By Daily Sports Nigeria on June 7, 2024

Nigeria are determined to put their best foot forward in aiming for all three points when they go headlong against South Africa in Friday (today) night’s 2026 FIFA World Cup African qualifying series Day 3 encounter at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo.

The Super Eagles know nothing but victory will assuage the feelings of football-passionate Nigerians, who are still unhappy at their sluggish start to the campaign, with two points from a possible six in their opening two games, and a rash of late arrivals to camp this time, though not entirely of the concerned players’ making.

The absence of Africa Player of The Year, Victor Osimhen, due to injury, and injuries to defenders William Troost-Ekong (this year’s AFCON MVP), Kenneth Omeruo, Jamilu Collins and Zaidu Sanusi mean head coach Finidi George will scratch the bottom of the barrel for rear-guard service against the AFCON bronze medallists.

Finidi, in his first competitive match in charge of Nigeria, is most likely to throw the experienced Kelechi Iheanacho and youngsters Victor Boniface and Ademola Lookman into the fore with the objective of getting the goals early enough, on a turf that the Eagles have lost only one competitive game since it was opened 10 years ago.

Incidentally, that one competitive loss was to Bafana – a 2-0 defeat at the start of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers on June 10, 2017, but the Eagles rallied in the campaign and eventually finished ahead of Bafana to qualify for the finals in Egypt, where they also defeated Bafana in the quarter-finals on the way to a third-place finish.

The South Africans may also count as triumph their 2-2 stalemate with the Eagles at the same venue on November 19, 2014, which prevented Nigeria from qualifying for the 2015 AFCON.

However, the Eagles are always one to rise above monsters of the past and do their thing, and captain Wilfred Ndidi said on Thursday that the three-time African champions will give their very best on Friday evening.

“Nobody needs to tell us that we did not start the campaign well enough. The opportunity has arisen to take our fate in our hands and rise to strong contention in our pool. We will approach Friday’s (today) encounter with the right mental attitude.”

Lookman, who became only the sixth man in history to score a hat-trick in a European Cup final when he led Atalanta to victory in Dublin May 22, is in a great form to continue where he left off after the AFCON, where he netted three crucial goals to steer Nigeria to a second-place finish. He also netted an important winner for the Eagles against Ghana in a friendly in Morocco three months ago, which helped Nigeria to a first triumph over Ghana in 18 years.

Boniface also had a marvelous season, winning the German League and Cup double with Bayer Leverkusen and reaching the Europa Cup final, where Lookman was the big obstacle.

Iheanacho, and midfield enforcer Wilfred Ndidi, are pumped up after helping their English club Leicester City back to the Premiership after one season in the Championship.

The Eagles will enter the pitch on Friday night recalling that South Africa has mostly been second best against them, and that their last encounter, in the semi-final of the AFCON in Ivory Coast, ended in a penalty shootout victory for Nigeria.

Source Punch Ng

Posted June 7, 2024

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