Despite having secured their 2025 AFCON ticket and Group D top spot before the last round of qualifying matches, the Super Eagles will go all out for victory against Rwanda on Monday (today), says head coach Augustine Eguavoen.
Nigeria sealed their place in Morocco 2025 before their penultimate qualifying match against the Benin Republic in Abidjan on Thursday, thanks to Libya’s 1-0 win over Rwanda in Kigali, meaning Eguaveon’s men have nothing but pride to play for against the Amavubi – who still need a win to qualify.
For Eguavoen, the Rwanda game is important to sustain the team’s momentum even ahead of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers which resume in March 2025.
“When the World Cup qualifiers will come, I don’t know if I will be in charge or not but we want to win every game,” Eguavoen said at the pre-match interview on Sunday.
The Super Eagles are currently without three regular players including 2024 CAF Player of The Year nominee Ademola Lookman who left camp on Saturday after picking up a knock while Ola Aina also returned to England at the request of his club while goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali was excused following the demise of his father.
Eguavoen believes the absence of grieving goalkeeper Nwabali, Aina and in-form Lookman will not stop their momentum.
“He (Lookman) is slightly hurt and can’t play…he said that he is at 70 per cent,” Eguavoen said, adding that he was the one who permitted him to return to his club Atalanta.
“Nuno (Espirito, Nottingham Forrest coach) called me, and he wanted Ola to return since we had already qualified. I sanctioned it. It’s part of the relationships we are building with club sides,” the coach added.
The Super Eagles are not unaware of the fact that the Amavubi are in the same 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying group as them and that they (Rwanda) are the next opponents when the World Cup qualifying campaign resumes in March 2025.
According to the NFF, Monday’s encounter will see the return of former number one safe hands Maduka Okoye, and Bright Osayi-Samuel could start at right wing-back in the absence of Aina, with Bruno Onyemaechi at left wing-back, and Captain William Trrost-Ekong and Calvin Bassey at centre-back.
Wilfred Ndidi, Alex Iwobi, Frank Onyeka, Alhassan Yusuf Abdullahi, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru and Raphael Onyedika are still the options in the middle.
Victor Osimhen, whose goal earned the one point in Abidjan that took Nigeria to the top of the pool, will hope to score against the Amavubi, having come quite close several times when he joined the fray as a second-half substitute in Kigali in September.
He also has the target of overtaking former captain Segun Odegbami on the goals tally for Nigeria as they are both levelled on 23 goals.
The absence of Lookman means so much will be expected from fit-fighting and usually-dependable Moses Simon, with Samuel Chukwueze, Sadiq Umar, Kelechi Iheanacho and Victor Boniface all in the race for slots in the fore.