol
Not really. The Black Queens have been to the World Cup 3 times and they have 3 Wafcon Silvers. The Black Queens tend to lose to Nigeria just narrowly. In fact Ghana won the last game against Nigeria 1:0.
In Women’s football, Ghana are a powerhouse. If not for Caf’s stupid regional qualifiers, Ghana would easily have qualified for this world cup.
All jokes apart, your women are good. Beating Nigeria U-20 women in the Wafu was no fluke. Ghana clipped Nigeria’s wings in open play and delivered the killer punch in the penalties. Those ladies are the future of Ghanaian football. They will do well.
I always prefer Nigeria and Ghana representing Africa in any international competition. But CAF has devised a means to cut that with this WAFU B competition. At the senior level, we temd to always run into each other somehow in the qualifiers. I how we van both make it this time
I think many of us have not been following recent games in the afcon qualifier.. Tunisia right now are lamenting because they know exactly how difficult equatorial guinea has been recently for them..
The most exciting groups is the Egypt’s group and the Cameroon’s group.. for the Egypt’s group they have Burkina Faso , guinea bissa and Seria loan. I think we still remember how guinea bissa and serroan loan dealt with us in the afcon qualifier then you add Burkina Faso whose football is raising recently and an aging Salah.. Salah will be 32 after the Afcon and will be 33 when most of the world cup qualifiers will be played in 2025..
Then the Cameroon’s group with cape Verde and Angola.. teams that always qualify for Afcon and currently doing very well..
It will be exciting
Which formidable.. Uganda that could not qualify for common Afcon in a cheap group having Tanzania is the side you called formidable.. guinea is an average team and was one of the weakness team in pot 2 most teams in pot1 prayed to get grouped with… Algeria will have a smooth ride.. they had the best grouping for This night same with Senegal..
The race to the 2026 has begun.
Preparation should start in earnest. We can afford to miss out this time around.
Can we?
You be clown lol. Na typing mistake jor
This is not bad for Nigeria.
If the super eagles cannot qualify from this group, then everyone in the team should be banned from ever representing the country again. There’s really no excuse.
My major concern is the terrible football pitches across several African countries.
If Nigeria didn’t qualify nothing would happen life in the streets of Ojuelegba will carry on as normal.For the poor playing ground,well,CAF have deviced a solution where alternative home ground from a different country in the continent will host games where a team did not meet pitch standards for international games.
We had Gabon, Zimbabwe, Angola, Rwanda and Angola in our group in 2006 and didnt qualify life went on.
I am not comfortable with southafrica in our Group, southafrica have improved alot expecially against eagles, they have been given us tough time recently, even in the last ebcounter at the 2019 nations cup we won by luck against them, our current squad are not matured enough to guarantee us this ticket ahead of southafrica, our advantage is that we may qualify ahead of southafrica even if we dont bit them, southafrica will drop alot points to the other group opponent expecially away games, that is where we stand above southafrica but head to head games betwin us can be a both side draw or both side win, the best we will get is win at home and draw away, i dont see this current eagles taking both cakes, Ghana struggled to qualify ahead of southafrica the last time they compete in thesame Group. I hope we top this group if not we will be hoping for playoffs. Why cant ghana, algeria, tunisia, cameroun and southafrica just stay off our group for christ sake, anyway e don set, lets hope for victory
Which South Africa? a team that could not beat Liberia and managed to beat an already qualified Moroccan team that were experimenting with new players. If Nigeria use the right and best players, all these teams could be beaten home and away. We have advantage because Benin and Zimbabwe will be more difficult for South Africa; I think they will cancel each other out.
“If Nigeria use the right players” abi. Do you think we will even use the right players when we claim to have “youthful team”? Our problem for like everlasting has been a dearth of quality midfield players that will not make the likes of Osimhen hustle for ball directly from defense. After praising Ndidi and Aribo to high heavens a few years ago, super eagles do not have the spine to bench any of them to fortify the pack. With both in their prime (like ndidi), na miracle we go conjure to prevent panic. How can you drop ndidi who is currently “26” years old? How dare you? Nigeria coaches are so loyal to certain players at the expense of joy of the nation.
A balanced midfield will protect our aged defense and supply quality passes to our deluge of attackers.
However as long as we invite 60 attackers, 52 defenders but 4 midfielders to our teams, we will continue to labor in vain.
