The Super Eagles of Nigeria returned to the training ground on Wednesday evening, as focus shifts firmly to Thursday’s 2026 FIFA World Cup Africa playoff semi-final clash, against the Panthers of Gabon.
The pay dispute that reared its head and knocked off Tuesday’s training session has been put to bed, as the players now look forward to putting Thursday’s potentially-explosive encounter out of the reach of the Gabonese, and earn a place in Sunday’s Final.
From Wednesday evening, the three-time African champions trained at the Institut Royal de Formation Des Cadres in Salé, outside Rabat.
President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Ibrahim Musa Gusau, expressed confidence that the team will deliver on Thursday.
“We believe in the players and their ability to make Nigeria proud, not only on Thursday, but throughout these playoffs. We have a team capable of earning a World Cup ticket,” Gusau said.
Former Nigerian International and coach, now NFF Technical Director, Augustine Eguavoen, shared a few words.
“These boys that I know, that I have worked with, want to go to the FIFA World Cup. The aspiration of every professional footballer is to play at the World Cup and enhance their market value,” Eguavoen added.
“The timing of the strike was wrong. They might have had their reasons but the timing was not the best. Having said that, I have faith in them to rise up to the occasion and do the business on Thursday, and afterwards, on Sunday.”
Thursday’s high-stakes encounter at the Complexe Sportif Prince Heritier Moulay Al Hassan in Rabat, starting at 5pm (WAT) will be the 10th confrontation between the senior men national teams of Nigeria and Gabon.
Nigeria hav3 won five of the previous nine matches, and three drawn. Gabon won only one – a 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Libreville that ended 2-1.
On Thursday, forwards Victor Osimhen and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will be the players to watch, as two of the deadliest strikers in world football lead their teams’ pursuit of a FIFA World Cup ticket.
Aubameyang netted all four of Gabon’s goals in an away game against Gambia in the qualifying series, while Osimhen scored two away to Rwanda and three at home to Bénin Republic.