The Super Eagles of Nigeria were held to a 1-1 draw by Zimbabwe in their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matchday six encounter in Uyo on Tuesday.
The result put a dent on Nigeria’s chances of securing a place at the global soccer fiesta.
Éric Chelle’s side remain in fourth position in Group C with seven points from six games.
The hosts dominated the opening exchanges pinning Zimbabwe into their own half.
Washington Arubi produced a fine save to deny Moses Simon in the fourth minute.
Nigeria continued with the pressure with Arubi making two quick saves to deny Osimhen.
Veteran midfielder Knowledge Musona had Zimbabwe’s first chance game in the 15th minute.
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Musona failed to direct his shot on target after he was set up by Khama Biliat.
Stanley Nwabali produced a superb save to deny Walter Musona five minutes later.
The Super Eagles regained control of the game afterwards with Chukwueze shooting wide from inside the box.
Eric Chelle’s were in ascendancy early in the second half but the visitors stood firm at the back.
Genk forward Tolu Arokodare replaced Chukwueze one minute before the hour mark.
Nigeria took the lead through Osimhen in the 74th minute.
Osimhen nodded home Simon’s superb cross.
Substitute Tawanda Chirewa salvaged a point for Zimbabwe deep into stoppage time.
The Super Eagles will host Rwanda when the qualifiers resume in September.
By James Agberebi in Uyo
35 Comments
Una well-done may God bless all of una wella. Congratulations!!!
Please replace those careless players and build new team around osimhen…
It is true: SA are already group winners because their remaining games are all home games.
However, we still have a chance to finish second if we WIN the remaining 4 games.
That will take us to 19 points and I don’t think any other second place team in any group can match that.
Then we qualify for the playoffs.
The big question is:
Can these Eagles be really trusted to go all out in the remaining games in June and October?
Another is:
Would Osimhen be available, that is, injury free? Without him, the team is dead water.
I forgot to add:
Will Chelle have the balls to incorporate new defenders into the team in these dicey times?
He appeared to know his defenders were approaching sleeping time that’s why he wanted another striker to kill off the match!
Not over. World cup participation is the same whether as group winners or via playoffs
Let me just add:
I underestimated the playoffs spots where the BEST 4 second place teams fight for WINNER at the end to give Africa a chance of a 10th team AFTER ANOTHER INTERCONTINENTAL PLAYOFF.
As it stands, current best 4 second place positions (or let me say 6):
Gabon – 15
Namibia – 12
Mozambique – 12
Burkina Faso – 11
Madagascar – 10
DR Congo – 10
It seems we might be out UNLESS the teams above drop points. Depending on results elsewhere. Chai
Unfortunately,we can’t win all four games left because we aren’t consistent!
World cup is not Nations cup. Chelle does not hv the experience and Midas touch to take Nigeria beyond this level. Its unfortunate those in charge of running forball in the county are Using the National as a training ground for coaches and their personal business
Must Nigeria play in world cup? If a nation doesn’t have good players must they go to world cup.
All those over hype players and team with no credible midfield. Is it not hight time to stop inviting those iwobi, chulwueze and the rest.
This is what happens when incompetency reigns. It took an admin 6months plus to find a coach and when they got one his 1st game is a qualifier and then u select players for him. You don’t invite the in form.players and then u don’t even address the main problem in the team : Attacking midfielder ( u invite a player who has not played in weeks ) when you could have just invited Chrisantus uche. Dead squad, dead admin, dead tech dept. Bunch of waste men
1. We should just stop the permutations, these players don’t deserve to be at world cup.
2. When invitation is sloppy and unfair, you have these types of results
3. Why are you playing aina at the left. We got away with it against Rwanda. Osayi Samuel does not deserve to start. Onyemechi on the bench is a sin.
4. I have always talked about the dangers of pairing ekong and bassey in a two man defence. We got away with it against Rwanda.
5. These players attitude is terrible. A match we should have killed in the first match. After scoring a goal, they were relaxed when they should have pressed to score goals.
Awful performance. Players attitude terrible.
These generation of players may not win anything.
They are so weak mentally.
In those days, if Cameroon is leading you 1-0, and you want to equalize, you see them hustling and fighting, defending as if to say WE DIE HERE. Our boys? They score one and relax, deflated like flat tires. Where is the fight? Where is the struggle? Abi dem no wan go world cup?
Pompei. These ones no wan go worl cup o. With this attitude they have been putting up they don’t deserve to be there. Is this the way they want to play at the world cup?
We have talked about coaching but we should talk about players attitude on the field.