Just 5 months to AFCON now but we can’t rank our team as potential winner let alone favorite because of our blunt tools. We know our problem but we are too scared to tackle it.
Superstitiously, we only miss WC after attending 3 prior ones since selfmade believes in history.
We missed 2006 after attending 94,98 and 2002.
We have now missed 2022 after going to 2010, ’14 and ’18 editions.
Next one, we should appear
Best comment today. Thumps up Sly!!!
Omo naija just as Ghanaians are bringing out the CALCULATORS already haha!
Other nations have caught up with us haha
Bribery, corruption and favoritism as well as nepotism has destroyed our football!
But why is CAF wicked like dis? Which kind wahala be dis? Erekere leleyi now. They grouped Ghana with Comoros again!
Wetin Comoros do Ghana for the last Afcon never do? They want to add more sever pains to Ghana fans!
Pompei, we are going to CHOP ALOT OF BANKU this time and we ll BREAK their legs haha!!
Any time u come to Ghana, please I have some BANKU for u lol
Banku and peanut soup with cat fish.
Yummy!
Hahhaa pompei
I ll surely get u some my bro haha
Greenhuf I am surprised you are overating rohr. I didn’t expect that from you.
Now, Self-made king. You make so much noise about Ghana as if Ghana is more successful than Nigeria all round in football.
Look if we can’t beat everyone in that group then bwe don’t have any reason to go to the world cup. It’s a good group for us.
We should stop shaking life cold leaf whenever we see a qualification group. If we can’t beat South Africa, Zimbabwe and Benin even if the have one.million rohr them we are not serious.
Rohr will qualify Nigeria with games to spare if he were our manager.I understand you not a fan,but i am.Rohr apparently,proved his mettle as coach of the super eagles undoubtedly.
However,the poor treatment he received from the sports minister and the NFF still hurt me today.Rohr is a good man he doesn’t deserve to be treated that way,may God bless him..
Nigeria vs Rohr. Or more accurately, NFF vs Rohr. General Rohr will be going all out for this one, as he has a monumental axe to grind with his former employers. Let’s hope our superior talent will be enough to overcome him, although the NFF will do their very best to cancel out any advantage we have with their incompetence and ineptitude!
As already mentioned, the SA we will be meeting just beat world cup semifinalists Morocco. In recent times, they relish playing Nigeria, and have been giving us a rough time indeed. Coupled with NFF nonsense, this will be a tough task for Peseiro and co.
Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Rwanda may be minnows, but these minnows have teeth, and they are not shy to bite if they see an opening. And with the way NFF are currently running our football, opening dey yanfu yanfu. The door may be open for these minnows to shock Nigeria.
In the end, it is NFF corruption and incompetence that will likely see Nigeria miss out on another world cup. If they sit up and do their jobs right, we should be smashing our way to the top of the group. But alas, NFF is our biggest obstacle in this qualification effort.
For once, let us leave NFF aside. If our coaches can pick the right players without being sentimental and boost our midfield first to shield our defense and supply killer passes, we are good to go. If my papa (NFF) no get money to pay my fees (bonus etal.) for example and I know say my performance (steady tourney appearances) go bring better scholarship (good club placement or laurels to my family), I will be very motivated to impress against all odds.
Super eagles players have no motivation (after all, there is a place for 30 players) and no quality replacement for their positions so they can continue to garner unmerited caps.
I swear, if a player knows international trophies can boost work permit or create history for themselves (say winning 2 or 3 straight afcons), who be glass house to dictate motivation?
Only osi and bright are the hungry players in our team. Why? They are “new” and want history (yekini goal record is in sight for one and international trophy is in sight for the other).
To qualify easily, win all home matches (15 points) and you are through.
GO CHEETAHS of BENIN REPUBLIC!
GO GENERAL ROAR!!
https://youtube.com/watch?v=SsdYml7X7ps&feature=share7. ….I watched this and greatly felt ashamed of the sort of people leading our country…. Truly a strange breed of humans far far below the lowest breed of animals,most likely on same intelligence level as millipedes; always wearing big big wears to cover up their inadequacies and smallness. … IF ONLY FIFA CAN BE HONEST TO RESCUE NIGERIA AND OTHER AFRICAN COUNTRIES FROM THESE SORT OF DEAD BRAINS HUMANS BY ESTABLISHING A NEW RULE FOR ALL FEDERATIONS. A RULE THAT WILL INCORPORATE FANS INTO THE APPOINTING/DISMISSING OF FA PRESIDENT. THIS, FANS CAN BE ALLOWED TO DO, BY SETTING A TARGET NUMBER OF SIGNED PETITION FOR THE DISMISSAL OF INCOMPETENT/ CORRUPT FA CHAIRMAN.
