Super Eagles Captain, William Troost-Ekong, has assured Nigerians that the senior national team would do everything possible to qualify for the 2026 World Cup through the African and inter-continental playoffs.

Nigeria will meet Gabon in the semifinals of the African playoff, which also has Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo DR contesting for the lone ticket.

If Nigeria wins the continental ticket at the playoff billed for Morocco next month, the Super Eagles will then join five other countries in an inter-confederation playoff in Mexico, where two teams will qualify for the championship billed for the United States, Canada and Mexico next year.

Speaking on the Eagles’ bid to return to the World Cup next year after missing the 2022 edition hosted by Qatar, yesterday, Ekong, who led the Super Eagles to a 4-0 victory over the Bénin Republic in Uyo on Tuesday, said: “We are quite happy to have that opportunity. It is a long route, but it is a route after all. We would have loved to get the automatic ticket, but it didn’t happen, and we take what we have.

“For us, we will remain strong and tough and ready to confront every challenge on our way as we search for the ticket to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.”

On Tuesday’s victory, Ekong said: “Everyone contributed; each person played their part. If the other match had gone in our favour, we would have had the automatic ticket now. But that’s life. You take what you get and run with it, and make the best of it.”

Nigeria got their best result of the campaign on an inspired night in the Akwa Ibom State capital, with Victor Osimhen netting a hat-trick and midfielder Frank Onyeka, who came in as a substitute, rifling in with the clock on 90 minutes to send the three-time African champions to the CAF Play-off Tournament.

With the result they earned, the Super Eagles should have picked up the automatic ticket from Group C, but once more, Rwanda’s Amavubi failed to hold things tight for Nigeria at the crucial hour, crumbling like a pack of cards to South Africa’s Bafana Bafana in Nelspruit. It was November 2005 all over again, when all the Amavubi needed to do was hold Angola to a draw on the final matchday at home in Kigali, but they conceded a late goal by Fabrice Akwa to render Nigeria’s five-goal rout of Zimbabwe in Abuja inconsequential, instead sending Angola to their first FIFA World Cup finals.

In the CAF Play-offs, Nigeria will take on Gabon’s Palancas Negras in a ‘first semi-final’ on November 13, with Cameroon taking on the Democratic Republic of Congo in the ‘second semi-final’ on November 14. The two winners clash on November 16 in the ‘final,’ with the winner to proceed to the Intercontinental Play-offs scheduled for the Mexican cities of Guadalajara and Monterrey in March next year.

At the International Play-off Tournament, six teams will battle for two tickets. The teams are Africa’s winner, Bolivia, New Caledonia, the winner of the Asian play-off between Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, and two of Jamaica, Costa Rica and Panama.