Super Eagles captain, William Ekong, has stressed that the team’s focus remains solely on their upcoming World Cup qualifier against Rwanda’s Amavubi, rather than the highly anticipated clash with South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
In an interview on Thursday, Ekong explained that Nigeria’s immediate priority is the Saturday match in Uyo against Rwanda, before turning their attention to the trip to Bloemfontein for the encounter with South Africa on Tuesday.
“You take one step at a time. We have Rwanda to play on Saturday, and there are three points to play for there. After that is concluded, we begin to think of South Africa. There are three points also in there when we play in Bloemfontein, but that is a few days after Rwanda. Rwanda comes first,” Ekong stated.
Despite a challenging start to the campaign, where Nigeria failed to win any of their first four matches, Ekong emphasized that the Super Eagles are committed to securing victories in the remaining games, which they believe will be enough to earn them a spot in next summer’s 48-nation World Cup finals in North America.
“We will do our very best to go all out and win the remaining four matches. Hopefully, that will be good enough to take us there,” he said.
The clash with Rwanda on Saturday is a Matchday 7 fixture, while the showdown with South Africa follows on Matchday 8. Ekong’s words echo a crucial lesson learned from Nigeria’s 1998 World Cup campaign in France, where the team’s focus on a potential quarter-final clash with Brazil led to an upset 4-1 defeat to Denmark in the Round of 16. Danish winger Brian Laudrup famously remarked after the game: “Nigeria should learn to count one before four.”
The Super Eagles squad has now reached full capacity, with the arrivals of key players, including midfielders Raphael Onyedika and Christantus Uche, and forwards Victor Osimhen, Samuel Chukwueze, and Tolu Arokodare, completing the group ahead of the crucial qualifiers.
