Former Super Eagles’ defender, Nduka Ugbade has warned current players in the Nigerian national team to avoid counting the number of points they need from their next three matches in order to get their 2026 World Cup aspirations back on track, Sports247 reports.
Heading into next week’s fixture against Rwanda, the Super Eagles lie 5th in the six-team group, with only three points to show, but victory away to Rwanda on March 21st would put them just one point behind the group leaders.
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Another victory at home against Zimbabwe on March 25th could take the Eagles top of their group, following which they would then host Rwanda in September and probably consolidate atop the table with another win that would give them nine points on the bounce.
However, while admitting that only three straight victories from their remaining six matches would revive Nigeria’s hope of making it to next year’s Mundial in Canada, USA and Mexico, Ugbade, who was in the Eagles’ Tunisia ’94 Africa Cup of Nations-winning squad, opined that it would be wrong to continue thinking about picking nine points at a stretch.
Rather than concentrate on how to pick all nine points on offer, the captain of Nigeria’s historic Golden Eaglets’ squad, which won the first FIFA U16 World Cup of 1985 in Beijing, China stressed that it is better to count the points apiece after winning each game.
“Don’t calculate for nine points; calculate for each match as they come. It’s better to calculate with the three points that go with each match. If they are able to win the next match, we will get three points.
After that, we will go for the next win, which would then give us six points and leave us with three more to achieve. We would then go to the next stage and think of winning the remaining three matches as well,” theorised Ugbade, who narrowly missed being part of Nigeria’s pioneer World Cup squad at USA ’94.
Incidentally, independent checks by Sports247 revealed that Nigeria’s qualification aspirations for the 2026 World Cup are still evenly balanced, with three away matches to be played and the same number of games at home.
The away fixtures begin next Friday against Rwanda in Kigali, following which the Eagles will play two straight games – versus Zimbabwe on March 25 and the reverse fixture with Rwanda at the resumption of hostilities on September 1st.
Two back-to-back away fixtures will then follow – versus South Africa on September 8th and in Lesotho on October 6th after another recess, following which the Eagles will get a huge advantage from their last game of the series at home against Benin Republic on October 13th
