WCQ: Nigeria in Group C Tango, Plays Rwanda on Saturday
The race to qualify for the world’s most prestigious sporting event, Men’s football hots up across the lands of Africa thus September with the 7th round games.
Six matches will be played in Group C where the Super Eagles of Nigeria is struggling to qualify from. On Friday, 5th September Benin Republic will host Zimbabwe while Lesotho will same day host South Africa.
On Saturday, the Super Eagles who are already trooping to Uyo in Akwa Ibom Sate of Nigeria has to strangulate the Amavubi (Crocodiles) of Rwanda at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in a must win encounter starting at 5pm.
Three matches will be decided in the group on 9th September to continue “the weeding of the chaff to the weeds” when Zimbabwe will host Rwanda; Benin Squirrels will host Lesotho while Nigeria will play Bayana Bayana of South Africa at Free State Stadium, Bloemfotain.
The two legged matches are absolutely important to teams in Group C before they conclude the weeding with another two matches to be played by each country in October. Then, Zambia will host South Africa; Rwanda will play Benin and Nigeria will tackle Lesotho to surrender.
Also in October, the last group matches will see South Africa move to subdue Rwanda; Lesotho will fight Zimbabwe while Nigeria will host Benin Republic with their former coach on the Benin bench.
The group Structure is dicey for now as South Africa leads in a controversial manner because the world is waiting for CAF to deduct three vital points from the Mandela Boys for fielding an illegitimate player in a qualifier match. Notwithstanding, South Africa leads with 13 points from 6 matches having won 4, drawn one and lost one.
Rwanda is currently 2nd with 8 points in 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 loses; Benin is 3rd with 8 points too having won 2 matches, drawn 2 and lost 2 with goals difference of -1 slump to Rwanda; Nigeria is 4th with 7 points after winning just a match, drew 4 and lost one; Lesotho is 5th with 6 points having also won a match, drew 3 and lost 2 while Zimbabwe rocks the bottom with 4 points failing to win a match, drew 4 and lost 2.
It is important to inform you that only the group winner will get automatic ticket to the world cup finals to be hosted in 2026 by USA, Canada and Mexico. The group runners up will have a chance to compete in a play off in an inter conference battle.
For the records, Rwa played goalless with Zim in the group opener on 15/11/2023; Ngr played 1-1 with Lesotho on 16/11/2023; Ben slumped to SAF 1-2 on 18/11/2023; Ngr drew 1-1 with Zim on 19/11/2023; and Les played goalless at home with Ben on 21/11/2023 while Saf lost to Rwa 0-2 on 21/11/2023.
In June 2024 Ben beat Rwa 1-0; Zim lost at home 0-2 to Les; Ngr played 1-1 with SAF in Uyo. Ngr surprisingly lost 1-2 to Ben in Abidjan; SAF sanctioned Zim 3-1 and Les lost at home0-1 to Rwa.
In March 2025 Zim played 2-2 with Ben; SAF won 2-0 over Les; Rwa lost at home 0-2 to Ngr; Ben too lost at home 0-2 to SAF; Ngr played 1-1 draw with Zim in Uyo and Rwa played 1-1 with Les in Kigali.
We report that two players will be missing in action for the September games. Dodo Dokou of Benin will miss the match against Zimbabwe as he bagged a yellow against Rwanda in June last year and another yellow against South Africa last March. Marshall Munetsi of Zimbabwe will also miss the match against Benin as he got yellow in June against Lesotho and another against Nigeria last March.
Today Tuesday, The Rwandans will land in Lagos, wait for 4 hours before their AIR Rwanda will take them to Uyo. Already the Super Eagles are planning the win their match on Saturday convincingly as a gift to their Captain William Ekong whose birthday was on Monday 1st September.
Nigeria and Rwanda Male senior team have played 7 matches with Nigeria winning 2, drew 4 and lost one. They met in the world cup twice and Nigeria won once and drew the other. Nigeria’s biggest win over Rwanda was the 2-0 victory of 21st March 2025 in Kigali. The prediction is that Nigeria that needs a massive win in Uyo may struggle to have a win but football pundits say that the 2-0 victory was an away match and with the Super Eagles who may be playing like a wounded Lion on home ground, the Rwandans may “collect” as the slang goes in Nigeria. Another motivation is that the Super Falcons, the female wing dominated Africa winning WAFCON 11 times and the Male wants to be the conqueror the Lion on the pitch now.
Look at six of their meetings, 29th February 2012 Rwa 0 Ngr 0 in AFCON; 16th June 2012 Ngr 2 Rwa 0 AFCON; 15th January 2018 Ngr 0 Rwa 0 CHAN; 10th September 2024 Rwa 0 Ngr 0 AFCON; 18th November 2024 Ngr 1 Rwa 2 AFCON and 21st March 2025 Rwa 0 Ngr 2 WCQ.
The Nigerian Football Federation has been making efforts to ensure the Super Eagles win their matches. The body met with the South African Ambassador in Nigeria at Abuja to discuss a safe diplomatic corridor especially from perennial Xenophobic attack of the Mandela People when Nigeria plays in South Africa on 9th September.
