Nigeria coach Eric Chelle has promised to go all-out on Benin when they host their neighbours for the two teams’ final Group C match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers on Tuesday.
The West Africans confront each other at Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo in a must-win for both sides. Group leaders Benin are 90 minutes away from making history by qualifying for the World Cup for the first time ever.
Leading by two points ahead of second-placed Bafana Bafana, Gernot Rohr’s side need victory to confirm their place at the tournament to be co-hosted by USA, Canada and Mexico. Picking up maximum points will leave Benin not worried about what happens to their closest challengers who host Rwanda at Mbombela Stadium.
But Nigeria lie in wait with ambitions of their own, keen on shattering the Cheetah’s dreams. The Super Eagles are third in this group with three points less than the leaders. That places the former African champions in a desperate corner for maximum points.
To shoot to the top of the table, Nigeria need to beat Benin by a three-goal margin while praying for Bafana to fall to Rwanda. But the Super Eagles’ determination to beat Benin is exactly what South Africa.
A win for Nigeria would be good news for Bafana who, however, need to beat Amavubi.
Chelle has made remarks that might excite Hugo Broos and his men as he declares war on Benin ahead of this potentially stormy affair in Uyo.
CHELLE INSISTS NIGERIA NEED TO GO TO THE WORLD CUP
“We feel the pressure since March, everytime when my players come to camp, they feel the pressure because for Nigeria, for our team, we need to travel and we need to go to the World Cup.
“So we have a lot of pressure, so maybe other teams will have some pressure too. This is not just an explanation, but it’s the reality.
“We need to have our fans behind us to put pressure on this team [Benin]. We are in Africa, so we need to put lots of pressure on these guys. This is the World Cup qualifiers, so this game starts when they put their feet in our country, first. Secondly, we need to do the job on the pitch.
“We need to start the game with a lot of intensity, lot of aggressivity and like what the captain said, we need to score some goals. So we have, once again, a few training sessions to think about a game plan.
“But the reality is this is a question about everybody, the players, the officials, the NFF, the Commission and the fans.
“We continue we have our second game in a few days and like I said to my players, we go to the war again.”
Chelle’s men will be up against Benin coach Rohr who is much familiar with some Super Eagles players he worked with during his time at the helm of Nigeria.
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