BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
As the long journey to the 2026 World Cup begins in Africa this Wednesday, Nigeria’s Super Eagles central defender, Kenneth Omeruo, has promised a good start as the team will play two matches in quick succession.
The Super Eagles are in Group C of the qualifying series which also houses South Africa, Benin Republic, Lesotho, Rwanda and Mozambique.
The group opens with a clash of Rwanda hosting Mozambique this Wednesday. There are three other fixtures for the day as Equatorial Guinea host Namibia in Group H this afternoon, while later in the evening, Congo DR will be at home to Mauritania in Group B.
The last match of the day will see Ethiopia at home to Sierra Leone in Group A.
Nigeria will begin a set of 10 matches when they host Lesotho in Uyo on Thursday and will on Sunday be away to Zimbabwe. Longest serving member of the team, Kenneth Omeruo in a press release by the NFF remarked that the Super Eagles are hoping for a good head start that could see the team cruising almost seamlessly as the qualifying series progress.
It was in a similar vein that the team prosecuted the qualifiers to the Russia 2018 when they won their first three matches to get a nine-point advantage.
They were almost making it four win in a row, but for the penalty kick that enabled Cameroon salvage a point in the Matchday 4. But for that, the Super Eagles could have qualified even with two matches to go.
Winning on Matchday 5 against Zambia eventually fetched them the ticket.
Thursday match against Lesotho will be their first World Cup qualifying match at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo since beating Zambia to qualify for Russia 2018 on 7October 2017.
Omeruo is looking forward to another smooth campaign with the national team when they file out against Lesotho on Thursday in Uyo.