As the Super Eagles prepare to fly out for their next World Cup qualifier against Benin Republic, coach Finidi George has assured Nigerians it was not yet over for his team.
Finidi who was speaking after the Super Eagles forced South Africa to a 1-1 draw at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo, said there was no need to panic because there are still more games left to play and the team is motivated to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. It was the third straight draw for the Super Eagles in the group C qualifiers now topped by Lesotho after beating Zimbabwe 2-0 away.
“I am not shaken, I am relaxed, we know what is at stake, we know we have to qualify (for the World Cup), but that does not mean we have to run helter skelter because of the draw,” said Finidi.
“We dropped points and that should not break us, a positive result will change the narrative.
“It is not the best result we wanted, we have to get our heads up and work for the next game (Benin).”
He added that Super Eagles could have won in Uyo but for the absence of Video Assistant Referee.
South Africa had gone ahead in the first half, but Fisayo Dele-Bashiru scored after the break giving the Super Eagles more confidence to search for the winner.
Dele-Bashiru was brought down in the box, but it was not given also Samuel Chukwueze’s cracker, which hit the bar and bounced behind the goal line was ruled out.
“I’m sure we all saw the AFCON in Cote d’Ivoire where the VAR was properly used.
“For me, I don’t know why in (World Cup qualifiers) like this, where everything counts and we couldn’t have a play or incident properly checked to know if a goal is properly scored or not.
“Chukwueze’s cross which hit the (underneath of the) bar, from where I was standing, I don’t know whether it crossed the line, but if there’s VAR, we would have had the opportunity of having a better view. For me, I’m just a coach and cannot change the rules of FIFA”.