Nigeria vs NFF is the toughest match, y’all can see what these nitwits have done to our football with their poor planning and bollock mentality.
The worst is the fact that we’ll be facing a more rounded south Africa,scrappy Lesotho,the always dangerous Zimbabwe,unpredictable Rwanda and Gernot Rorh’s Benin republic.
On our day we’ll sweep aside these teams but we the fans have been asking questions of the NFF without reply and those questions will only increase if we don’t improve over time.
On paper south Africa seems to be the toughest matchup but now that they see us as equals and we as well,it’s going to be like a final and we tend to do well when the stakes are higher.
But my worry is our fellow west Africans Benin republic who historically we always beat and it’s hard enough being a derby now made much more difficult due to NFF negligence,Mr.Rorh will bring an added spice to the fixture now you see how Nff has made our group difficult already.
So my question is WILL WE BE READY FOR THE CHALLENGES THAT LIE AHEAD WITH THIS NFF ADMINISTRATION? Your guess is as good as mine.
Below are the defenders to guide us successfully through this playoffs.
CENTRAL DEFENDERS.
1.LEON BALOGUN 2.KENNETH OMERUO 3.SEMI AJAYI 4.BASSEY 5.TROOST EKONG.6.TONENORUGHA.
FULL BACKS.
1.OLA AINA 2.TYRONNE EBUEHI 3.ZAIDU SANUSI 4.BRUNO ONYEMAECHI 5.BRIGHT OSAYI-SAMUEL 6.AKPOGUMA.
Tosin Adarabioyo is needed in SE defence
The qualifies starts in November and ends in 2025.. meaning it is 3 yrs journey to the world cup and here you are mentioning old men like Kenneth, balogun , Ekong etc.. if we don’t start now to integrate new and young defenders like adarabioye and the others we will suffer when those old men lose form.. some will retire before the world cup qualifiers are over.. I hope pesiro utilize the next window to integrate new players
Nigeria won’t make it with Peseiro in charge
100%
I hope Nigerians are seeing what I am seeing in our group?
Fellow Nigerians, I am back again to give you warm advice before the world cupqualifiers begin.
At first, we should see ourselves as underdogs. The group we found ourselves looking so simple but it is not. Kai, I am expecting so many surprises in this World Cup qualifier and must, especially in our group.
Hmmm, am I communicating? If so, one thing I want Nigerians to keep in mind is that if any team in Africa hear Super Eagles of Nigeria, they will do whatever it takes to beat Nigeria.
This thing is normal because everyone wants to make a name for themselves.
NFF is a major problem of the Super Eagles. NFF has never convinced me since I have been watching Super Eagles as a team.
Another area that may hurt Super Eagles World Cup qualifiers is the new coach. Oga Paseiro is not the type of coach that will select the best players based on current form.
I like Oga Paseiro passion though but he hasn’t convinced me yet. Just like Oga Rohr during his time with the Super Eagles.
I am very happy that we are playing Oga Rohr’s team, but on the other hand, I am not that satisfied with the coaching crew of ours because they are weak.
Eagles may struggle against the teams in our group due to favorism, selfishness, and corruption, and Nigeria may pay dearly for that.
However, for we the fans, as we all know, we have two groups here on CSN. One is for we, the patriotic Nigerians, now “majority group” while the other group is Oga Rohr followers now, “minority group” because the gaffer is no longer with Nigeria.
As usual, the minority group will pray Oga Rohr win the match against Nigeria to justify their support for Oga Rohr while we, the patriotic Nigerians, won’t allow that to happen because we put God first, and we love our team.
In the same way, this group prayed that Mr. No nonsense would fail, which he did in the end because Mr. Eguavoen has failed to listen to our advice during the Afcon in Cameroon.
That said, the World Cup qualifiers have started today, and we have to come all out in numbers to challenge the Nigeria Football Federation. If we don’t take action, NFF will put Nigeria down again.
I, omo9ja, wish Nigeria the best of luck. Lastly, who will be in charge of the Super Eagles during the World Cup qualifiers between foreign coaches and our own? That is another topic for another day entirely, but NFF let us know where we are heading to as early as possible. I know one day, we will get it right. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
It won’t be a walkover, but the SuperEagles are capable. Our administration is a major factor. If we put our house in order winning this group should be non-negotiable.
