All eyes are on the New Peter Mokaba Stadium, South Africa, on Friday as the Super Eagles lock horns with the Crocodiles of Lesotho in what promises to be a last-chance match for Nigeria in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
The Super Eagles were almost certain to miss out on consecutive World Cup finals after their September 1-1 draw against South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
However, they were handed a lifeline when South Africa were docked points for fielding an ineligible player, narrowing the gap at the top of Group C.
The ruling left Nigeria three points adrift of Benin and South Africa with two games remaining, reshaping the qualification race and keeping Nigeria’s hopes alive.
Decisive game for the Super Eagles
Nigeria cannot afford to lose either of their remaining two matches, starting with Friday’s fixture against Lesotho.
They must also hope South Africa slip up in their remaining games against Zimbabwe and Rwanda.
With several teams still mathematically capable of topping the group, a win in Polokwane is essential if the Super Eagles are to keep their campaign alive.
Group standings
Benin top the group with 14 points and a +4 goal difference, while South Africa are second on 14 points with a +2 goal difference. Nigeria sit third on 11 points and a +2 goal difference, followed by Rwanda on 11 points and a neutral goal difference.
Head-to-head
Since 2019, the sides have met three times: they have drawn once and Nigeria have won twice.
Lesotho held Nigeria to a 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo, on November 16, 2023, and will be looking to cause another upset in Polokwane.
The Super Eagles’ World Cup qualifying campaign has been patchy. To date, they have recorded two wins, five draws and one defeat, while Lesotho have two wins, three draws and three losses.
Optimism, ready
Ahead of the crucial tie, head coach Éric Chelle and some Super Eagles stars have expressed optimism about their chances.
Speaking at a press conference in Polokwane on Thursday, Chelle said the team must begin the game aggressively and with full focus.
Chelle warned that football is unpredictable, considering factors such as weather, refereeing errors, and individual mistakes can influence outcomes.
But he insisted the squad’s attention must remain on securing three points.
Match details
Matchday nine will take place on Friday (today), October 10, at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane, with kick-off at 6:00 p.m. local time (5:00 p.m. Nigeria time).
Fans can watch on DStv’s SuperSport, SportyBet TV and AfroSport.
Ten Nigerian players have caught the eye in the weeks before and around the first international break of the season, from Gift Orban and Kelechi Iheanacho’s scoring run in Turkey and Godwin Obaje’s 100-goal landmark at home, PETER AKINBO writes
Calvin Bassey (Fulham)
Bassey has grown from a dependable defender into a leader at Fulham, which makes him one of the most trusted Nigerians in the Premier League.
New head coach Alvaro Arbeloa gave him the matchday captaincy for the club’s opening three league games. “Being able to captain this club is unbelievable,” he said.
The 26-year-old came through the Leicester City academy and has also played for Rangers and Ajax. He has made 105 appearances for Fulham since joining in July 2023, with four goals and one assist. His driving run and shot in the 1-1 draw with Manchester United on September 20 forced a save that led to Fulham’s opening goal.
File; Calvin Bassey
Victor Osimhen (Galatasaray)
Osimhen has made one of the most productive starts to the season of any Nigerian in Europe, as the Turkish champions again built their attack around him.
He found the net in each of Galatasaray’s opening matches and scored six goals in his first four Süper Lig games, including a brace and an assist in the 4-0 win over Erzurumspor. That put him level with Gift Orban at the top of the Turkish scoring charts.
Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen. Photo: Super Eagles
Tolu Arokodare (Ajax)
Arokodare has revived his career in Amsterdam after a difficult spell at Wolves, who were relegated. He scored six goals in 38 appearances for them last season.
He joined Ajax on loan in July, scored on his debut in a pre-season win over Volendam, and then scored in his first two Eredivisie starts, against Telstar and PSV.
By mid-September he had five goals and two assists in 355 minutes, a goal contribution roughly every 71 minutes. The 25-year-old said that scoring goals is his job, and Ajax have an option to make the move permanent.
File: Tolu Arokodare.
