The Super Eagles of Nigeria, on Friday, October 10, 2025, got a lifeline in their quest to be among the countries whose flags will be hoisted at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America. The FIFA World Cup is the most important competition for any football player. Suffice it to say here that it is the ultimate global soccer competition.
No matter how fantastic a football player might be at the club level, his career is not complete until he plays at the FIFA World Cup. That’s why players who couldn’t make it to the FIFA World Cup always rue it all their lives! George Weah of Liberia, for example, is one of them! The biggest vacuum in his illustrious football career from 1985-2004 is a FIFA World Cup participation miss! He rues it all his Life! Weah won almost everything on the soccer pitch but couldn’t make it to the World Cup. In 1995, he won five prestigious international individual soccer awards! No footballer, either living or dead, has been able to equal this record.
Let’s look at that unassailable record set by the great Liberian soccer legend. In 1995, he won the Liberian, Italian, African, European and world footballer of the year awards and was crowned the King of World Soccer that year. No footballer on earth would be able to win all five football individual awards in one year. Not even the great Lionel Messi or the irrepressible Cristiano Ronaldo.
But, despite all these great achievements and accomplishments, the great Weah could not play at the FIFA World Cup. His closest effort at playing at the World Cup was in 2002 Korea/Japan. Liberia was leading its group with five points with only three matches remaining until a rejuvenated and recharged Super Eagles thwarted that hope by winning all their remaining three matches. The Super Eagles eventually qualified for the World Cup ahead of Liberia. It was a very painful experience for Liberia.
On Friday, October 10, 2025, the Super Eagles of Nigeria beat the Crocodiles of Lesotho by two goals to one. This gave the Super Eagles of Nigeria a lifeline and a staggered hope to still make it to the FIFA World Cup next year in North America.
Then, a look at the other matches in the group reveals that South Africa could only manage a goalless draw against out-of-contention Zimbabwe in South Africa, while the Benin Republic went to Rwanda and secured a shocking and surprising 1-0 win to top the group with 17 points. South Africa is in second place with 15 points, while Nigeria is in third place with 14 points.
As it stands, in Group C of the FIFA World Cup Africa qualifying series, South Africa still have the brightest chance to qualify in our group. All South Africa need to do right now is to win their last match by any margin and pray that Nigeria beat Benin Republic by any margin. And to make it easy for them, they are playing their last match in South Africa. This is so because Nigeria may beat, or at worst, draw the Benin Republic in our last match in Uyo on Tuesday, October 14, 2025. It is not certain or guaranteed that Benin Republic will come to Uyo and beat the Super Eagles. But, like the pundits always say: “In football, anything can happen.” This set of Super Eagles is not reliable at all. So, you cannot rule out any negative shocker from them! They nearly ‘killed’ thousands of Nigerian football fans during their last match on Friday against the Crocodiles of Lesotho when a defensive error and miscalculation almost gave Lesotho a second goal with a few minutes to the end of the match. So, no one can confidently ‘vouch’ for our current dear Super Eagles. May they not ‘misbehave’ on Tuesday in Uyo. That’s the prayer on the lips of every football-loving Nigerian.
If the Super Eagles beat Benin Republic in Uyo by any margin today, and South Africa win their last match at home by any margin, South Africa will qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup ahead of Nigeria and Benin Republic. That would be bad news for Nigerians. This analysis simply means that Nigeria’s destiny is no more in their hands. It is in the hands of their opponents. Can they get it back? Tuesday will decide.
Meanwhile, if the unexpected happens and the Benin Republic beat or draw with the Super Eagles in Uyo, then the Benin Republic will qualify for the World Cup ahead of South Africa and Nigeria. This would be extremely tragic for Nigerians because the coach of the Benin Republic, Gernot Rohr, was formerly coached Nigeria, where he was sacked unceremoniously in December 2021 for poor results.
Many pundits argued then that Rohr shouldn’t have been sacked in the first place. If he now takes the tiny West African neighbour, the Benin Republic, to the World Cup ahead of Nigeria, both the pundits and Rohr would be vindicated. Nigerians, especially the leadership of the football federation, would be put to shame. May this never happen to us. Amen.
Let’s pray the Super Eagles of Nigeria beat Benin Republic by a heavy margin in Uyo on Tuesday (a slim margin would knock us out) and pray very hard that South Africa falter again at home by drawing or losing their last match by any margin. If these two permutations happen, the Super Eagles will book their tickets to the FIFA World Cup in North America next year.
