Tremendous Eagles insider, Colin Udoh, has revealed that goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali and several other teammates appeared unaware that Nigeria wanted greater than three targets to safe a spot within the 2026 World Cup playoffs throughout their match towards Benin Republic.

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The environment at the Godswill Akpabio Worldwide Stadium in Uyo — and throughout Nigeria — was tense, as many followers doubted the Tremendous Eagles’ potential to beat Benin. It might have ended otherwise had Eric Chelle’s males failed to search out the fourth objective.

The Tremendous Eagles finally triumphed 4–0 over Benin on Tuesday night, a end result that secured their playoff spot.

Nevertheless, many Nigerians didn’t realise how shut the staff got here to elimination till Frank Onyeka’s late objective sealed the victory.

CAF had earlier reintroduced a revised system for choosing the second-best groups after Eritrea’s withdrawal from the qualifiers. This rule allowed Nigeria to edge Burkina Faso for the playoff ticket with 15 factors and a objective distinction of +7, in comparison with Les Étalons’ 15 factors and +6 objective distinction.

“The objective was crucial, it did look, for some minutes, that the gamers weren’t conscious they wanted a fourth objective,” Udoh stated on ESPN FC.

“I noticed the goalkeeper losing time somewhat bit. I don’t know whether or not they knew or not, so I texted somebody on the bench to inform the blokes that we wanted a fourth objective.

“We received the fourth objective, and in the long run, that single strike was sufficient for the Tremendous Eagles to edge Burkina Faso and transfer on to the playoffs.

“I didn’t consider they had been going to make it. I used to be talking to the NFF President after the sport, and he stated he was within the dressing room at half-time.

“He told Osimhen and the others that they wanted to attain 4 targets to make it by.”

Nigeria will now face Gabon within the playoff scheduled for November 2025 in Morocco.