Samuel Chukwueze (AC Milan)
After returning from a loan spell at Fulham, Chukwueze has reinvented himself as a right wing-back under new head coach Ruben Amorim, and he is already one of Milan’s most productive creators. He was Man of The Match in the 2-1 win at Torino on the opening weekend, where he set up Adrien Rabiot’s goal and created four chances, more than any other player in the game. He has three assists in his first four league games.
The 27-year-old had three goals and four assists in 26 appearances for Fulham last season. He has said he wants to be Amorim’s first-choice right wing-back.
Samuel Chukwueze
Rasheedat Ajibade (Paris Saint-Germain)
Ajibade is one of the leading Nigerian women in European football, wearing the number 10 shirt at one of the continent’s top clubs. She scored as PSG thrashed Oud-Heverlee Leuven 5-0 in the Women’s Champions League and in their 3-1 win over FC Fleury 91.
The forward joined the French club from Atlético Madrid on a free transfer in August 2025, on a contract until June 2027.
Rasheedat Ajibade
Ola Aina (Nottingham Forest)
Aina is back at international level after almost a year out of football. He returned to the Super Eagles for the 2-1 win over Madagascar in Uyo and delivered a solid performance.
It was his first appearance for Nigeria since the 1-1 draw with South Africa in September 2025, when he picked up an injury on a poor pitch.
He was an unused substitute in the 3-0 defeat in Bissau to avoid injury at the subpar grounds.
File: Ola Aina
Godwin Obaje (Rangers)
Obaje has joined the most exclusive group in the domestic game, and the milestone puts him among the best Nigerian strikers of his generation. He scored his 100th goal in the Nigeria Premier Football League with an 11th-minute penalty in Rangers’ 1-0 win over Warri Wolves in Ozoro on September 30.
He is the second player in the last decade to reach the mark, and Rangers honoured him before their 3-1 win over Abia Warriors on Sunday.
The 30-year-old has scored 25 goals for Wikki Tourists, where he won the 2016 Golden Boot with 18, 16 for FC Ifeanyi Ubah, one for Plateau United, 23 for Abia Warriors and 35 for Rangers.
“I am very happy to be listed among the great legends in the league,” he told PUNCH Sports Extra.
Rangers International striker Godwin Obaje
Gift Orban (Amedspor)
Orban has revived a career that had stalled and put himself in the Super Eagles conversation, with a start that few forwards in Turkey can match. He scored a hat-trick against Başakşehir to take his tally to six goals in five games, and he now has seven in six league matches.
That put him level with Osimhen at the top of the scoring charts and helped newly promoted Amedspor to the top of the Süper Lig table.
The 24-year-old is on loan from Hoffenheim and scored seven goals for Hellas Verona last season. He has yet to make his Super Eagles debut, and he was left out of Éric Chelle’s squad for the September qualifiers.
Iheanacho has rebuilt his career in Turkey and forced his way back into the Super Eagles with sheer goalscoring. He has 11 goals and two assists in nine appearances since joining Bursaspor as a free agent after his Celtic contract expired, and he has scored in every league match he has played. He equalled a Bursaspor record that had stood for 12 years.
The form earned him a recall to the national team after more than 16 months out, as his last cap was in the Unity Cup final on May 31, 2025. He scored in Nigeria’s 3-3 draw with Russia.
Rafiu Durosinmi (Genk)
Durosinmi’s early goal rate has invited comparison with Arokodare and Paul Onuachu, who both thrived at Genk. He has scored five goals in his first six league games since joining from Pisa for a club-record €10.5m.
He scored in each of his first four games, and the 23-year-old wants at least 20 goals this season, following Onuachu and Arokodare, who both won the Belgian Pro League Golden Boot at Genk.
His scoring run ended in the 3-0 defeat by Club Brugge.
Lionel Messi ended his Argentina international career with a goal and two assists as the world champions defeated Benin 3-0 at the Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires on Tuesday night.
The match, played on October 6, marked Messi’s final appearance for Argentina after a 21-year international career.
Former Nigeria head coach Gernot Rohr was in charge of Benin for the farewell fixture.
According to Inter Miami, Messi provided the assist for Nicolás Otamendi’s opener from a corner in the 48th minute before setting up Nico Paz for Argentina’s second goal in the 61st minute.
Messi then converted a penalty in the 71st minute to complete the 3-0 victory.