The reason why it’s only Oshimen that usually score.
Did you see ndidi kicking ball away in from of the goal..
Amateurish.
Did you see chikewieze. What about Ademola Lookman. Wasting clear chances.
Will the coach come to the field to bury these chances.
You don’t lose or draw a winnable game at home and tell me you’re qualified to play at wth world cup.
Look at the six matches and see the number of begging chances these players have lost in these games.
Even if these players don’t have a coach they should be winning these games.
God bless you christian
Hahahahaha….the scales have finally fallen off your eyes. Those eyes blinded by hypocrisy and over-zealousness.
When I declared last year we arent qualifying for this world cup, you showered me with insults the way Japan showed pearl harbour with missiles. ‘Are you God’….that was one of your punchlines then.
Now I ask you, have you become God now before recognizing we don’t deserve to be at the world cup….??? LMAOOooo.
We will win our next 6 matches…..We will win our next 6 matches…..LMAOooo….other teams will drop points….LMAOOo. Even if you didn’t grow through history, did you read anywhere in history where Nigeria ever won 6 straight World Cup Qaulifying matches at this stage of qualification….? I guess you too can now acknowledge that faith without work is DEAD. God is not Nigerian…other countries too know and serve God.
The same God gave us brains to analyse, discern and infere, so when some people put those God-given gifts to use, harden not your heart.
From the day the draws for this series was made, I made certain pronouncements based on both historical and current facts, not because I am not patriotic but because I was not raised to be blindly sentimental, to know how to call black, white and white, black or put faith ahead of hard work and preparedness.
Permit me to ask you 1 more question….. What is in qualifying for tournaments with games to spare…? LMAOooooo
Drey. It’s not your permutations. It’s the players attitude. If players don’t convert begging chances they can’t win. So it’s not your permutations.
If it’s your permutations, what about your Benin and rohr.
How come your Benin is not on top of the table.
The issue is that you are still pained that we sacked rohr. The reason why your permutations did not work at Afcon. As we marched to the final you were sad. Because you wanted us to do very bad so that you can bring up your rohr story again.
You only spoke after we Drew the first match then you kept quiet until after we lost in the final again
Why would you continue to hate your country because a white man was sacked. What do you want to gain.
And I am surprised your rohr has not really achieved much with Benin.
Why did Benin lose against South Africa. 2-0 for that matter.
When things are not done properly, then a team can’t fly. So your historical or foundational permutations are not the real deal here
Hahahahaha……We will win our next 6 matches….LMAOoo…yẹn yẹn yẹn yẹn yẹn….LMAOoo
With your arrangement of superstar, Rohr’s Benin is still ahead of you and has a better chance of qualifying for the world cup.
Rohr’s Benin has been overacheiving since he took over Benin….they have been in contention for qualification in all the qualifiers they have participated in sọ far.
They’ve played their matches away yet are doing way better than you and your super stars. Infact in 3 matches you could only get 4 points from a Rohr coached Benin….LMAOoo
My permutations were not correct, yet your world cup dreams are now up if smoke…..LMAOoo
You that your permutations are right, with your blind and senseless faith without harďwoork….how has it panned out for you…..LMAOoo
We will win our next 6 matches…..LMAOoo….Oya show us the results na….LMAOoo
Did your players just start developing attitude yesterday…..did your players just start missing chances yesterday….ehn….Mr ‘Are you God’…..LMAOoo
Rohr has not achieved much with Benin republic, but he has made them contenders in each of the qualification assignments he has handled thus far……LMAOoo. As a matter of fact, he is one of the reason Nigeria wọn qualify for the world cup…..LMAOoo
Go cry us a river with your blind and senseless faith and hypocrisy….LMAOoo. Mr correct Permutations……LMAOoo. Hello…how are your own permutations panning out now…..LMAOoo
Better go and change your name to Hypocrites Nigerian Ministries, bcos that’s what you typify.
I repeat, we miss rohr period
Roar will finish the missed chances or would prevent Ekong’s error.
Was he the one causing errors and missing chances when y’all were raining insults at him back then……? LMAOooo
Of course, Roar will not finish the missed chances nor prevent Ekong’s error, what Rohr would do is this………..by match day 6, we would have won 3 away matches (guaranteed) and at least 6 points from 3 home games. Now go back and look at the table and tell us where 15 points would have placed us by now…….LMAOoooo
Football fantastic. Don’t mind drey. I am surprised when someone continue to live in the past. I wonder why Benin has not qualified for the final of Afcon.
