It was yet another drop points for the Super Eagles after they had to come back from a goal down to draw 1-1 with South Africa’s Bafana Bafana on matchday 3 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
The Eagles have now failed to win three consecutive games in the qualifiers and are in fifth place on three points while South Africa occupy fourth place on four points.
Also, they have now failed to beat South Africa in three consecutive home games.
Themba Zwane gave the South Africans the lead against the run of play before Fisayo Dele-Bashiru equalised for the Eagles early in the second half.
Up next for the Eagles is an away trip to Côte d’Ivoire where they will face third placed Benin Republic on Monday, June 10.
Paul Onuachu had the first chance on three minutes but could not direct his header on target from close range.
In the 8th minute Ademola Lookman cut inside from the left but his shot went over the bar.
On 10 minutes South Africa had their first shot on target from outside the box but Stanley Nwabali got down well to stop the shot.
In the 12th minute South Africa launched a counter but Benjamin Tanimu made a timely clearance for a corner.
The South Africans won a freekick in a dangerous area but Themba Zwane blasted his effort off target.
Also Read: 2026 WCQ: Eagles’ First Half Performance Against South Africa Was Poor –Rufai
In the 27th minute Ndidi got to the right wing but delivered a poor cross which was well handled by Ronwen Williams.
Zwane opened the scoring on 29 minutes after receiving a clever pass beat two markers before placing the ball into the back of the net.
On 33 minutes Kelechi Iheanacho floated in a free kick but it evaded everyone inside the box.
With 10 minutes left South Africa almost doubled their lead but Nwabali quickly rushed out to snuff the danger before Tanimu cleared the rebound.
Elias Mokwana almost got South Africa’s second but hit his effort off target with Nwabali to beat.
With five minutes left in the first half Ndidi tried a shot fro mm outside the box but it was saved by the South African keeper.
Onuachu went close on 42 minutes from a Lookman cross but the keeper made a good save.
Dele-Bashiru equalized on 46 minutes as he received a pass from Alex Iwobi, held off his marker before hitting a low shot past Williams.
In the 53rd minute Dele-Bashiru ran on to a pass from Lookman but he was clattered on but the referee did not give any foul.
In the 58th minute Mokwana broke on the left but his weak strike was well stopped by Nwabali
The Eagles were forced to a change on 61 minutes as Alhassan Yusuf replaced injured Dele-Bashiru.
With 20 minutes left the South Africans launched a long ball but Nwabali rushes out from his area to clear the danger.
Bright Osayi-Samuel was presented with a good chance inside on 72 minutes but his effort went straight to the keeper.
Percy Tau had a big chance on 74 minutes but his weak effort was saved by Nwabali.
At the other end Samuel Chukwueze almost made it 2-1 after he was played in on goal only to see his effort hit the bar.
With nine minutes left Lookman got inside the box but his shot was blocked.
Lookman has another opportunity on 87 minutes but failed to direct his shot towards his off a floated pass from Raphael Onyedika.
In added time Lookman sent a curler which Williams Palmer away for a corner.
Terem Moffi had a big chance to win it for the Eagles but could not beat Williams one on one.
By Sab Osuji, in Uyo
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19 Comments
Did they hold his mouth or hands when he could have invited a left back? The omission of Aina, Awoniyi, and Eking are still suspect.The moment I saw Onuachu in the starting lineup…..I knew we would have goal problems..
Finidi after getting the SE job:
Homebased players are good enough….home based players deserve a chance in the SE……homebased players this….home based players that.
Finidi on Matchday:
RWB Osayi pushed to LB, CB Tanimu pushed to RB……all home based chained to the bench like local bingos…….LMAOOOo
Make una continue to deceive unasef ehn…..LMAOo
The truth is bitter, but I will continue to say it…..!
Lol……i dey tell u. Shebi rohr told them the bitter truth and all of them wanted to crucify him….lol
@ Dr.Drey you no go kill person with laughter. Tied on the bench like local bingos
The only natural left back player he invited was home base and he was afraid to start him. I don’t know why they always clamour for home base player to super eagles. It is not the coach problem but most expensive players and some football enthusiast
First thing I want to say is about Iheanacho. Many of us warned that a player that is match rusty would not meet the desired performance. Instead Iheanacho as is typical for a Nigerian went around using his influence to make sure he started the match. If that guy plays again then I know this coach is useless.