Inter Miami reported the match in a report published on October 6, 2026, saying Messi had been “directly involved in each of Argentina’s goals.”
The club described it as Messi’s “final international appearance” and said he finished the night with “a goal and a pair of assists.”
Reuters reported the match at 02:21 UTC on October 7, 2026, saying Messi had brought the curtain down on his international career in front of more than 85,000 spectators.
Speaking after the game, Messi said, according to Reuters: “It’s hard to talk.”
He added: “There are a lot of emotions, a lot of things going through my head.”
Reflecting on his Argentina career, Messi said: “It was a huge source of pride for me to wear this shirt all this time, more than 20 years.”
He also said: “Playing for Argentina is the most beautiful thing that can happen to you.”
Reuters reported that Messi finished his Argentina career as the country’s most-capped player with 208 appearances and its record goalscorer with 126 goals.
The match had been announced by FIFA as Messi’s farewell appearance for Argentina.
In a September 15, 2026 report, FIFA quoted Argentine Football Association president Claudio Tapia as saying: “We invited the world’s best player, our national-team icon, our captain Lionel Andres Messi, to have a deserved farewell here in Argentina.”
Before the match, Benin goalkeeper Marcel Dandjinou told Spanish newspaper Marca that his team would not simply attend the occasion.
Marca published the interview at 04:33 CDT on October 5, 2026.
Asked about playing Messi in his final Argentina match, Dandjinou said: “This is football: eleven against eleven.”
He added: “We are not here to do tourism in Argentina, we are here to play and compete.”
Dandjinou also rejected the idea that Benin would allow Messi to score as part of the farewell.
In the same Marca interview, he said: “I am a goalkeeper, and my role is to stop shots.”
On whether he would try to save a Messi penalty even in the final minute, Dandjinou said: “If Messi takes it, I will try to stop it.”
He added: “Nobody has told us that we have to give him a goal.”
Benin defender Mohamed Tijani also spoke ahead of the match, telling C5N, according to Goal.com in a report published October 6, 2026: “We won’t be marking Messi.”
Tijani added: “We’ll just enjoy this match.”
Benin coach Rohr also spoke about the significance of facing Messi.
In an interview with Footy-Africa published October 6, 2026, Rohr said: “Yes, it’s a big honor for us and also for me like a coach to play this last game of Leo Messi in his national team.”
Rohr previously coached Nigeria at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, where he led the Super Eagles against Argentina.
The Argentina-Benin friendly therefore brought Rohr back into a match involving Messi eight years after the former Nigeria coach faced the Argentine star at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Argentina’s victory brought Messi’s international career to a close with 208 appearances and 126 goals for the national team.
The Super Eagles will have 19 players available for Tuesday’s international friendly against Russia after seven players withdrew from the squad for various reasons.
“Refusal by some Clubs to release their players, coupled with injuries to notable names, have seriously weakened Nigeria’s Super Eagles squad ahead of Tuesday’s international friendly match against Russia’s senior men national team,” the Nigeria Football Federation has said in a statement on Sunday.
Captain Wilfred Ndidi, Raphael Onyedika, Bright Osayi-Samuel, Ridwan Abdulrasaq Popoola, Victory Akpe, Moses Usor and Suleiman Mubarak are unavailable for the encounter.
The NFF said Ndidi and Akpe were ruled out through injuries, while Onyedika, Osayi-Samuel and Popoola were stopped from travelling by their respective clubs.
Usor, who was called up after scoring on his Nigeria debut against Madagascar, was also prevented from travelling by Austrian club LASK.
Mubarak, meanwhile, could not secure the residence permit required for his trip to Russia.
The withdrawals initially left head coach Éric Chelle with 18 players in Russia, but late invitee Ibrahim Ajasa of Russian club FC Rostov subsequently joined the camp, taking the number to 19.
The Super Eagles held their final training session at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium on Monday evening ahead of the friendly.
Nigeria will face Russia at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium on Tuesday, with the Super Eagles seeking a better result after their 3-0 defeat to Guinea-Bissau in their 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier last week.
The two sides last met in June 2025, when they played out a 1-1 draw at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium.
