What Nigeria and South Africa need to qualify for the World Cup | OneFootball

The Super Eagles and Bafana Bafana are locked in a fierce battle to make it to next summer’s tournament after twist

Battle: South Africa and Nigeria are fighting it out for World Cup qualification

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Nigeria and South Africa are approaching the final stages of their respective eventful World Cup qualifying campaigns.

The Super Eagles take on Lesotho and Benin in two crucial fixtures over the next few days, and they currently sit third in Group C with only those two games left to play.

Every group winner will receive direct entry into next summer’s tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

The top four second-placed teams from the nine groups in CAF qualifying are drawn into play-offs to determine the only African representative in the inter-confederation play-offs, where six teams across the different continents face off to decide the final two World Cup finals berths.

In Group C at the moment, Eric Chelle’s Nigeria are third on 11 points, three behind both leaders Benin and second-placed South Africa.

Nigeria received a huge boost to their qualification chances last month when South Africa were docked three points by FIFA for fielding a suspended player in their match against Lesotho back in March, and Bafana Bafana now sit behind Benin due to their inferior goal difference.

There are five teams out of six that can still finish in the top two in Group C, with Zimbabwe the only side eliminated so far.

Had South Africa not been penalised, they would have been closing in on automatic qualification for the World Cup, but now they must beat Zimbabwe and Rwanda to seal a top-two finish.

Nigeria’s final game against Benin in Uyo on Tuesday looks like it will be the decisive fixture of the group, provided the Super Eagles defeat Lesotho in South Africa on Friday, although that will be no easy task.

That is because Lesotho and Rwanda both still have outside shouts of qualification, but they both must win their remaining games and hope that other results go their way.