National Teams
Nigeria vs South Africa Preview: Super Eagles eyes first World Cup Qualifiers win
By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde
After 1-1 draws with Lesotho and Zimbabwe, Nigeria’s senior men’s national team is condemned to getting a win over their South African counterparts on Matchday three of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers on Friday.
Benin Republic’s 1-0 win over leaders, Rwanda on Thursday opened the opportunity for either side to go top with victory.
Bafana Bafana might be contended with a draw ahead of their next home game next week.
Clashes between both sides had metamorphosed from the Super Eagles’ outright dominance to keenly contested games.
The last meeting in the semi-final of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) which ended in a 1-1 draw with Nigeria securing a 4-2 success on penalties showed that Friday’s fixture is a must-watch match.
While Hugo Broos was in charge of a bronze-winning Bafana Bafana at AFCON 2023, Finidi George on the other hand assisted former coach, Jose Peseiro in a silver-winning quest.
Finidi now has the responsibility of leading the team to the World Cup after featuring as a player in 1994 and 1998.
He prepared for this one with two games; a 2-1 win against Ghana and a 2-0 loss to Mali before his appointment.
With the Super Eagles job at his fingertips, the onus now lies with him to fashion a win against a highly home-based South African side with his array of foreign-based players.
Super Eagles have won three of their last five games against Angola (1-0), South Africa (4-2 on penalties), and Ghana (2-1) with losses against Cote D’Ivoire (2-1) in the final of 2023 AFCON and Mali (2-0) in their last friendly match.
Bafana Bafana on the other hand have won two of their last five games against the Democratic Republic of Congo (6-5 on penalties) and Cape Verde (2-1 on penalties) at the last AFCON.
They have drawn their last two games with Andorra (1-1) and Algeria (3-3) after a 4-2 loss to Nigeria on penalties.
Nigeria has won two of the past five head-to-head meetings with the last a 4-2 win on penalties at the last AFCON.
The three-time African champions also had a 2-1 win in the quarter-final of 2019 AFCON.
The other three games have ended in a win for South Africa notably on their last visit to Uyo where goals from Tokelo Rantie and Percy Tau lifted them to a 2-0 win while the other two meetings ended in 1-1 draws.
With the above records, the stage is set for another entertaining encounter with lots to play for.
