Guinea have underachieved of late. It's not that they are that great, but their talent level is better than the results they've been getting. They have some very good players all across the pitch but it's just not translating. I would say talent wise they probably rank around #12 in Africa but their results put them more around #18
Not that it's any excuse but Lesotho is far better than #153. Fifa rankings are garbage, especially when you get to the latter ends. For what it's worth my ranking has them at #128. They recently drew with CIV at home, and CIV only beat them 1-0 at home. Either way Nigeria has been getting one bad result after another, without playing that poorly to be honest, more just a lack of focus in key moments. It's kind of been the same story against some of these minnows at home. Dominate possession against a low block without really creating much, then get sucker punched on a counter or set piece. We've always kind of been a counter attacking team, so we struggle against these weaker sides where we dominate possession. If we don't win against Zimbabwe tomorrow it could be lights out already. They are a better team than Lesotho so I hope they actually attack us which will make our job easier.
By the way I predict Mali will qualify for 2026. Only new team from CAF. They may qualify directly or through the playoffs. Probably directly though.
Zimbabwe up 1-0 against Nigeria at half time. Nigeria have so many good attacking players. Its wierd how often they struggle against the “weaker” teams. Lets see if they Can turn this over. I wont say its game over if they loose. Still many games to play, and no other team in the group is going to win all their matches
Zimbabwe v Nigeria ended 1:1. I didn't watch this game, but did watch Saudi Arabia-Nigeria and I was left unimpressed by both. Given the number of Nigerian players doing very well in European clubs, and the overall pedigree, talent base, and quality of Nigerian football, their results since their unexpected WCQ playoff loss to Ghana, have been shockingly dismal. One can't help expecting things to turn around for them, but so far they haven't. Which is frankly bewildering.
If South Africa win on MD2 they will have a four-point advantage over Nigeria so they could afford to lose one of the direct games and still be ahead.
Tunisia will probably win the group, but Equatorial Guinea could secure a play-off spot given that the rest of their group seems weaker than other groups.
Yea as I said earlier, they are not a bad team. Of course Tunisia are favourites, but they Can give Them a good run for their money.
Mali struggling at 1-1 vs CAR, not looking great for them. There was a little melee after the CAR equalizer, so there will be a long stoppage time.
If I'm not mistaken didn't Equatorial Guinea beat Tunisia in the last qualifiers but just blow it on the final day I think? Well I just googled it so yes that's what happened, but I do remember those two having a showdown. So who knows, maybe EG will have learned something since then...
They didnt blew it on the last Day. They drew against Mauretania on the last Day. But even it they won it, they Would still finish second, as Tunisia had a much better goal difference, and also better head to head. But yes, they showed that they Can cause problems for Tunisia
Drew at home today against CAR, not a good result for them. Of course Ghana has also shown vulnerabilities and could yet drop points themselves.
I hope not. Nothing special about South Africa at all. They're not even as good as some of their past teams. I really hope Nigeria doesn't just throw this qualification away. If it was a 4 team group I think Nigeria might not be able to recover. But there are still 8 of 10 matches to play. South Africa will drop points. They've never been good on the road.
I still stand by my prediction. Ghana as you said is also struggling. They needed a 96 minute goal to beat Madagascar at home. The Ghana vs Mali matchup will be the best matchup of the African qualifying.
South African football does seem to be back on the rise a bit though, at least club-wise Mamelodi Sundowns have won the CAF Champions League and both Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates reached the final in the last 10 years. I don't know what that necessarily says as DRC teams are also pretty formidable at club level but don't seem to have that much national team success but maybe it does have some correlation...
I'll see what they can do at afcon. I have my doubts, even though they have a few food results lately.
Indeed South Africa seem very ordinary, admittedly I have not seen Nigeria lately though on paper they have a much more talented team.
Rwanda 2 South Africa 0 full time. Big big result for Nigeria. My suspicions seem correct. Nigeria just needs to wake up. No other teams in this group are going to be getting lots of points.
Maybe add Comoros to the list of dark horses. they are leading 1-0 against mighty Ghana at home at halftime.
A lot of big african nations are really struggling. Comoros really did beat Ghana! Libya drew Cameroon at home. South Africa lost at Rwanda Togo drew Senegal at home with now Zambia getting a chance to leapfrog to a 5 points lead over Senegal (which has 1 match less). This is going to be very interresting. btw, i. just noticed, that Senegal, Zambia, Togo and Congo were already together in a tight group for WC 2006 that saw Togo qualifying for the first and only time for a WC.