Super Eagles playmaker Alex Iwobi is optimistic about Nigeria’s chances of returning to the World Cup in 2026, SportPremi reports.
The three-time African champions received a massive boost in their final group qualifying match in October, after a comprehensive 4-0 thrashing of Benin Republic revived their chances of reaching next year’s showpiece event.
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Victor Osimhen netted a remarkable hat-trick, while Frank Onyeka added a fourth in stoppage time to seal a second-placed finish and a spot in the continental playoffs scheduled for this month.
Iwobi confident of World Cup return
Alex Iwobi previously featured for Nigeria at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, but was part of the squad that narrowly missed out to Ghana in the final qualifying rounds for the last edition in Qatar.
Speaking in an interview, the playmaker who recently made his 300th appearance in the English Premier League for Fulham last weekend, believes they can still secure qualification.
“We’ve managed to rescue ourselves from the dead”, Iwobi revealed.
“We know we have the players and the abilities to compete against any other country in the world.
“We have last year’s African best player (Ademola Lookman), the year before that (Victor Osimhen). It’ll be a shame if we don’t make it, but we have a lot of confidence. We just have to prove it to ourselves”, the Fulham man added.
Iwobi also reflected on playing for the National team.
“When I’m playing in Nigeria, we’re literally praying before training, on the bus praying before matches,” he recounts. “It’s (Christianity) a part of who I am.
“As long as people can embrace and showcase who they are, no one should be afraid to do that, and it’s amazing to see in this day and age everyone’s comfortable doing that now”, he concluded.
How Nigeria can qualify for the World Cup
Nigeria looked set to miss out on a second consecutive tournament after recording a 1-1 draw against South Africa in September.
However, two wins from their final two matches during the October international window revived their chances of reaching the showpiece event as they qualified as one of the highest-ranked second-placed teams in the qualifying rounds.
The playoffs is scheduled to hold later this month in Morocco, with Nigeria facing Gabon while the other clash sees Cameroon go up against the Republic of Congo.
The winner of both one-legged clashes will face-off in a final match to determine Africa’s representative at the intercontinental playoffs round.
Should Nigeria defeat Gabon and either Cameroon or DR Congo, they will now face another team from either Asia, South America or North America, to determine which side advances to the 2026 World Cup.
