Super Eagles head coach, Finidi George has said his side can’t afford to lose against Benin Republic, reports Complete sports.com.
The three-time African champions will face Gernot Rohr’s side in a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matchday three fixture at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium, Abidjan on Monday.
The Super Eagles are still searching for their first win in the qualifiers after drawing their opening three games.
The West Africans occupy fifth position on the Group C table with three points from three game.
Read Also:2026 WCQ: Super Eagles Land In Abidjan For Benin Clash
“We’re very much aware of why we are here and what we have to do. The players want to go to the World Cup and they have resolved to give their all in every game going forward. We had our opportunities against South Africa on Friday and should have won, but that is gone and we face another challenge now,” Finidi told thenff.com.
“We have resolved not to look too far ahead in this race. The essence is to take it one match at a time. Benin Republic is in our front now, and we must deal with that squarely.”
Gabonese official Pierre Ghislain Atcho will be the referee for Monday’s encounter that commences at 4pm CIV time (5pm in Nigeria). Ethiopian officials Temesgin Samuel Atango and Tigle Gizlaw Belachew will serve as assistant referees 1 and 2, while Cameroonian Antoine Max Effa Essouma will be fourth official.
Djamel Haimoudi from Algeria will be the referee assessor, with Burkinabe David Yameogo as commissioner and Ivorian Atte Claude Elloh as security officer.
12 Comments
Yes we can’t afford to loose tomorrow and we fans are solidly behind you guys, UP SE.
Lmao…Coming from a coach that don’t know how to do team selection… lmao..playing ONUACHO ahead of MOFFI and burn burn face.. and playing the rest out of position lmao…
But on a more serious note now why is it that all Nigerian coaches like talking too much…
This man reminds me of eguaveon honestly…
GENERAL that is a GENIUS of a COACH hasn’t UTTER one word about tomorrow’s game it is this IN EXPERIENCE ROOKIE of a COACH FINIDI that has been blabbing …lol…
We are starting our WC qualifying matches properly tomorrow, it’s definitely going to be a win for the SE, SA escaped on Friday, Benin won’t on Monday.
Keep this same energy tomorrow Femi.
I will be the last to not support the SE, whatever the outcome of tomorrow match, we move and I’m very sure the SE won’t disappoint me tomorrow, I watched Friday match fully and also rewatched it after seeing loads of attacked on the players, and I end up wondering if we watched a diff. Game because the team play way better than against same team at AFCON, with VAR on Friday we would surely have 2 clear penalties plus chukzy effort that hit the bar, trust me SA escaped been beaten and Benin will pay the price by tomorrow.
Rwanda defeated South Africa and Benin republic defeated Rwanda and south Africa drew with Nigeria. Who is oga now .. option A Rwanda
B Nigeria
C south Africa
D none
E Benin
You can use the ff to pick the answer
1 . 50 50
2 phone a friend.
3 direct answer
4 use the audience.
I will phone a friend.
Mr gasau morning u have a friend on the hot sit ..his name is finidi
The voice you will hear now is ur friend finidi And u have ten seconds to help him out .
Your time starts now ok .,,,,, ?
Pls repeat the question. Ok ans is Benin. Is that ur final answer .yes.
Finidi your friend chose E . Which is Benin.
Wil you go for the other option. 50 50
I go with 50 50
Ok: computer remove all but one right and wrong ones to remain .
Or do u want to use audience
Use the life line now or u want us to go to the audience
Audience let vote . 75% pick Benin 25% of the audience goes for Rwanda.
Finidi do u want to skip this questions. .
No let asks the players not the audience…
A miss from this question wil automatically kiss world cup 2026 bye till 2030.
Stop talking bla bla bla Finidi but instead, do the talking on the pitch and don’t allow the pretenders to take the advantage of that blabbing.
For me, I will tell you the truth of your performances. But so far, I scored you 50 over 50. You didn’t do well in the first half and you made the corrections in the second half against South Africa. Bravo.
Please make your subs as early as possible.
These pretenders have forgotten that South Africa have beaten Oga Rohr Super Eagles 2:0 in Uyo before but these people said nothing during that period but Finidi that played 1-1 draw is bad because is a Nigerian local coach.
With what you installed in your players in the second half of the match on Friday against South Africa, I believe with time, you will get everything right.
No late subs and putting players in their unusual positions.
Knowing how to use the players is key to your success Finidi.
You did not do badly in your first match. I watched the highlights of the match again and again and I believe you Finidi and your troops will watch the match again as well and learn one or two things from it.
It is far from over kę. Winning tomorrow’s match against Benin is very crucial and by doing so, we are back on track.
For you pretenders who are praying for the downfall of our own, Know this, it won’t happen.
If they ask you people to pick between Finidi and Paseiro, which one would you pick?
There’s hope that Finidi will get it right with what he was able to achieved in the second half last Friday.
Finidi have a lot to prove to us all tomorrow.
He have to get his first eleven right. No late subs and playing his players out of possessions have to stop if he must prove his worth.
Funny enough, some people still clamoring for Paseiro or Oga Rohr to be Super Eagles gaffer. That shows the level of their football.
I want to prove to these pretenders that Oga Rohr and Paseiro wouldn’t have near our national team but Amaju Pinnick manipulated everything for the two.
So, go out there to make us proud. It is now or never. You have the players that can get the job done for you George.
Those pretenders have no place to hide after tomorrow’s match because I know them all one by one and this is the time our own will prove to them that local coach is better than the foreign coach if given a free hand and a special treatment
bn given to the foreign coach, I believe our own will surpass the record of the foreign coaches that ever coached our darling Super Eagles. Watch out for our own.
Let’s fail or win with our own. God is behind you Finidi. We are solidly behind you George. Hmmm. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
The Line up should be as follow’s
Nwabali
Osayi Samuels
Tanimu
Bassey
Awaziem
Ndidi (C)
Onyedika
Bashiru if FIt (if Not Iwobi)
Chukwueze
Boniface
Lookman
Boniface and Onuachu can also play together. Onuachu played better than I have seen him play in a while he looked more composed and Balanced how ever Chukwueze and Lookman on either flanks of Boniface is a more dangerous tactic. This team will beat Benin Republic and would have beaten South Africa, Boniface had to play. We need more from George Finidi, He needs to realise this is not only about him because if he Lose this game we will campaign for him to be bundled out of his position as Coach of Super Eagles. Thank You!!!
P.s. Next Time if Ekong is Fit like he is he must not try leave Ekong behind Same with Taiwo Awoniyi
You see the kind of country we live in, the BFF and coach will never.tell us what the doctors of Awoniyi, NAPOLI and Ekongs clubs communicated them. Rather they live fans to second guess which is VERY BAD
THEIR CLUB DOCTORS MIGHT HAVE.TOLD THEM NOT TO INVITE THE PLAYERS SO AS.TO ALLOW THEM PROPERLY FIT FOR POSSIBLE TRANSFERS OR NEXT SEASON.
NIGERIA.IS CURSED.WITH BAD LEADERS. COMMUNICATION IS A GREAT PROBLEM
Awoniyi has never played well for the super eagles
You are condemned to win, if you must stand a chance of qualifying from this group.
You can not afford another draw in any of the remaining seven matches.
3×7=21 points.
That qualifies the SE automatically.
No calculators needed.