AFCON 2025
Super Eagles chances of qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada is slim but captain William Troost-Ekong has urged the team to be positive ahead of the last two matches against Lesotho and Benin Republic.
The three-time African champions must win against Lesotho on Friday at the Peter Mokoba Stadium and Benin Republic in Uyo on Tuesday to stand a chance of qualifying for the competition as they currently sit third with 11 points from eight matches.
Troost-Ekong revealed that the team remains optimistic and will fight to the end while speaking ahead of the match against Lesotho.
“We are optimistic. We are going to fight to the end. We never stop believing. Two important games now, Friday is the first one and after that we will get back to Nigeria,” Troost-Ekong said in an interview with the Super Eagles media team.
“The focus now is on Lesotho. The boys are in camp and focused.”
“It’s been the same for us all along. It is that everyone else sees the opportunity now that we saw before and like I said we are very optimistic and focus on the game on Friday.”
When asked what the team need to do in the last phase of the qualifiers, Fulham defender, Calvin Bassey called for calmness and believes the team has enough experience to get the needed results in the two matches.
“To remain calm and do what we have to. I think this is not the first time, club or country, anyone of us have been in a high pressure moment.
“So, I think we have got an experienced team to handle this situation. It is just about making sure we do everything right.”
The Super Eagles will hope that South Africa and Benin Republic drop points in their matches against Zimbabwe and Rwanda while targeting a win against Lesotho to boost their World Cup qualification.
Benin Republic are top of Group C with 14 points, South Africa are second, equal on points but with an inferior goal difference following the points and goals deduction while Nigeria are third with 11 points.
