After their first three matches of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers ended in draws, the Super Eagles will hope to bounce back from their sluggish start as they battle Benin Republic on Monday (today) in their fourth game of the qualifying series, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
The Eagles were forced to a 1-1 draw by bitter rivals South Africa in Uyo last Friday, leaving their chances of reaching USA, Canada and Mexico 2026 hanging by a thread as they sit fifth in the table with just three points.
Before Nigeria’s draw on Friday, the group had an unlikely leader in Lesotho, who stunned Zimbabwe 2-0 away from home to move to the top of the table with five points.
Sitting two points behind the top spot, the group remains open, but the danger of missing another consecutive World Cup is staring Nigerians in the faces.
Ahead of today’s clash, the Eagles arrived in Ivory Coast, Benin Republic’s adopted home ground for the qualifiers on Sunday and held their training session at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium, where they played most of their matches in January during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
“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,” head coach Finidi George said on the team’s arrival in Ivory Coast.
“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.”
Benin Republic are led by former Eagles coach Genort Rohr l, who led Nigeria to their last World Cup appearance in 2018.
Dubbed a qualifying master during his time with Nigeria, Rohr would be proud of being ahead of Nigeria in the group, at least by a point, as he faces his former employers for the first time. The Squirrels are third in the group with four points.
Aside from the former coach’s knowledge of the Nigerians, Rohr’s assistant Tunde Adelakun, a Nigerian, was also the Eagles’ former head of scouting. Their squad also has two players of Nigerian descent Junior Olaitan and Tosin Aiyegun.
“We know Nigeria has a good team. They’ve got good players like Victor Boniface and Ademola Lookman who are in the top of their form at the moment. We will do our possible best to win the game,” Troyes midfielder Olaitan said.
The game will kick off at 5pm Nigerian time with Gabonese official Pierre Ghislain Atcho as centre referee. He will be assisted by Ethiopian officials Temesgin Samuel Atango and Tigle Gizlaw Belachew 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.