Next person, this Tanzanian guy. I’m sorry but he isn’t good enough as a substitute let alone to start. He did nothing wrong but had no impact on the right wing and the difference was clear when Yusuf and Chukwueze took over on the right in the 2nd half.
As for Onuachu, if falling down and getting your marker yellow cards was counted in the scoreline. He would have in one single game scored more than anyone ever has. His replacement Moffi should have started from the get go.
Ajayi, had a mediocre game.
As to the coach, his selection and formation in the first half was all over the place. If he was trying to confuse the South African coach, he just succeeded in confusing Nigerians. Osayi was deployed to left back away from right back, Iheanacho was deployed as a winger on the right supported by Tanimu. Neither of them succeeded in crossing the ball once.
Iwobi had a good game; dele-bashiru showed what he can bring to the team; Chukwueze was surprisingly on his game for once; Lookman was dangerous but should be less selfish with the ball; Bassey was much better in the 2nd half, I think he was still on holiday in the 1st half; Ndidi had a lot of work to do in the 1st half because the coach selected a lightweight midfield, and then was later deployed as a center half; Osayi was competent.
The disaster of the first half occurred because Finidi chose to play politics with his starting team selection. The second half was only rescued because he substituted most – not all, of the undeserving players.
ONUACHU IS A EUROPEAN GOALSCORING DECEIVER I DON’T KNOW WHY FINIDI STARTING HIM AHEAD OF BETTER & QUALITY STRIKERS. THIS SUPER EAGLE IS NOT A SUPER EAGLE OF YOUR TIME, THAT YOU WILL BE SUPPLYING CORRECT CROSSES TO YEKINI, ADEPOJU, V.AGALI TO SCORE.
ONUACHU CAN NEVER ADJUST TO PLAYING PATTERN OF CURRENT SUPER EAGLE TEAM. ONUACHU HAS BEEN PLAYING FOR SUPER EAGLE FOR PAST 5 YEAYS NOW. BUT NO ONE CAN POINT OUT HIS BEST EVER GAME HE HAS PLAYED EXCEPT ONLY GOAL HE SCORED AGAINST EGYPT IN FRIENDLY MATCH IN STEPHEN KESHI STADIUM, DELTA STATE.
IF OSIMHEN DOESN’T SCORE GOAL IN A MATCH, BUT HE WILL PERFORM IN THE MATCH.
Fun Fact:
South Africa still has another 6 home games to play out of their remaining 7 games in this qualifiers – 4 home games against Nigeria, Rwanda, Lesotho and Zimbabwe and 2 “away” games against Lesotho and Zimbabwe in South Africa.
Nigeria has only 3 left…LMAOooo
Isnt that interesting….??!
The fools who were chorusing “Nigeria JUST needs to win all its remaining games”
Shebi it is with this Coach Finidi and this haphazard NFF we will win 7 straight games (4 away) on a bounce in this Africa with a South African CAF President…..LMAOO
Congratulations to you all. Celebrations are in order. See you all in USA/Canada/Mexico 2026
Let’s keep calm. If they don’t qualify heaven will not fall. It’s to the loss of the players especially the ones that have not been to the world cup in their lives. Na dem sabi.
Dr. Drey I understand your point but calm down anything is possible in football.
It’s not that the South Africans are that super. So you can’t trust them to win all their home matches too.
They will lose points. They will surely lose points. If they are that good they should have rapped up the match in the first half. They were lucky in the second half.
Though I feel super eagles don’t deserve to qualify not because all the other teams are that super but because nff, finidi and even the players don’t deserve it. Simple!
Objectively looking at the super eagles.
Dr. Drey, have you not observed the following with the players:
1. They always lose chances even good ones. Even with Oshimen on the pitch. I have mentioned this over the years. Sometimes they create chances and just lose them. If you look at that match even in the first half, ademola and the not useful onuachu were culprits.
