Nigeria’s FIFA World Cup hopes suffer setback following defeat by Benin Republic

Nigeria’s 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying hopes hang in the balance after a 1-2 loss to Benin Republic at the Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny in Abidjan on Monday.

Raphael Onyedika put the Eagles in front after 28 minutes when he cleverly chipped the ball past goalkeeper Marcel Dandjinou from the edge of the box, after a good pass by Samuel Chukwueze.

However, the Cheetahs were back on level terms nine minutes later, when Jodel Dossou profited from a defensive error by Calvin Bassey and Semi Ajayi to race through and flick past an advancing goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali.

Seven minutes later, the Cheetahs were in front when the Nigerian defence ball-watched from a corner kick, exposing Nwabali once more.

Several changes made in the second half by Coach Finidi George failed to have any meaningful impact as the Eagles simply failed to find the back of the opponents’ net.

Defeat means the Eagles remain on three points from four matches, and are condemned to winning all their remaining six games of the qualification series to have any chance of reaching the finals in Canada, USA and Mexico in two years’ time.

In a related development, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has expressed anger at the mix-up by the Beninoise Football Federation in playing the old Nigeria national anthem before Monday’s FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Abidjan.

NFF’s Head of International Competitions, Dayo Enebi Achor, said the NFF handed a recording of the new national anthem of Nigeria to the Benin FA authorities at the Match Coordination Meeting in Abidjan on Sunday evening.

“We gave them the recording of our new national anthem, only for them to play the wrong one at the beginning of the match. We protested strongly, and insisted that the Super Eagles would not start the second half until the new national anthem of Nigeria was played.”

The Benin FA authorities eventually played the new national anthem of Nigeria before the commencement of the second half of the match.