Nigeria qualified to compete in the World Cup playoffs in Morocco
Nigeria defeated Benin 4-0, guaranteeing a CAF playoff berth with Gabon, Cameroon, and either Burkina Faso or DR Congo.
With a 4-0 victory over Benin Republic in Uyo on Tuesday night, thanks to a hat-trick from Victor Osimhen and an incredible pile-driver from substitute Frank Onyeka, Nigeria advanced to the Four-Team CAF Playoff Tournament for the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals.
In the event that South Africa failed to overcome Rwanda in Nelspruit and the three-time African champions defeated the Benin Republic by any score, they would automatically advance from Group C, they knew before the game began. However, Bafana Bafana quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead over the Amavubi at Mbombela. Not to be outdone, the Super Eagles also led the Cheetahs by two goals at Godswill Akpabio Stadium going into recess.
Victor Osimhen quickly put his name on the scoreboard as he scored Nigeria’s first goal in the second minute after latching onto a spectacular pass from Samuel Chukwueze and sending goalie Marcel Dandjinou reeling.
Nigeria continued to press, and in the twenty-first minute, the unrelenting Osimhen saw his header fly a bit too high after Stanley Nwabali made a fantastic stop against Steve Mounié as the Cheetahs broke forward in the 12th minute.
Table-toppers In the 28th minute, Benin Republic had another attack, but Nwabali stopped it with a close-range blow on Tosin Aiyegun.
After Chukwueze’s cross in the 36th minute, Osimhen, who was irrepressible, climbed above everyone to nod home Nigeria’s second goal.
Dogged and determined going into the second half, Nigeria did not let up despite South Africa’s continuous thrashing of Rwanda in Nelspruit, knowing that their only chance to advance was through the playoffs.
The third goal was scored by Osimhen once more after Simon Moses’ right-wing free kick hit the crossbar.
Osimhen scored his 29th goal in 44 games for Nigeria, which is an incredible total that will allow him to surpass “Goalsfather” Rashidi Yekini (of blessed memory) at the top of Nigeria’s goal total with nine more goals.
As Nigeria pressed forward, Simon Moses, who was awarded his 85th cap, had his shot pushed to the corner by Dandjinou in the 53rd minute. In the 75th minute, Osimhen’s amazing chested pass set up Alex Iwobi for a shot, which David Kiki charged down.
Osimhen headed a Moses cross with great force two minutes later, but the ball was pushed out.
With ninety minutes remaining, substitute Frank Onyeka scored a cross from Moses to give Nigeria a 4-0 victory and advance to the continental playoffs, which will be held in Morocco from November 13–16.
In the revised standings for second-placed teams across the nine groups, Gabon and Cameroon are currently ahead of Nigeria. This is due to CAF’s new way of determining the second-placed teams after Eritrea withdrew from the competition. As opposed to Burkina Faso’s 15 points and goals differential of plus six, Nigeria’s 15 points and goals differential of plus seven were notable.
Only the group winners go to the North American finals the following summer.
Next month, the trio will be joined by either Burkina Faso or the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who will play Sudan at home on Tuesday night.
In March of next year, the winner of Morocco will go to the Six-Team Intercontinental Playoff, which will take place in the Mexican cities of Guadalaja and Monterrey. Two teams will advance to the finals in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Two teams from Central America, one from Asia, Bolivia, and New Caledonia will join the African playoff winner.