In the second half, iwobi, moffi, ademola and the ball that hit bar. At afcon despite playing 343, Oshimen lost some very good chances.
2. Why are these players not converting chances. Even if they can’t convert all , why are they not scoring goals after they create the chances.
3. This is common with this set of super eagles. A hate that does not convert half chances cannot really be great. In those days, yekini and co will play badly but will convert some good chances.
4. We can say all we have to say about this clueless coach called finidi but I must confess if they had converted just bone third of the chances they created they would have won the match.
5. Against Ghana during the last world cup qualifier, it was the same in Kumasi and in Nigeria.
6. I think these players need to be talked to. They will just not achieve anything meaningful with their set even with Oshimen ademola Boniface etc doing everything in Europe.
7. Now they will get to Europe and begin to score. Ademola should have scored about two goals yesterday. Even Moffi is also a culprit too. I am not even talking about onuachu. He does not fit in at all. He should be used the way he was used by pesero at afcon – to kill games.
8. Iwobi will get a chance to shoot in front of the defence and he will hesitate and just pass to the keeper. What is happening. Why are they doing this..Bashirru scored that goal from nothing. He got a half chance and scored. He showed that the central defender of South Africa is a jelly fish. Put an iwobi or Moffi or onuachu or ademola or even the big Oshimen there and he may not before that goal.
9. We need players who score half chances. I was hoping desser will be this for us but he has disappointed but he scored in Europe. We used to have players who score half chances very well in the past like obinna nsofo, aghahowa, yekini, one of the uche brothers, amuneke, even okocha scoring from free kicks..But not any more.
10. Second half was good with the players putting in good effort but they didn’t convert their chances again.
11. I want to believe Boniface will step in to convert half chances for us but finidi put him on the bench – strange. Iheanacho, onuachu in the field and Boniface in the bench. Finidi will ruin the super eagles. Pesero was dejected when Boniface had that injury at afcon. It disrupted his plans. One of the reasons he changed to 343. But we have a useless coach benching him. Same way he kept ademola and Tella in the bench all through in match against Mali.
Hahahahaha…..They will lose points. They will surely lose points…..that was how Angola topped our WCQ group from day 1 till the last matchday in 2026
They will lose points….They will surely lose points…..that was how togo qualified for the world cup ahead of Senegal in 2006.
It is Lesotho and Zimbabwe this Bafana team will loose points to abi…???
You think they are that unserious.
Bros, I think you need cross check your your post. South has played 3 matches so far, 1 home and 2 away. How can they have 6 home matches left. What is the guarantee that they will win their remaining 4 home matches. Football no be like that O
Hahahaha……Where does Lesotho and Zimbabwe play their “home games”…..?
We have played 2 home games and won none, with only 3 more home games left, the rest are all away (including 3 away games in South Africa)….and you are here questioning the chances of our main rivals for the WC ticket who have 6 more home games to play…LMAOOo.
So it is Nigeria that has guarantees of winning its own games abi…? With this coach that starts Onuachu ahead of Moffi and Boniface….LMAOoo
Very hilarious….!
Okay if the situation remains that both Lesotho and Zimbabwe continues to play at South Africa, you think South Africa would not drop points?
I’m not saying Nigeria must qualify. The group is still wide open for any of the teams, even Zimbabwe to qualifier. Football no be the way you de think O!
Rwanda just dropped points 2 days ago, yet we dropped from 4th to 5th on the table.
You are so fixated on South Africa dropping points as if Nigeria too will not drop any more points.
As much as you want to try to convince yourself that SA will still drop point, do we also have any guarantees we will not drop points too…?
Our situation is so bad now that even an away draw is no longer a point gained for us anymore.
And of the 6 home games SA still has to play, I can guarantee you they will win 5 of them. This South African team is too strong, sleek and tactical for any team to handle on their home soil.
I cant even guarantee we will be able to pull a draw against them with this Intern we call our coach.
Once again, They will lose points….they will surely lose points….that was how Angola topped our WCQ group from day 1 till the last matchday in 2006. If you were not old enough to know what happened in 2006 please read it up online.
