Former Super Eagles midfielder Mutiu Adepoju has pointed to the poor playing surface at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein as a major factor in Nigeria’s 1-1 draw with South Africa on Tuesday night, Footynaija.com reports.
Nigeria went into the 2026 World Cup qualifier trailing Bafana Bafana by six points, knowing victory would cut that deficit in half.
Instead, William Troost-Ekong’s own goal and Calvin Bassey’s equaliser left the contest level, leaving the Super Eagles with more work to do in Group C.
Adepoju, who was once on the payroll at Real Madrid, was unimpressed by the conditions in Bloemfontein.
“I am not really happy with the kind of pitch that was used for this big game of this nature,” Adepoju told SportyTV. “As you can see, the Super Eagles players are really struggling to cope with it because it’s a bumpy pitch.
“The players tried their best to cope with the nature of the pitch, and it’s so unfortunate that Nigeria could only play a 1-1 draw against South Africa.”
The result leaves Nigeria under mounting pressure with just two fixtures remaining. Benin’s 4-0 win over Lesotho later in the evening only deepened the challenge, pushing the Super Eagles into third place in the group.
Eric Chelle’s side must now beat both Rwanda and Benin in October and hope other results swing in their favour. Failure to do so could see Nigeria miss back-to-back World Cups for the first time since their debut in 1994.