Three months ago the Super Eagles of Nigeria suffered their first ever loss to Benin Republic in senior international when they were beaten 2-1 in the 2026 world cup qualifiers, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Both teams will once again clash in the qualifiers for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations this weekend at the Godswill Akpabio stadium in Uyo with Nigeria gunning for a revenge against the team of their former coach Gernot Rohr.
A much changed Nigerian team with Austine Eguavoen now at the helm as interim coach will be hoping to go one step better than the Finidi George led team, who suffered that defeat at the adopted home ground of Benin Republic in Cote d’Ivoire.
Fisayo Dele-Bashiru was among the players who played in the ill fated defeat coming on as a second half substitute, due to a knock picked up in the previous game against South Africa where he scored his first senior international goal for Nigeria.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s game, the newly signed Lazio midfielder reveals why they lost that game saying it’s highly unlikely for them to go down the same route again. ” I think we know why we lost the game in Cote d’Ivoire. Maybe we were complacent and taking the lead didn’t help us show them ( Benin) the respect they deserve”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com.
” Our mindset is different now and also our approach will be better. I don’t see how they will beat us again especially in front of our fans. The AFCON is a prestigious tournament and like many African teams we want to be there”, the new number 10 concluded.