There are no guarantees in football. You sound as if it’s only Nigeria and South Africa in the group. Well, we are here and I hope to tell you “no be so football be” when the time comes.
I think the negativity will not do us any good, NFF forced Finidi on us which is not the worst thing to happen. Yesterday there was a glimpse of hope judging by the flow of the game against South Africa compared to the other two games we played in the group. Finidi impressingly got a point on his first international match against a stubborn and highly tactical South African Caf team and I believe he will only improve.
I will also urge him to do more research on his opponents henceforth because some of us sounded here of the dangers posed by Themba Zwane and his gangs from Mamelodi but it seems like we the fans know opponents than our coaches and players. Let us be hopeful and stop the agbero mentality of criticism. We are only 2points off the top place and we just have to improve and believe to achieve our aim.
Finally Nigeria players must fight because football of today is not like before most esp What we go through as fans on social media from other weird countries really interested to see us failing. Please Guys sit up and fight don’t look face or smiles your opponents are not your friend when they beat you they will laugh at you and end your career with negative comments. I will be going back to other business Goodluck to Nigeria we still have hope and will make it through.
Chima E Samuels, bia wokem, I hope you are not trying to exclude yourself from the pit you clamored for our dear Eagles. This one you are going for other businesses, I don’t understand this permission to disappear oh.
Baba, you better sail and sink with this Finidi-ship friendship.
By the third match if it was when GR was in charge, we would be topping this group. Infact, it pays Benin more to get a draw over SE and I hope your calculator will assist your plus and minus permutation by then.
Una day Wind me?. Lol something I was telling you people now you are ahing and Humming.. but 4 weeks after these qualifiers, most fail with our own fans will go back to factory settings and start thier Blinded Patriotisim which is actually knowingly or unknowingly Sabotaging our Super Eagles.
for 1 I mentioned after AFCON that we don’t need a coach that will continue what Peseiro did in AFCON interms of tactics we needed someone that will come and play to these boys strength and that is attacking and second half they showed some grit.
2. If Finidi knew he was going to play this kind of tactic how can he select a Onuachu over a fit Awoniyi when he know’s Onuachu have no speed, is Finidi awake when these boys are training atol because he has had 2 years to see them train.
3. I made a Line up last week Hoping Finidi will see it and it included a front three of Chukwueze Boniface and Lookman, Reason being Chukwueze is SA nightmare and he know’s how to play them I said this right fro AFCON Findi stil did not learn and Chuks is in better form now.
4. Boniface because he still the 2nd best attacker in Super Eagles today after Osimhen followed by Lookman.. I also mentioned if Ekong is fit Ekong must play if Awoniyi is fit and Osimhen is injured Awoniyi must play. Look at England Taking Luke Shaw to Euro’s because they hope he will be fit in the group Stages, Same Mistake Nigeria Made in AFCON Finidi did the same thing with Awoniyi, before the Quarter finals, Awoniyi became fit for Nottinham Forest and scored 2 goals in the period of our Quarters while we were struggling for Consistency of goals, But finidi decided to make the same mistake and Condemn us with Onuachu and Not having Awoniyi when yesterdays tactics against SA is what Awoniyi Eats he would have really thrived on it with his pace and similar hustle to Osimhen I really don’t know what is wrong with these coaches and some fans every day everything I say comes to past however our coaches and some people in this CSN forum are just so stubborn
Finito i hope you know what you are doing Do Not try and Bench Victor Boniface again
next game your front three must be: Chukwueze Boniface Lookman
Midfield must be: Ndidi, Iwobi, Onyeka but Bashiru Scored so I think he earns a spot there too.
But Finidi must find away to start these players Next game together, and go all out and Suffocate them (Benin Republic)
P.S as for Onuachu he has done better than he did in a Super Eagles Shirt in previous but still not up to standard of leading our attack,
Iheanacho must not disrespect Finidi the way he did On Camera yesterday, it is very rude and shows what we were saying about How these boys respect Foreign coaches more I have never seen the shameful act I saw Iheanacho do today . before. even though Finidi is clueless he is still the coach.
Findi don’t play with Super Eagles
Finidi