Ex-international defender, Abiodun Obafemi has admitted that South Africa pose the latest threat to Nigeria’s hope of qualifying for next year’s FIFA World Cup, but pointed out that it would wrong of the Super Eagles to concentrate only on Bafana Bafana in their remaining matches.
Sports247 reports that, on Tuesday, South Africa went top of Group C with 13 points in the African qualification series, following a 2-0 win away to Benin Republic, while Nigeria were forced to a 1-1 draw by Zimbabwe at Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo.
Nigeria still have to play away to Lesotho and South Africa after hosting Rwanda in their next game and then end the race at home versus Benin Republic, but Obafemi stressed that the Eagles would fall prey to another team if they keep thinking solely about South Africa and forget to watch their other group opponents.
Instead of worrying only about the South Africans, Obafemi advocated a situation in which the Eagles would plot how to win all their emaining fixtures, so that they will not face a repeat of the setback they suffered in Tuesday’s draw at home versus Zimbabwe.
He reckoned that the best approach is not to focus on South Africa alone, but to face the task of picking victories in each match and then gain enough points that would help them edge ahead of any opponent they come up against, not just Bafana Bafana.
“Honestly, for us to get to the World Cup, we must forget about South Africa and look at ourselves. We must first face our own results and then hope that South Africa drop points, while we win our own matches. If they don’t drop points, we will lose that automatic qualification spot.
“So, there are no more excuses … we just have to win and keep winning. That would put us back into the race, as we did in Kigali,” said Obafemi, who played for Fotuna Cologne, Dusseldof and Augsburg of Germany as well as Toulouse of France during his heyday.
