Tolu lone goal in Uyo gives Nigeria victory over Rwanda this evening.
With this win, Nigeria stay 6 points behind group leaders South Africa. Nigeria travel to face South Africa next!
South Africa can extinguish Nigeria’s hopes of direct qualification with a win on Wednesday, and the Bafana Bafana will grab their ticket if they win and Benin fail to win.
For Nigeria to qualify directly for the World Cup , they must beat South Africa and win their remaining two games and South Africa must lose to Nigeria and fail to win any of their remaining two games. In this case, Nigeria will surpass South Africa and Benin in points and grab the direct ticket.
Another slim chance for Nigeria is to draw with South Africa, then win their remaining two by many goals and hope South Africa lose their two and fall behind in terms of goal difference.
In the absence of any of the above, the Super Eagles’ only hope of playing the 2026 World Cup will be to fight for second place in the group and hope to be among the 4 best second-placed teams out of 9.
HOW DO THE PLAY-OFFS WORK?
The 4 best second-placed teams will be drawn to face each other in play-off semifinals and the two winners will play a final, and the winner will be selected to join one team each from AFC, CONMEBOL and OFC and two from CONCACAF in the inter-confederation play-offs. At this level, the teams will be ranked according to the FIFA Men’s World Ranking, with the four lowest-ranked teams playing in two single-elimination matches. The winners will meet the two highest-ranked teams in another set of single-elimination matches, with the winners of these matches qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
