By John Egbokhan
Forthe Super Eagles, the likelihood of making the mistake of thinking too much about the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying match with Bafana Bafana in Bloemfontein on Tuesday has been played down, as they have set their sights on the clash with Amavubi in Uyo on Saturday as the most important game of their lives for now.
Captain William Ekong, who does not want to end up with the unlikely tag of missing out on two successive FIFA World Cup tournaments, after Nigeria failed to qualify for the last edition in Qatar 2022, said the squad have resolved not to count eight before seven in potentially-explosive World Cup.clashes.
“You take one step at a time. We have Rwanda to play on Saturday, and there are three points there. After that is concluded, then we begin to think of South Africa. There are three points also in there when we play in Bloemfontein, but that is a few days after Rwanda. Rwanda comes first,” Ekong said on Thursday.
With mincing words, the Eagles are yet to have a campaign to celebrate, especially in the first four matches of which they failed to win any, but Ekong said the players are condemned to taking all points in the remaining games, believing that will be good enough to send Nigeria to the 48-nation FIFA World Cup finals in North America next summer.
“We will do our very best to go all out and win the remaining four matches. Hopefully, that will be good enough to take us there.”
Saturday’s clash with Rwanda, who lost the Matchday 5 that brought both teams at loggerheads in Kigali in March, is a Matchday 7 fixture, while the battle with South Africa is a Matchday 8 encounter.
The camp of the Super Eagles reached maximum capacity on Wednesday evening, with the arrival of midfielders Raphael Onyedika and Christantus Uche, and strikers Victor Osimhen, Samuel Chukwueze and Tolu Arokodare.
