NIGERIA Football Federation (NFF) President Ibrahim Gusau believes the Super Eagles are strong enough to qualify for the 2026 World Cup via the play-offs.
The Super Eagles missed one day of training following Tuesday’s boycott to demand the payment of owed entitlements, two days before today’s African play-offs semi-final clash with Gabon in Rabat.
The row was settled yesterday, with captain William Troost-Ekong confirming that the Super Eagles’ outstanding bonuses and allowances had been paid.
“We believe in the players and their ability to make Nigeria proud, not only on Thursday, but throughout these playoffs,” Gusau told the NFF’s communication department.
“We have a team capable of earning a World Cup ticket.”
Meanwhile, NFF Technical Director Austin Eguavoen criticised the Super Eagles for the timing of their boycott, two days before the make-or-mar fixture against Gabon.
Eguavoen, himself a former Super Eagles captain who was involved in pay disputes with the NFF during his time in the 1980s and 1990s, still backs the team to make it to the World Cup.
The former Super Eagles head coach said: “These boys that I know, that I have worked with, want to go to the FIFA World Cup. The aspiration of every professional footballer is to play at the World Cup and enhance their market value.
“The timing of the strike was wrong. They might have had their reasons but the timing was not the best.
“Having said that, I have faith in them to rise up to the occasion and do the business on Thursday, and afterwards, on Sunday.”
Today’s encounter at the Complexe Sportif Prince Heritier Moulay Al Hassan in Rabat will kick off at 5pm (Morocco is in same time zone with Nigeria).
If the Super Eagles beat Gabon, they will face Cameroon or the Democratic Republic of Congo (who battle each other in the second semi-final from 8pm) in Sunday’s final.
The winners of the African play-offs will earn the sole ticket to the six-team intercontinental play-offs in Mexico next March.