8 hours Ago By Guardian Nigeria
• Broos names Bafana Bafana’s final squad Super Eagles Manager, Eric Sekou Toure Chelle, yesterday picked Gent’s defender, Jordan Torunarigha, as replacement for Nathan Tella, who sat out Bayer Leverkusen’s UEFA Champions League Round of 16 game against Bayern Munich, on Tuesday. Tella was named in Chelle’s 23-man team for the 2026 World Cup qualifying games against Rwanda and Zimbabwe on March 21 and 25 respectively. But the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in the Super Eagles’ X handle, yesterday, announced that the injured 25-year-old forward could not recover on time for the games.
Torunarigha, a former Germany junior international, changed allegiance to Nigeria a couple of years ago to play for his father’s country. He is the son of former Shooting Stars defender, Ojokojo Torunarigha, who relocated to Germany in the 1990s. The Super Eagles are expected to start converging on Kigali on March 16 ahead of the match scheduled against the Amavubis billed to hold at the Amahoro Stadium on March 21.
Group C leaders, Rwanda, top the zone with seven points, which is the same as South Africa and Benin Republic, with Lesotho fourth with six points, while Nigeria has only three points from four games to occupy the fifth position. Zimbabwe is last in the group with two points. After the game against Rwanda, the Super Eagles will return to Nigeria to host Zimbabwe at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo, on March 25.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Group C rivals, South Africa, yesterday named its final squad of 24 players for the matches against Lesotho and Benin Republic. The Bafana Bafana will host Lesotho at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium in South Africa because the Basotho have no stadium approved for the game by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). After the Lesotho game, the South Africans will move to Abidjan to confront the Benin Republic on March 25 in a game that means so much for the Super Eagles.
A win for the Beninoise will enhance Nigeria’s chances of catching up with the three leading sides provided the Super Eagles beat Rwanda on March 21 in Kigali..
