Ahead of treble clash with Nigeria

By Rasheed Adewuyi

Exactly four months after the Super Eagles bumped them and relegated them to the third-place match of the Africa Cup of Nations, South Africa’s Bafana Bafana are in jitters as they will face the three-time African champions again in a crucial 2026 World Cup qualifying match in Uyo.

Only three days ago, the Super Falcons pushed Banyana Banyana, the reigning African champions, off the bus to this year’s Women’s Olympic Football Tournament, instead grabbing the ticket to ensure a first appearance at the glamour tournament for the first time in 16 years.

Nigeria’s assured victories in the two fixtures have left the hierarchy of South African football flummoxed, and there is no adequate time to recover or rejig strategies before the Bafana Bafana face the Super Eagles in a Day 3 encounter of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying series at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo, on Friday, 7^th June.

With two points from their previous two matches but aware of their hold over Bafana Bafana, the African vice-champions are confident of the three points on the day, which could see them fly to the top of the pool.

On 7th February at the Stade de la Paix, Bouake, the Super Eagles kicked the Bafana to the third-place match of the 34^th Africa Cup of Nations. Despite achieving parity late in the game, the Bafana were cut to size during the penalty shootout, with Nigeria’s South Africa-based goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali saving two of the kicks by the Bafana.

South Africans’ boasts of bouncing the Super Falcons in the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament fixture in revenge ended belly-up with the Banyana failing to score a goal in 180 minutes of action, with the two teams separated by Rasheedat Ajibade’s goal from the penalty spot in Abuja on Friday, 5^th April.

Despite being a point ahead of the Super Eagles in their World Cup qualifying group, the Bafana will fall behind once they face the Super Eagles’ superior strength, skill, and savvy on another Friday in June.

It can be recalled that when the two teams also met at the Africa Cup of Nations in 2019, at the quarter-final stage, Nigeria triumphed 2-1 in Cairo.

The Super Eagles players are already in the mood to deliver the big punches to Bafana in Uyo in a few weeks. Only on Thursday night, top striker Victor Boniface returned from the injury that kept him out of the AFCON by coming off the bench to score in Bayer Leverkusen’s Europa League quarter-final duel with West Ham of England.

African Player of the Year Victor Osimhen has also been unable to stop scoring for his Italian Serie A side, SC Napoli.

Goalkeeper Nwabali remains in awesome shape, and midfielders Alex Iwobi and Ademola Lookman shone brightly in Ghana’s defeat in a friendly in Morocco last month.