William Troost-Ekong’s goal against Lesotho was his 8th in his career for the Nigerian National team…
The Super Eagles of Nigeria have no choice but to secure victory against the Republic of Benin if they’re to stand a chance of qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Soccernet.ng reports.
Goals from captain William Troost-Ekong and debutant Akor Adams were enough to gift Eric Chelle’s side all three points in Polokwane against Lesotho.
Nigeria’s final game will be in front of their home fans at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo, on Tuesday, and Ekong has chalked up the team’s mentality.
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Ekong holds on to World Cup dreams
Having represented the Super Eagles at the World stage in 2018, the one-time Greek Champion believes the feat is still within grasp, only if the team can secure a win against Gernot Rohr’s side.
“We have a team of guys who have a winning mentality,” the 32-year-old said in his post-match conference after Nigeria defeated Lesotho.
We want to be at the World Cup. We’ve said that now for the last nine months, and we still have an opportunity with the game that we’ll be playing in Uyo.
“Of course, playing against Benin, we know that we have to score a certain number of goals.
“We’ll set the mindset that we want to go in for, but it was always the case that we have to win the game, and we have to do so basically.
“It’s going to be a big test again, but now, I think the team is really ready because we’ve been working on the pressure now for such a long time, and we all know this is the final.
“So, we worked very hard to get there and like the coach said, I’m also very proud of the team, and we keep believing until the very end, and we’ll speak again on Tuesday night,” the 2023 CAF MVP concluded.
While Nigeria have to defeat the Republic of Benin in their final qualifier group clash at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium on Tuesday, they’ll need Rwanda to take points off South Africa simultaneously.