WILFRED Ndidi, who is set to captain the Super Eagles of Nigeria tonight, is backing the team to get their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign back on track when they host South Africa’s Bafana Bafana at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo.
The Super Eagles are in desperate need of victory after starting the series with two disappointing draws last November, and Ndidi believes he and his teammates are up to the task, especially with the likes of Ademola Lookman and Victor Boniface coming off successful campaigns in Europe.
“Nobody needs to tell us that we did not start the campaign well enough,” the Leicester City midfielder said, referring to the 1-1 draws against Lesotho and Zimbabwe in November.
“The opportunity has arisen to take our fate in our hands and rise to strong contention in our pool. We will approach Friday’s encounter with the right mental attitude.”
The Super Eagles fell to fourth spot in African qualifying Group C after Benin Republic’s 1-0 victory over leaders Rwanda last night in Abijdan, Cote d’Ivoire, but Finidi George’s side would rise to the top with victory tonight in Uyo.
The three-time African champions will be without some key players, including the injured Napoli striker Victor Osimhen, as well as defenders Ola Aina, William Troost-Ekong, Kenneth Omeruo and Zaidu Sanusi, all of whom starred as the Super Eagles reached the final of the last Africa Cup of Nations in February.
Finidi’s preparations have also been hampered by the late arrivals of several players (some of them inexcusable), but in UEFA Europa League final hat-trick hero Lookman and Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen’s main man in attack Boniface, the former Super Eagles winger has the weapons to cause damage against South Africa.
The former Enyimba head coach, taking charge of his first competitive match as Super Eagles boss, can also count on the experience of Ndidi and Iheanacho as well as the steel of Calvin Bassey, Semi Ajayi and Frank Onyeka to combat the equally ambitious South Africans, who are currently third in the group and also eyeing top spot.
Bafana Bafana, who were eliminated in the semi-finals by the Super Eagles at the last AFCON, will be hoping for a repeat of their stunning 2-0 victory over the Super Eagles at the same Godswill Akpabio Stadium seven years ago.
That is the only defeat the Super Eagles have suffered at the magnificent stadium in 10 years, but South Africa also secured a 2-2 draw in Uyo in 2014 that prevented Nigeria from qualifying for the 2015 AFCON.
This time Finidi, who won the AFCON title with the Super Eagles in 1994 as a player and helped Nigeria qualify for the country’s first World Cup in the same year, will be aiming to send Bafana Bafana back home empty-handed and steer his team towards the 2026 Mundial.
