By Sam Mbonu
The Nigeria Super Eagles played out a 1-1 draw with Bafana Bafana of South Africa in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers as they fail to make an impact in qualifying automatically to the world cup finals.
Super Eagles manager, Malian Eric Chelle altered the team that won 1-0 against Rwanda, he started the captain, Troost Ekong whose own goal gave the South Africans the lead in the 25th minute. Nigeria fought back through Calvin Bassey who rose the highest to head home the equalizer in the 44th minute just before half time. The video replay showed a possible handball but no VAR at authenticate it so it was 1-1 as both teams heads down the tunnel.
The 2nd half did not yield any results as both teams settled for the spoils. A result that benefited the Bafana Bafana of South Africa who has 17 points with two games to go and are 6 points clear in group C; Nigeria might drop to 3rd pending result of Benin v Lesotho match and now it is nearly impossible to reach the summit of group C.
For Super Eagles of Nigeria, throughout this world cup qualification process, they have not been quality enough in their play despite having several attackers who are in their prime for clubs. They have not played convincing their fans that they deserve to qualify for the world cup. While several diehard fans still believe otherwise, this is a team that has won only 2 games out of 8 with 5 draws and one defeat yet they expect the Super Eagles to fly. The ill-fated short stint of Finidi George did not help matters
Can’t Win on the field, can they win in the Boardroom!
As the results stands in group C, the Super Eagles of Nigeria now rely on FIFA purported points deduction from South Africa for fielding an ineligible player in their 2-0 win against Lesotho on March 21st, 2025.
FIFA are yet to make any determination; Nigeria has filed a protest while Lesotho arev yetb to file any protest in that game. Everyone is expecting a straightforward decision from FIFA but how the law will play out may be based on technicalities. If Lesotho fails to file a protest in that game because it affects them directly, will it affect the way FIFA will rule? Everyone awaits the boardroom match.
What This result means to Nigeria.
They can never finish ahead of Bafana Bafana who are 6 points clear with two games to go. If Nigeria wins their final two games, they will only finish on 17 points while South Africa needs just a point from their final two games to qualify automatically to the world cup finals for the first since 1998 apart from when they hosted in 2010.
Can They Qualify Via Playoffs?
Currently, the Super Eagles are the 8th best team, only the best 4 will go through the playoffs route. There are several teams that currently have more points than Nigeria and are 2nd in their group. Teams like:
Group A: Burkina Faso 15 points
Group B DR Congo 16 points
Group D: Cameroon 15 points
Group F: Gabon 19 points
Group G: Uganda 15 points
Group H: Namibia 15 points
Group I: Madagascar 16 points.
So, the top best 4 for now are Gabon, Madagascar, DR Congo and Burkina Faso and Nigeria is the 8th best team. So, the road to America is too long for the Super Eagles.
How The Playoffs Works
The four best runners-up from the nine CAF qualifying groups will compete in a mini playoff (semi-finals and final).
The winner of that playoff will represent Africa in the Inter-Confederation Play-Off Tournament, where six teams (from different confederations) will compete for the final two World Cup spots.
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