South Africa is the only headache in this group, Yeye NFF get a good coach to fix our defence and GK loopholes and be rest assured the ticket is ours.
This is where NFF will destroy Nigeria’s WC qualifying. NFF and EX Internationals namely Okpala and Co i.e. Lawal. If you people think of giving NPFL players 6 spots in this Qualifying you will destroy our ball maybe we only need 1 slot maybe goal keeper department along with Uzoho And Adeleye.. but outfield should he our European based and dual nationals. NFF do not i repeat do not think NPFL players can match PSL SA league and infrastructure is miles ahead of NPFL as of now. Nigeria’s strength is our European based stars and Dual nationals. SA is thier PSL league players and 1 or of thier Europe players i.e. lyle foster. Even South Africa fans are crying to thier football administration to be scouting Europe for SA dual Nationality eligable players for these qualifiers i saw in thier twitter handle..
NfF take note very well NPFL players should be limited for these qualifying games. We have many inform players playing in Europe for these games.
SOUTH AFRICA IS WISHING They have what Nigeria has. Please NFF i call on you people do not sabbotage our WC qualification
Just to give a little insight SA psl majority team beat Morocco WC semi finalist with Ziyech and Hakimi in the team.. meanwhile Nigeria NPFL team cannot qualify for CHAN.
NFF i repeat, let us not hear NPFL players stories for these qualifiers. That will be a disaster against Bafana Bafana BIKO!!
You are so right. Peseiro is the man for the job
The late stephen keshi qualified for Afcon won it then qualified for World cup and got to the second round with a mixture of Europe based players and young home based players most of the home based players were in our backline. The coach just need to know what he is doing. The only department that is strong in our team is the Attack, every other dept in that team is porous. So this is not the time to boast, it is the time to bring in fringe players from both home and abroad then organise good friendlies that will allow the coach to assess all the players before World cup qualifiers.Anything short of the above will be a disaster
@Frank Smith PSL and NPFL is a big gap. Home base Cannot do shisi against PSL. Let me tell you bro. We have enough players abroad. For Eg. Tosin Adarabioyo who is on Tottenham Hotspur radar should be poached now, Destiny Udogie too is another player that is just a perfect example and we have more on different positions. You people should not play with our WC qualification thinking NPFL can match PSL especially, with Hugo Broos as thier coach I don’t thinkd you people realise how good Hugo Broos is in African ball.. dey dere dey play
Sorry, you cannot wish home players away for two reasons.
One. At most, 17 players take to the field on match days and there are slots for either 23 players or 30 players as in the last world cup so “perpetually cash trapped” NFF would not have the luxury of inviting 13 foreign pros to sit on the bench.
2. FIFA just distributed cash to all clubs that had players in Qatar to cover for “inconvenience” of losing their players at the time. I believe CAF might also have such package. Should NFF let foreign clubs have all the compensation? Not wise.
I think FIFA women’s world cup would have such package so let NFF breathe
Na money for the country too if local clubs have it
@Sly what is CHAN for?. SECONDLY our European based players are they less Nigerian than home base??. Thirdly if Home base want a look in why dont they prove themselves in Africa.. what is so hard about that. If Nigeria want to advertise our league let them so it the way SA, Morocco and Egypt are doing by getting the league up to scratch on a day to day basis. Bringing in less talented players from Home base than the players that left for Greener pastures the season before where is the sense in that. What is so hard to understand about this
And again if Nigeria must bring players from Home let them do some homework and look at the ones from the Academies that left for Europe and have at lest been there for a season or two because bros that is where Nigeria is producing players of the ilk of Osimhen and Awoniyi. Why are you people hell bent on destroying our ball.
Let me tell you any talented player from Home base Today as in Friday 14 July 2023 is already in Europe or on thier way there. Period. I.e. Orban and Boniface. Thank you
And we do not want to hear stories of Cash strapped let them go and bring all the money they have embezzled and fund the logistics for our success. Cash Strapped ko Cash strapped ni
Abegy
@Frank Smith, very well stated!
Some of the apathy here against home-based players are rank ignorant.
Mr. Rohr is being continually lauded here, but he is yet to win anything at any of his stops and has not been able to reach the dizzying heights of one of our local coaches the late Mr. Stephen Keshi.
