Former Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr will do the Super Eagles a massive favour should they beat Group C leaders South Africa Tuesday in Abidjan.
Benin’s German head coach Gernot Rohr
Group C of the 2026 World Cup qualifying tournament continues to be wide open after five rounds of matches.
Bafana Bafana of South Africa now lead the standings with 10 points and a healthy +3 goals difference after a 2-0 home win over neigbours Lesotho, while the Cheetahs from Benin are now second on eight points on the back of a 2-2 draw with home team Zimbabwe.
Benin have not been great travellers and so have not won away from home in over three years.
They were close to breaking this unwanted record in Durban Thursday only for the Warriors of Zimbabwe to stage a remarkable comeback to salvage a draw.
Wily coach Rohr must have rued this missed opportunity by his team and he has a chance to make up for this slip with victory over South Africa in their adopted home of Abidjan.
Benin have made Abidjan home as they have won all their home games in both the 2026 World Cup and 2025 AFCON qualifiers.
They have beaten the Super Eagles (2-1), Libya (2-1), Rwanda (3-0 AFCON qualifier, 1-0 World Cup qualifier) all at this adopted home ground.
Ndidi vs Benin star Olaitan (right) in June 2024 in Abidjan. Super Eagles lost
South Africa coach Hugo Broos has expressed confidence of his team’s chances because they will not be intimidated by a hostile home crowd.
But Bafana Bafana have also been known to struggle on the road and so we have ourselves a very interesting match Tuesday evening in Abidjan.
Victory for Benin in this contest will lift them to the top of group with 11 points going into the seventh round of World Cup qualifying matches in September.
It will at least slow down South Africa, who are threatening to run away with the automatic ticket to the 2026 World Cup.
But at the same time, the Super Eagles must also do their own side of the bargain by completing the good work they begun in Rwanda by beating Zimbabwe to move to nine points on the table.
That way they will then be within striking distance of the group front runners with four rounds of matches to end of the qualifiers during which they have two home games against Rwanda and Benin as well as away trips to South Africa and Lesotho.
Surely, there is still everything to play for in this qualifying group for the biggest ever World Cup in USA, Canada and Mexico next year.
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