Group C of the 2026 world cup qualifiers is probably the only group where three teams go into the final round of games with the hope of finishing top and book a place at the tournament in USA, Mexico and Canada.

Nigeria who are in third place will face Benin Republic who are top in the group in their final game. They are presently three points behind going into the final two games.

Second place South Africa who were favourite until losing three points for fielding an ineligible player against Lesotho in March, are joint top and separated by goal difference from Benin.

All three teams head into the final round of games with certain concerns about their team with Nigeria top of it all with as many as seven players facing difficulties in securing entry visa into South Africa, where they will be up against Lesotho on Friday.

The situation will disrupt preparation for the very important game as the affected players will only be available for one training session before the game.

South Africa will also go into the games with a huge worry with midfield star Relebohile Mofokeng set to miss both games, as confirmed by head coach Hugo Broos who has already named his replacement.

Hugo Broos confirmed that Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Mduduzi Shabalala has been called up as Mofokeng’s replacement.

“We replaced him with Shabalala. Second, there are two players who have not arrived because they played yesterday , that’s (Lyle) Foster and (Sphephelo) Sithole. They will arrive tomorrow (Tuesday) morning, and in the afternoon, we will be complete,” said Broos.

Meanwhile for table toppers Benin Republic, the coach Gernot Rohr is worried over his team’s lack of discipline which has put nine players on the edge of missing the all important game against Nigeria in Uyo.

The players on the edge are Sessi d’Almeida, Yohan Roche, Jodel Dossou, Rodrigue Kossi, Mohamed Tijani, Samadou Attidjikou, Imourane Hassane, Junior Olaitan and Cédric Hountondji.

“If a player is suspended for a protest or a bad-tempered gesture, he will face a fine,” Rohr warned.

“Above all, we are very strict. We don’t want to be affected by this kind of lack of discipline.”

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

New Super Eagles defender Benjamin Fredrick will play as the right back for the senior national team in the world cup qualifiers games against Lesotho and Benin Republic respectively, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Fredrick who is on loan to Dender of Belgium from English Premier League side Brentford is not new to playing in that role, and he is the top pick of head coach Eric Chelle in the absence of the duo of Ola Aina and Bright Osayi-Samuel through injury.

Chelle picked the 20 year old to play a different role from his accustomed centre back position, because he has shown his ability to hold his own in that role this season in Belgium.

Since joining Dender on loan, he has only played as a centre back three times in the ten games he has played. He played four games as a right wing back and three as a right full back.

His deployment to right back means the duo of Semi Ajayi and Calvin Bassey will continue their partnership in the heart of the defence for Nigeria, with Zaidu Sanusi who was a late call up in pole position to play as left back.

Captain William Troost-Ekong will be back up on the bench, while Bruno Onyemaechi is highly under consideration to play against Lesotho but not for the final game of the series against Benin Republic because he is suspect defensively.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle will make some changes to the defence of the team for the world cup qualifiers game against Lesotho on Friday, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Chelle has already mapped out how he wants his defence to look like for the game, which they hope to win with a huge scoreline to put themselves in a good position in the event that any of the two teams ahead of them in the group in Benin Republic and South Africa slips.

Despite the emphasis and commitment to go all out in search of goals, the coach is also aware that his defence must be at it’s best not to concede as well, judging by the fact that goal difference is the first tie breaker in the qualifiers.

We can exclusively reveal that central defender Semi Ajayi is in contention to start in the heart of the defence alongside Benjamin Fredrick, who impressed during the last round of games last month.

Calvin Bassey, who levelled for the team in the 1-1 draw against South Africa will start as the left back, but with the return of Zaidu Sanusi as a late replacement for the injured Felix Agu. There is the likelihood of the FC Porto man starting.

If he does start, it means Semi Ajayi will drop to the bench for the duo of Bassey and Fredrick to continue their partnership in the heart of the Nigerian defence.

Meanwhile Fredrick is now the top option to operate as a right full back with the duo of Ola Aina and Bright Osayi-Samuel missing through injury. If he starts Bassey will pair Ajayi at centre back with Zaidu taking up the slot as the left back.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

The decision of head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle to hand a late call up to FC Porto defender Zaidu Sanusi came as a surprise to the 28 year old, OwnGoalNigeria.com reveals.