Let us not forget that a local coach, Mr. Adegboyega Onigbinde won a silver medal for us with an overwhelmingly young group of players at The Nations Cup in Ivory Coast in 1984.
Check out the countries he knocked out on his way to the tournament and the ones he sent home from the tournament-proper and you will get the gist.
@TONY the fact you are still talking of Homebase in 1984 is worrisome incase you didn’t notice we are in 2023.
Football has come a long way since then. Maybe you and NFF should wake up
@Ugo Iwunze, I’m not saying that our senior national team should be wholly home-based or even half home-based. We all know that our league is sub-standard. But the truth remains that there are still very talented players in the local league.
We should avoid going nuts about foreign-based players or even foreign-born players. Afterall, it was a combination of both that flopped at the last Nations Cup in Cameroun and capitulated against Ghana in World Cup qualifying.
Juxtapose that with the team led by the late coach Stephen Keshi that won us our last Nations Cup on foreign soil and qualified us for the 2014 World Cup and got us out of the group stage of the that tournament.
With all due respect, a majority of our foreign-based players and foreign-born players are over-rated and over-hyped. They are not that good.
@Ugo Iwunze, nice name you got!
People still talking about Rohr lack vision and passion to move forward. Rohr is in the past ,no need to talk about him. To our group if our players and nff want the ticket badly Nigeria will qualify straightforward. My fear is that beyond playing on the field politics favor South Africa. Caf president is from that region ,then Lesotho and Zimbabwe are also from that region ,making three southern African countries. They will gang up to make sure South African qualifies.
Leave them bro @Respect is reciprocal let them be decieving themselves Hugo Broos is a damn good coach probably second to Reynard when it comes to African ball and experience with African teams as well as Success. They are dere Rohring up and dan like say Rohr is some saviour.. na wa oo
Not correct small. FIFA appoint their referees. Any referee would want to appear in a WC match so politics will be minimal. Can they cancel legitimate goals? Our worry should be who would throw quality passes to our strikers or intervene when our aged defense is under pressure? No quality midfield since 2019 afcon.
Someone even reminded me that we still don’t even have assured goal tender too since one “19 years old” appeared in 2018 WC.
Now, that’s not the job of NFF to decide playing personnel
There is no such a thing as the CAF president favoring South Africa, why didn’t he save South Africa against Ghana during the last world cup qualifier? even with the penalty protest. How would those teams from the south gang up against Nigeria? the ball is in Nigeria’s court, use the right and best players and beat them home and away, all the teams in our group can be beaten home and away. If a team is too good for the opponents, is not going to be easy to manipulate results because it will be visible. Nigeria need the right tactics by the coach and selection of our best players. We have the players, the only thing that can stop Nigeria from qualifying for world cup is Nigeria.
Sly my good man, if your Papa no get money to pay school fees, at least he can encourage you to study, and look for other ways inside his budget to help you. What if your Papa does not allow you to study, or allow you to go prepare for exams properly? What if he refuses to apply solutions that are within his budget? How will you be motivated to perform against all odds, when you don’t have the platform or opportunity to do so?
What if NFF no gree make coaches pick the right players? Is it not NFF that was insisting that Peseiro should include home based players in his squad, or that Waldrum should include a home based goalie in place of Oluehi? Let’s not even talk about the $960k FIFA money for the SF that grew wings and flew out of the Glass House. Money that should have been used to pay coaches, pay players, and take care of necessary team expenses!
If NFF allow coaches freedom to pick players, then we stand a better chance. But they have not been doing that, so we can’t leave NFF aside, per your request. Leaving NFF aside is equivalent to ignoring the elephant in the room.
As for the motivation of the players, it’s tough to be motivated when NFF is dragging their feet to pay flight ticket, not to mention owing you over 2 years bonuses, or perhaps more. A motivated, passionate NFF will produce a similar attitude in the players. Motivation and passion cascades down from the administrators to the players. Motivation does not fall from heaven, or grow on trees!
By the way, if the coach has freedom to select his players, he can drop players that see SE camp as a vacation destination, and pick serious players. But with NFF interfering with and manipulating player selection, the coach is left hogtied, and his ability to do his job is greatly hindered. Until the NFF start doing their jobs right, we can’t leave them aside.
Well said @pompei the NFF ARE the biggest footballing problem we have in Nigeria hopefully we’ll qualify for the WC irrespective.