Super Eagles head coach, Eric Chelle has rued the suspension of his deputy captain Wilfred Ndidi, who picked a second yellow card in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Play-off semi-final clash.
Ndidi will sit out the big fight against the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday night for the lone ticket from Africa to the six-team 2026 FIFA World Cup Intercontinental Playoff Finals in March, from where two teams will bag tickets to next year’s FIFA World Cup finals.
According to Chelle, “Ndidi is an important player for us. His experience, ability and leadership on the pitch are important for this team. But we will manage the situation. We have a large squad of players and we will make changes.
“Ndidi is still here with us and will support the team mentally and with his presence.”
The potentially-explosive encounter inside the Complexe Sportif Prince Moulay El Hassan will see the Leopards, who last attended football’s biggest houseparty in 1974, try to halt the strong march of the Super Eagles to a seventh finals since 1994.
While there were robust back-and-forths between the Eagles and the Panthers in Thursday’s semi-final, as well as eye-catching ding-dongs in regulation time, Nigeria eased into gear five in extra time and completely left their opponents for dead as they stormed to a 4-1 win.
Chelle can opt to start with either Raphael Onyedika or Frank Onyeka in place of Ndidi. Onyeka greatly shored up the midfield in extra time on Thursday. The coach also has added ammunition at the back as suspended centre-back Semi Ajayi is now free to go into action.
Already qualified for the Intercontinental Playoffs, scheduled for the Mexican cities of Guadalajara and Monterrey in March, are Bolivia and New Caledonia, with Iraq, Jamaica and Panama also well-placed to make it.
However, Nigeria and Panama are the highest-ranked of the six, and will each be seeded to play only one match (the two Final matches), after the other four had battled out semi-final matches.
