Ten Cheetahs of Benin Republic players have arrived Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, for this week’s Group D AFCON 2025 qualifiers with Nigeria’s Super Eagles.
This is according to Football outfit Joueurs Beninois on their X handle.
The 10 players are among the 26 unveiled by head coach Gernot Rohr for Benin’s qualifiers with the Super Eagles and Libya.
After four games in the group Benin Republic are second on six points, four points adrift of the Eagles.
The Cheetahs would hope to replicate their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying feat against the three-time AFCON winners.
When both teams met in June, Benin Republic came from a goal down to beat the Eagles 2-1 on matchday 4.
The Eagles, however, avenged the defeat with a 3-0 win in Uyo, on matchday 1 of the AFCON qualifiers.
Ademola Lookman bagged a brace while Victor Osimhen was also on the score sheet.
Two teams would qualify from the group for next year’s AFCON in Morocco.
5 Comments
Super Eagles will come out victorious.
Very good
These last round of matches mean everything to Benin and Rwanda, but not so much to Nigeria, who have already qualified.
Rohr has done so well for Benin, raising their profile, confidence, and playing style (generally importing the Nigerian template to the neighboring country). He couldn’t help them qualify for Afcon 23, but now they’re firmly at the finish line for Acon 2025.
So, who can Nigeria help with some small football politics on the field in the 2 last matches? Will we be satisfied with a draw on Thursday, and they comprehensively beat Rwanda at home on Monday to hand the advantage to our former coach to shoo Benin in as the 2nd qualified team in the group?
Perhaps he’ll return the favor in the WCQ when it resumes in March since the situation is a little precarious at the moment. Let’s not forget that the other contenders in our group are majorly southern African nations, with South Africa being the heavyweight among them. They could play football politics among themselves too, especially Lesotho who i think will be happy to oblige Hugo Broos’s charges.
WCQ of March could as well have started in the boardroom now! As long as the agreement is a gentleman’s verbal/non-verbal nod behind closed doors, and nothing is documented or exchanged digitally. It’s all about Benin doing us the favors when Bafana comes calling.
But then again, with Osimhen (He hasn’t played in any WCQs so far) in full flight and Lookman hitting top form, we may not need all the off-field politics. Added to other super regulars, Simon, Ekong, and the new kid on the block, Tom dele Bashiru, we may have nothing to worry about.
@ Kel, I like your analysis but beating Benin and Rwanda will build the confidence of our boys. Let them wrap-up the two matches with winnings, Nigeria needs all the Points.
Good of you,I concur with your response. Thanks