Rival’s punishment gives Nigeria new hope in World Cup qualifiers group | OneFootball

Osimhen, Lookman & Co.'s Nigeria went from virtually eliminated in the African Qualifiers to a team with real chances of making it to the 2026 World Cup.

FIFA confirmed this Monday (29th) the punishment for South Africa, then leader of Group C, due to the irregular lineup of Teboho Mokoena in the 2-0 win over Lesotho on March 21.

South Africa has already announced that it will appeal the decision.

The presence of the midfielder, who should have served a suspension in the fifth round match, turned the aforementioned victory into a 3-0 defeat.

Bafana Bafana were leading the group with 17 points and a goal difference of eight. But now they have 14 points and a goal difference of three.

This allowed Benin to take the top spot and ensured the "rebirth" of Nigeria.

Before the punishment, the Super Eagles were six points behind the only team that would qualify directly for the World Cup with two rounds remaining.

See the Qualifiers regulations below.

📊 Updated Standings

Benin 🇧🇯 - 14 points - Four wins, two draws, and two losses. Goal difference +4

South Africa 🇿🇦 - 14 points - Four wins, two draws, and two losses. Goal difference +3

Nigeria 🇳🇬 - 11 points - Two wins, five draws, and one loss. Goal difference +2

Rwanda 🇷🇼 - 11 points - Three wins, two draws, and three losses. Goal difference zero

Lesotho 🇱🇸 - 9 points - Two wins, three draws, and three losses. Goal difference -3

Zimbabwe 🇿🇼 - 4 points - Four draws and four losses. Goal difference -8

📅 Remaining Matches

South Africa and Nigeria – who drew 1-1 in the last round – will play away matches next Sunday (5th).

Bafana Bafana will face Zimbabwe.

The Super Eagles, meanwhile, will face Lesotho.

Benin, in turn, will visit Rwanda – another team grateful for the punishment.

The final round will be on the following Sunday (12th) and will feature Nigeria 🆚 Benin, South Africa 🆚 Rwanda, Lesotho 🆚 Zimbabwe.

The battle in this group is for the top spot, as other second-placed teams currently have good points totals.

Such as Burkina Faso (15), DR Congo (16), Cameroon (15), Gabon (19), Uganda (15), Equatorial Guinea (16), and Madagascar (16)

Regulations📝

Fifty-three teams were divided into nine groups.

Only the group leader of each group qualifies directly for the World Cup.

The four best second-placed teams qualify for the African playoffs.

Which will determine the continent's representative in the intercontinental playoffs.

There will be six teams competing for two World Cup spots, and so far only New Caledonia is guaranteed.

Only Morocco and Tunisia have qualified so far.

All Qualified Teams 👇🏽

AFC - Asia

🇦🇺 Australia - 🇰🇷 South Korea - 🇮🇷 Iran - 🇯🇵 Japan - 🇯🇴 Jordan (debut) - 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan (debut)

CAF - Africa

🇲🇦 Morocco - 🇹🇳 Tunisia

Concacaf - Central and North America

🇨🇦 Canada (host) - 🇺🇸 United States (host) - 🇲🇽 Mexico (host)

Conmebol - South America

🇦🇷 Argentina - 🇧🇷 Brazil - 🇨🇴 Colombia - 🇪🇨 Ecuador - 🇵🇾 Paraguay - 🇺🇾 Uruguay

OFC - Oceania

🇳🇿 New Zealand

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This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.

📸 PHILL MAGAKOE - AFP or licensors