South Africa with the draw moved from 3rd to 4th position in Group C, while Nigeria dropped to 5th position
By Kehinde Okeowo
South Africa held Nigeria to a 1-1 draw in a 2026 World Cup qualifying match played at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo on Friday night.
The visitors opened the scoring in the 21st minute through Themba Zwane and held on to end the first half 1-0.
However, Super Eagles restored parity in the 46th minute through second half substitute, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru.
ALSO READ: Broos identifies Lookman as Super Eagles’ ‘danger man’
With the draw, Nigeria dropped to 5th position in Group C, having garnered only three points from 3 games, while South Africa moved from 3rd to 4th position.
Super Eagles after the disappointing result will now focus on their game against Benin Republic in Cote d’Ivoire in three days time.
Speaking after the encounter, an obviously frustrated Finidi suggested that a game of such magnitude should have been officiated with VAR technology.
He said, “I’m sure we all saw the AFCON in Cote d’Ivoire where the VAR was properly used.
“Even the Europeans were applauding the AFCON, you know. For me, I don’t know why in (World Cup qualifiers) like this, where everything counts and we couldn’t have a play or incident properly checked to know if a goal is properly scored or not.”
