The last dance of the Super eagles Journey to Qatar draws near.
The Super Eagles of Nigeria gear up to play their final game of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
The all important second leg match against the Black Stars of Ghana is set to kick off at 6pm Today, at the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abuja.
While we patiently wait for the nail-biting fixture, let us take a short trip down memory lane.
The CAF first round of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was played between 4 to 10 September, 2019.
A total of 28 teams (teams ranked 27–54 in the CAF entrant list) played home-and-away over two legs, after which 14 winners advanced to the second round.
The second round of CAF matches for 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was played over six match days, from 1 September to 16 November 2021.
The second round saw the top 26 ranked CAF teams joined by the 14 winners from the first round. These teams were drawn into ten groups of four teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches.
The winners of each group here, were to subsequently advance to the third round.
The draw for the second round was held on 21 January 2020, 19:00 CAT, at the Nile Ritz-Carlton in Cairo, Egypt.
The seeding was based on the FIFA World Rankings of December 2019.
Nigeria was ranked the 31st team at the time, and was seeded in pot 1. The outcome of the draw saw the Super Eagles facing Carpe Verde, Liberia, Central Africa Republic in Group C.
As a result of the various interruptions the competition faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all matches were rescheduled to be played between September and November 2021.
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1st Leg Ties of The Group Stage
Nigeria’s first game of the group stages was played on 3 September, 2021 with the Super Eagles beating Liberia 2 – 0, curtesy of a brace by Kelechi Iheanacho.
Their next obstacle came on 7 September, 2021 in the form of a relentless Cape Verde side who opened the scoring against the Super Eagles in the 19th minute of the fixture.
The Super Eagles however, fought their way back and left the tie with a win after an own-goal from the hosts, and another from the Super Eagles striker, Victor Osimhen proved enough.
The Super Eagle’s first and only defeat in the group stages came on 7 October, 2021. It was a jaw dropping shocker, after the visitors, Central African Republic, beat them by a sole goal in the 1st minute of added time, after the full 90 minutes had been played.
2nd Leg Ties of The Group Stage
The Super Eagles began their second leg ties of the group stage on 10 October, 2021 against a Central African Republic side that earlier served them their only defeat of the qualifiers so far.
A more reassuring performance saw the Super Eagles triumph at home, with the visitors leaving the tie with two goals and no reply. Curtesy of goals from Super Eagles defender Leon Balogun, and Striker, Victor Osimhen.
With the much needed spirited performance against Central Africa Republic, the Super Eagles were mooted for back to back victories.
They did not disappoint their traveling fans when they met Liberia on November 13, 2021when they defeated the hosts 2 – 0. Curtesy of two penalty goals neatly tucked away by Victor Osimhen and Ahmed Musa.
At this point, the Super Eagles were on top of Group C and needed only a single point to remain top at the end of the final fixtures of the group ties.
On November 16 2021, Nigeria hosted Cape Verde, and it took only 1 minute for Super Eagles striker, Victor Osimhen to put the hosts ahead and in a commanding position to finish top of the group.
Although Cape Verde equalised shortly after, the score line remained 1-1 until the final whistle was blown. Thus bringing an end to the Second round of the FIFA World cup qualifiers, with the Super Eagles advancing to the third round.
The Last Dance
The Super Eagles having finished top of Group C, advanced to the third round of the FIFA 2022 World Cup Qualifiers.
They were paired against their arch rivals Ghana in the African World Cup play-offs draw held in Douala, Cameroon.
Both legs of the fixture were scheduled to be played between March 21 and 29, 2022 with the aggregate winner securing a place at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
On March 25, Ghana hosted Nigeria in the first leg of the heavyweight World Cup qualifier playoff series.
It was a scrappy and far from entertaining to watch affair at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi, which ended deadlocked at 0-0.
The coach, Augustine Eguavoen-led team returned from Kumasi on Saturday morning and got back to business to fine-tune their preparations for the must-win clash against Ghana’s Black Stars which will kick-off at the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abuja later today.
The Super Eagles Coach had this to say:
“With all still left to play for going by the first leg result, only victory will be good enough for the Super Eagles if they are to achieve their aim of making a seventh World Cup appearance in Qatar.”
Since 1994, Nigeria have missed only one of seven editions of the FIFA World cup, and are seeking to qualify for the World Cup a seventh time.