The injury to Werder Bremen defender Felix Agu made the coach who initially left the back to fitness defender out of his team for the upcoming world cup qualifiers games against Lesotho and Benin Republic respectively.

Zaidu hasn’t been involved with the team since the last AFCON, where he returned back to Porto with an injury that kept him out for the rest of the season, and even beyond .

He returned to full fitness this season, and scored his first goal of the season last weekend, which was his seventh league game of the season. He has also played in two games in the Europa league.

” I was surprised when I didn’t make it to the initial list of 23 players for the games because I have been playing a lot of games. However that doesn’t matter and I am ready to contribute my part to ensure that we make it to the World Cup. It’s a difficult situation but we can do it”, Zaidu told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

An idea on how head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle will approach Friday’s world cup qualifiers game against Lesotho has been made known to OwnGoalNigeria.com.

Nigeria will go into the game looking for a huge scoreline win to keep alive their fading hopes of making it to the 2026 World Cup, where they are presently joint third in their group, three points behind joint leaders Benin Republic and South Africa respectively.

Chelle will be going all out in the game against Lesotho in the event that any of the two teams ahead of Nigeria slips in their game. The coach will be hoping his team score at least three or more goals for the first time since he was employed as coach.

Rather than go with a 4-4-2 diamond, the coach will instead use a flat 4-4-2 with the idea that they start the game on the strong foot in attack. He will deploy a double strike force of Tolu Arokodare and Victor Osimhen.

He will likely keep the duo of Moses Simon and Ademola Lookman on the right and left flank respectively. While the midfield two will be Alex Iwobi and Wilfred Ndidi.

We gathered the idea is to ensure that they carry a healthy goal difference into the final game against Benin Republic in Uyo next week.

A top official of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) says the withdrawal of Eritrea from the world cup qualifiers, which left their group with a team less unlike other groups will likely benefit the Super Eagles based on past antecedents, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Eritrea were to play their games in group E alongside Morocco, Zambia, Congo, Tanzania and Niger in World Cup qualifiers, but withdrew in November 2023 before the first game leaving the group with five teams rather than six.

It means teams in the group will play lesser games than others in the group with six teams, which will be an undue advantage when the classification is done for second place teams for the playoff featuring the best four teams in second position.

In previous cases, FIFA, CAF and UEFA have used a method of deducting points across all groups in matches against the bottom teams of their group to make it even before deciding on the team that finishes second to even things up.

” The moment I saw your report on it. I informed my colleagues in the NFF and we made contact based on it and it’s indeed factual. In the past FIFA has used it and even CAF. So it’s an advantage to us at the moment if they end up doing it the way it has been done in the past”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

” However our aim is still to make it as group winners so a heavy score win in our last two games with the hope that results elsewhere go our way is the target. It’s still very possible as long as there is a mathematical chance”.

Head coach of the senior national team of Zimbabwe Michael Nees has assured that his team will go all out for a positive result against South Africa despite having a near zero chance of qualifying for the world cup, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Nees said his team who are bottom of the group still have a role to play in the final group standing starting with the game against South Africa on Friday. He made this known in an interview with Herald Online.

“We have a massive responsibility to be fair sportsmen, fair competitors, and to bring our best on the pitch in the first game and in the second game also,” Nees said. “It’s our duty as sportsmen.”

When asked if going all out against South Africa means doing a favour to other teams, who are pushing for the group’s sole ticket notably Benin Republic and Nigeria. Nees cleared the air.

“We cannot just experiment here and there because this would be almost interpreted as unfair competition, and we cannot afford that. FIFA is looking at us,” he added.

“Especially against South Africa, there’s a lot at stake. We want to represent the country with pride and patriotism, and in the best possible way, against one of the top five teams in Africa. And it will be a full house, packed,” the 58-year-old added.

Players of the senior national team of Nigeria will only have 48 hours training session before the game against Lesotho on Friday in the world cup qualifiers, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Nigeria head into the game needing a win to keep alive their chances of making it to the world cup, and could go level on point with the group leaders Benin Republic, if they slip up against Rwanda and South Africa suffer a similar fate.

The nature of the games means they should be early and prompt preparation, but that is not the case with the Nigerian teams with majority of the players not expected to be in camp until on Tuesday.