A below average coach. I wonder why drey has not healed from the sacking of rohr and all he waits for is one bad performance from eagles and he comes here taking about rohr.
Why can’t drey talk about rohr when we defeated Rwanda.
A good football analyst will always look at games and put forward what can be done and not to continue to feel sad and grieved by the sacking of a below average coach like rohr
Hahahaha….Mr good analyst….do you know why Rohr’s name makes you so bitter…..LMAOoo….yes, it is because your qualification hopes are now up in flames. Now your conscience is begining to tell you there is something special about qualifying with games to spare after all…….LMAOoo.
Now that you are having above average coaches you have only 1 win in 6 WCQ matches…..LMAOoo….in a group that has Rwanda, Benin, Lesotho and Zimbabwe……LMAOoo after getting booted out of the last worldcup by the worst Ghanaian team of all time….LMAOoo
Oya answer na @footballfanatic mumu you scared to invite the wrath of dr drey if you say one wrong thing about GENERAL ROAR..I said something like that here before but you opened your black and white tv teeth to say u can go head to head with anyone on this platform lmao
Hahahahaha UBFE, What is so special about qualifying for tournaments with games to spare…..LMAOoo.
Now we cannot even qualify for playoffs with games to spare….LMAOOO. We might have to wait till the last second of this qualifying series to know if we are one of 4 “best loosers”
Before anybody says any nonsense about these players……someone should remind them a large chunk of these guys where the ones doing what was ‘not so special’ at that time….LMAOoooo.
No need blaming the boys or the coach. There are bad days at the office, and today certainly is one of those days when the SE were unlucky with the many chances they had but could not convert their chances.
My fear with the SE is that if Osimhen doesn’t score, SE is doomed with impotent forwards and midfielders. We don’t have decent attacking midfielders in the mould of JJ Okocha, who can move with the ball forward and even Sunday Oliseh who can strike ferocious long range shots to score goals from 25-30 yards away. Ndidi has been playing as a defensive midfielder for over 8 years but has no single goal to his account. Something need to be done in that midfield to get those who can strike surprise long range shots to score goals- Fisayo Dele Basiru is needed in that midfield to score goals when our attackers are tightly marked by opposition teams.
Yes, since Rohr left, Nigeria never go World Cup.. Rohr Rohr Rohr. How many times did I call you?
Oga, you are pouring acid into the intestines of some people with that name you are calling o……LMAOOoo. Dont let them come here to sting you like a colony of angry wasps.
Weirdos what happened btw Rohr and Central African Republic? A lot of you are hypocrites when they win we see comments we can’t even write again. But now they conceded a goal at the dead end that can happen to any team and clowns and calling names. Na who get una time just talk and no wisdom.
Dumb fool……you are done with your 3rd shift for the day ehn…..LMAOoo
Rohr lost at home to CAR but topped the group from day 1 to the last day. We never needed anyone to defeat anyone for us to qualify for anything.
Did you give him a pat on the back then….?!
We know you don’t have sense but try pretending you do sometimes. Help is to sometimes forget that it is you who is talking…..LMAOoo
Don’t mind drey. When we lose or draw he begins to call rohr. When we win you don’t see him..Very childish thing.
I am surprised he is not talking about Benin losing 2-0.
He said rohr will do us a favor
Sometimes I don’t read his comments again. Mr rohr relative. Rohr ko rohr ni
Hahahahaha….Modern day slave, you don finish your 3rd shift of the day abi….LMAOoo Or na from restroom you run go hide post your Ssenseless comments as always…..LMAOoo
We know you are Senseless, but sometimes you sef dey pretend say you get sense na…..LMAOoo. Help us to forget that it is you who has dropped sh*t again.
When Rohr lost to CAR with a last minute goal, did we drop to 2nd on our table then, talk more of 4th….??!
Imbecile calling people clowns…..LMAOoo
When you guys are ready to have a conversation around the ball slipping underneath the armpit of your low-budget Greg Etafia from a tight angle……..LMAOooo….kindly let us know.
Peserio knew what he was doing at AFCON when he reverted to 7 men defending after matchday 1.
We can no longer be blaming coaches without calling out players… it is evident that we don’t yet know our best eleven as a lot of players seem to have no bearing on games…
Thank you Jimmy Ball for your comment. This is better than the one that always live in the past.
Hahahahaha….theif…so you were hoping Rohr will beat SA for you abi…..LMAOoo. It is paining you Rohr refused to do you a favour….LMAOoo.
I will keep mentioning Rohr….if it pains you go and drink rat poison. I am at liberty to call anybody’s name I like.
I hope you are still of the opinion that there is nothing special about qualifying for tournaments with games to spare……LMAOoo….yes, becuase a below average coach made it a tradition for you…..LMAOoo
I hope the battery of your calculator is still strong…..LMAOoo….you will need it till the end of October ó…..LMAOoo….because even playoff you will not qualify….LMAOoo.
We will win all our remaining 6 matches……LMAOoo….Oya go and cancel SA’s 6 point lead na…..LMAOoo.
And yes….once again….I will continue to mention Rohr’s name for as long as we have to carry calculators with us everywhere we go during qualifiers.
Even your conscience will agree that that below average coach would have ammased nothing less than 13 points from 6 matches by now with these same players…..LMAOoo
People like you are the reason why we will not qualify for our 2nd consecutive world cup…..LMAOoo….and I hope this pains you harder than I am imagining at the moment. Because when we were sounding out warning signals, false prophets like you were telling us ‘Are you God’? And deciving people with your fake prophesy that we will win 6 straight WCQ matches…..LMAOoo.
Prophets of Baal were waiting for Rohr to beat SA for them……LMAOoo
You don’t read my comments but you are replying them and even referencing them……LMAOoo…..so much for someone who calls himself Christian Nigeria ministeries……LMAOoo. Àwọn ministry isonu….LMAOoo
Go and call the police because Dr.Drey is mentioning Rohr’s name biko…..LMAOoo
XXMaybeXX Chelle will have seen now that he has to dismantle this team and call up new players to build something worthy of being called a team
What we have now is not a team, it’s not cohesive or coherent or resilient enough and certainly nowhere near scoring enough goals – We have known that this has been the biggest problem of the team for a while now. That Chelle wouldn’t know that would be bewildering, and quite frankly unbelievable, there is the school of thought that he wanted to see the current players in the team, and see if he can get a new tune out of them as it is a new regime, new ideas and a new system, which has been known to work in football in many other scenarios that I am sure we must all know an example of – now though, after two games, Chelle should have seen enough now to be sure that he absolutely has to change the team up to cut out the glaring lack of goals and remove some useless and ineffective players in the team like Iwobi, Chukwueze etc, these guys really have no business being in the team and he should call up Alhassan Yusuf for a start, and so many other much better players for the team, it’s time to try out guys like Orban, and call up players like those two young German Nigerian players who recently expressed their wish to rep Nigeria etc etc – there are much better and much more suited players all over the world who can and should be playing for us who will make the SE better if we want to be a winning team.
Also, I really really do hope that the useless and corrupt NFF and the current crooked and bent set up haven’t brought Chelle in as another one of their dastardly stooges – hopefully, and we need to pray about this, let’s hope that Chelle is not another recruit into the team of thieves who are destroying Nigeria’s reputation for their own gain and their greedy pockets.
Remember that your own reputation is also at stake here Mr Chelle.
We cannot now catch the South Africans again, but there is still hope that we can make it through the best runners up qualifying but to do that, we simply CANNOT drop any more points.
Not a single one – we must win each and every game left to play now and we will not be able to do that playing with the likes of Iwobi, Chukwueze and having only Ndidi as an option in the middle – yes he brings experience but we definitely need Onyeka, Frank the tank in there along with all the other needed changes.
Finally, haba Nigerians!! You people are funny o! See how they were bigging up that Arokodare guy??
Omo, I could not believe my eyes seeing the guy playing mehn!
Struggling to bring a ball down under control, unable to chest and trap a ball and completely tripping himself up and falling over, looking extremely clumsy when in the box and all he had to do was sort his feet out and shoot! And this is the one that Nigerians have been making noise about like he is the next big thing?? Omo, I would have even preferred Dessers to that guy and everyone knows that I don’t really rate Dessers but compared to that Arokodare guy, he might as well be our own version of Chris Wood.
Haba 9ja we hail o!! SMH
The subbing off of Iwobi and Osimhen seriously weakened our team…A Fisayo Dele Bashiru would have been a like for like replacement for Iwobi,with the players on the bench an Aribo or Papa Daniel should be come in.Another disaster was the introduction of Boniface.If I were the gaffer a central defender to help see off the game was what the team was yearning for.
We’re where we’re today because of the likes of Boniface and I think we’re jinxed something not right..Since the unjust sack of Rohr during a world cup qualifying campaign our team has failed to qualify for the world cup..
You can tell the way we were missing chances it’s not. Ordinarily…
The solution to this is for everyone who were involved in the evil to apologise to the Franco-German for the sake of our football