'Nigeria is with a knife here' - Bafana Bafana coach Broos reveals Super Eagles have a big problem on their hands  

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos addressed the media at his pre-match press conference on Friday, on the eve of his side's 2026 World Cup qualifying match against Gernot Rohr's Republic of Benin. 

Not surprisingly, one of the subjects the Belgian football tactician discussed in detail was Nigeria's embarrassing 1-1 draw with Lesotho in their first game of the World Cup qualifiers.

West Brom defender Semi Ajayi rose highest in the box to head in an equalizer midway through the second half, which brought the scores back level following Motlomelo Mkwanazi's opener for the visitors. 

Broos underlined that South Africa don't want to find themselves in the same boat  as the Super Eagles, who are in a difficult situation and could be playing catch-up after the first two matchdays in Group C of the World Cup qualifiers. 

"If we win tomorrow the next game playing in Rwanda we have to win it also but for Nigeria it's a little bit different. Imagine that we are in that position and we have to go to Rwanda next week so if we can win tomorrow your mindset is a little bit different," Broos told reporters in Durban. 

"It doesn't mean you go to Rwanda and say 'okay if we lose', but it's not with the knife here. Nigeria is with a knife here. Let's pray to the Lord that we have six points from six, and they play again a draw, they have four points behind already.

"Lesotho in Nigeria the motivation of those players was 200 percent to do something against them. If they lose, so what, it's normal, now everyone is speaking about the draw of Lesotho so the motivation for those teams is very big."

Broos revealed that Lesotho forcing Nigeria to a draw in Uyo backs up his claims that Group C of the World Cup qualifiers is tricky.

"When the draw was done I said it was not the worst group but it was a tricky group and you see the results of the past days, showed I was right when I said that.

"All the matches were draws and certainly Nigeria's draw yesterday was a surprise and therefore again winning at home is very important.

"When you don't win at home, you have to catch those points away and we know it's very difficult in Africa."

Nigeria will host South Africa on matchday 3 of the World Cup qualifiers next June and face the same opponents in South Africa in the antepenultimate round of matches in Group C.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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