Air tickets for almost all the players were booked for Monday night, including those who played on Saturday and would have arrived camp at the earliest on Sunday or Monday.

Players of the team are very unhappy with the development and six of them who spoke to us on the condition of anonymity, accused the NFF of messing their travel plans with the poor arrangements.

It means those who arrive on Monday will only get to take part in a shake off drill in the evening, with technical and tactical training set to begin on Wednesday, which is 48 hours to the game.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

The best sports betting site 1xBet is going to tell you about this weekend’s most interesting matches, on which you can place winningbets! But remember that even the most exciting battles shouldn’t violate the principles of responsible gambling.

Chelsea vs Liverpool, October 4

In the autumn, Chelsea became too vulnerable, which can be explained by the strain the team endured at the summer’s main club tournament. The trophy didn’t protect them from injuries, and the absence of Cole Palmer and Levi Colwill became a serious problem. As a result, the Londoners have failed to win three EPL matches in a row.

Liverpool kept snatching the necessary points in the last minutes, but even this machine’s engine doesn’t always run smoothly. The Reds lost to Crystal Palace (1-2) and then left Istanbul with no points after the Champions League match against Galatasaray (0-1). The expensive newcomers aren’t adapting as quickly as Arne Slot wanted.

Odds: W1 – 2.983, X – 3.935, W2 – 2.347

Real Madrid vs Villarreal, October 4

Real Madrid have won 8 out of 9 games this season, but what everyone is interested in isn’t the victories over underdogs, but what happened in the derby against Atlético (2-5). One failure by Xabi Alonso attracted more attention than all his victories. Can the Meringues put in a convincing performance against strong opponents, or are they just a machine for destroying those who are weaker?

Marcelino, Villarreal’s coach, has more experience than Alonso. The Yellow Submarine is capable of playing attacking football as well as relying on counterattacks. This team is definitely thinking about winning and isn’t going to Madrid like a lamb to the slaughter.

Odds: W1 – 1.507, X – 5.28, W2 – 6.15

Juventus vs Milan, October 5

Under Igor Tudor, Juventus are like a young tiger. The team is moving away from the traditional image of a pragmatic giant and living up to its name by playing youthful football, with lots of mistakes and even more desire to act spectacularly. As a result, Juve are more and more often ending matches with scores of 4-4 or 4-3.

Milan are led by Max Allegri on the bench and Luka Modrić on the pitch – two lions who still have a huge desire to win. This great duo may make mistakes, but 12 points in 5 games prove that they want to become champions once again.

Odds: W1 – 2.741, X – 3.315, W2 – 2.865

Lille vs Paris Saint-Germain, October 5

During the off-season, Lille sold many of their leaders, but this club is accustomed to finding replacements and developing players. Their last two Ligue 1 matches brought the Mastiffs two defeats with an aggregate score of 0-4, but they are ready to lick their wounds and play with dignity against the champions.

Paris Saint-Germain, an official partner of 1xBet, are demonstrating remarkable resilience. A large number of injuries led to defeat against Marseille (0-1), but coach Luis Enrique adapted to the problems and found a way to beat Barcelona at Montjuïc (2-1).

Odds: W1 – 4.56, X – 4.25, W2 – 1.783

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Newly signed Inter Milan defender Manuel Akanji has opened up on the reason why he played for the national team of Switzerland ahead of the senior national team of Nigeria, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Akanji who joined the Italian giants after a highly successful three seasons stint with Manchester City has 73 caps for Switzerland at senior level, after progressing from their youth teams.

He was eligible to play for Nigeria before making his senior international bow for Switzerland in 2017. He however still carry a tattoo of the logo of the Super Eagles of Nigeria on his arm.

“This is the eagle, from the Nigerian national team, with the football under it. It’s something I carry with me,” he explained.

Akanji went forward to explain why he decided to play for Switzerland despite his proud Nigerian background and heritage.

“Obviously, I play for the Swiss national team, but I’m still really proud of being Nigerian. I could only make one decision, but they are still with me all the way. It’s been a long time since I’ve been back to Nigeria. It’s hard for me to go back because I don’t have a break in the winter, and summer is the rainy season, so you never really know what you’re going to get, but when I was young, I went there three or four times.”

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman