Africa Football Discussion || Current Topic: AFCON 2025 Qualifiers - CAF.

[Rockstarguy]

Which African footballer do you think is most likely to win the next award for the best African player of the year?

Ademola Lookman and Victor Boniface are like my two favourite African players right now. They are stars in their own right and if the African Footballer Award can be given to two players, I'll certain pick the both of them. However, that is not the case so I will bring in my own bias just like those who will vote will do too. My pick will go to Victor Boniface because even though he was absent from the AFCON due to injury (I hope the judging criteria will not include this), he has had impressive stats in his own league and club. Lastly, because he is witty and has a great sense of humor. Have you seen his tweets. Dude would have been a very successful comedian if football didn't work out for him.

I think this two players have done very well from their respective club, I think the best Africa player this year can go to boniface because of his team winning the Bundesliga tittle and Bayern Leverkusen getting to the final of europa league.  But to be honest the two players have done very well in this season, I must say lookman have done well for scoring the three goals during the Europa finals game, it is not easy for a player to score all the goals to win the title of the team. Ademola Lookman is just a great player and if not for him Bayer Leverkusen would not be able to win the Europa League.

The two players have really contributed much to their club and I think Africans will be proud of them because of the mich works they have put in their respective clubs.

[Rruchi man]

Take a look at the picture above. Which of the Super Eagle players do you think Finidi George did not include in Nigeria's squad for the 2026 World Cup qualifications?

- No Ola Aina from Nottingham Forest is on the list; there are reports of him being injured and wanting to focus on recovery.
- Troost Ekong is also not on the list because he is just returning from injury, and his fitness level is low.
- Kenneth Omeruo is also not on the list, same reasons as Ekong's.
- Moses simon not on the list either, I will miss him.

I am okay with the attackers but not the midfielders because I still feel that we need more creative midfielders, Iwobi is not enough.
 

[Sexylizzy2813]

I really don't know why some Super Eagles players find it difficult to make a move that they know would upgrade their recognition than they have been in a long while, like Stanley Nwabali who did very well in the last AFCON has been finding it hard to decide if he'd leave his club at SA and seek for a better challenge.
Some months ago after the Nations Cup Nwabali The Super Eagles Goalkeeper said he'd like to stay and play for his club Chipper UTD and he would like to give his all since the owner I think, gave his support during his time in the Nations Cup, but now he said he would like to seek for a new challenge else where, we have some teams in Europe who would be glad to take him in, my worry or question is why is it hard for some of our Super Eagles players find it hard to make names for themselves rather they prefer to stay at a place where it would be hard for the world to see what they're made of, why?

[Marykeller]

Take a look at the picture above. Which of the Super Eagle players do you think Finidi George did not include in Nigeria's squad for the 2026 World Cup qualifications?

- No Ola Aina from Nottingham Forest is on the list; there are reports of him being injured and wanting to focus on recovery.
- Troost Ekong is also not on the list because he is just returning from injury, and his fitness level is low.
- Kenneth Omeruo is also not on the list, same reasons as Ekong's.
- Moses simon is not on the list either, I will miss him.

I am okay with the attackers but not the midfielders because I still feel that we need more creative midfielders, Iwobi is not enough.
 

About not including players: There is recent news that Victor Osimhen will be out of the Super Eagles squad because of his reoccurring injuries in recent months. That will automatically make Osimhen not to be available in the forthcoming match of Super Eagles 2026 World Cup match against South Africa and the Benin Republic.

Kenneth Igboke, from Enugu Rangers, will replace him.

Link for info: https://www.thecable.ng/osimhen-out-of-south-africa-benin-games-due-to-injury/amp/

This a sad news for the Super Eagles squad at this time, they needed to win their two upcoming matches by all means. To rule out Victor Osimhen from the squad is a big blow if I am to say.

[Stepstowealth]

About not including players: There is recent news that Victor Osimhen will be out of the Super Eagles squad because of his reoccurring injuries in recent months. That will automatically make Osimhen not to be available in the forthcoming match of Super Eagles 2026 World Cup match against South Africa and the Benin Republic.

Kenneth Igboke, from Enugu Rangers, will replace him

It is now almost like a spiritual curse that the three Nigerian strikers, Victor Osimhen, Boniface and Lookman will never get to play in one competition. In the African Cup of Nations where we felt that we would see Victor Boniface perform for us he sustained an injury and was kept out of the competition, now the same thing has happened to Victor Osimhen at the stage where we already felt that we have the best attackers in Africa already to make sure we qualify for the world cup. Nigeria will miss Victor Osimhen and the hardwork and effort he puts into every performance for the team.
Boniface has the opportunity to shine now. 

[Sexylizzy2813]

About not including players: There is recent news that Victor Osimhen will be out of the Super Eagles squad because of his reoccurring injuries in recent months. That will automatically make Osimhen not to be available in the forthcoming match of Super Eagles 2026 World Cup match against South Africa and the Benin Republic.

Kenneth Igboke, from Enugu Rangers, will replace him

It is now almost like a spiritual curse that the three Nigerian strikers, Victor Osimhen, Boniface and Lookman will never get to play in one competition. In the African Cup of Nations where we felt that we would see Victor Boniface perform for us he sustained an injury and was kept out of the competition, now the same thing has happened to Victor Osimhen at the stage where we already felt that we have the best attackers in Africa already to make sure we qualify for the world cup. Nigeria will miss Victor Osimhen and the hardwork and effort he puts into every performance for the team.
Boniface has the opportunity to shine now. 

That's how we see it but one thing is sure and that's not picking all 3 of them. If the coach is to select 2 out of these 3 players don't you think Boniface would be left out if the squad? That's the thing and it could be any of the 3 players but if things are going fine I'd go for Osimhen and Lookman because these two are on fire this season, don't get me wrong about Boniface, all 3 of them are very good. But as for Boniface I feel injury made him become option B for the Leverkusen team, with Osimhen out due to injury I feel this is another opportunity for Boniface to step in and show what we have been missing out.

[Marykeller]

About not including players: There is recent news that Victor Osimhen will be out of the Super Eagles squad because of his reoccurring injuries in recent months. That will automatically make Osimhen not to be available in the forthcoming match of Super Eagles 2026 World Cup match against South Africa and the Benin Republic.

Kenneth Igboke, from Enugu Rangers, will replace him

It is now almost like a spiritual curse that the three Nigerian strikers, Victor Osimhen, Boniface and Lookman will never get to play in one competition. In the African Cup of Nations where we felt that we would see Victor Boniface perform for us he sustained an injury and was kept out of the competition, now the same thing has happened to Victor Osimhen at the stage where we already felt that we have the best attackers in Africa already to make sure we qualify for the world cup. Nigeria will miss Victor Osimhen and the hardwork and effort he puts into every performance for the team.
Boniface has the opportunity to shine now.  

Not only that Boniface have the opportunity to shine now, but every other Super Eagles player is given the same opportunity to shine also because much is expected of each of them to win the Super Eagles two matches against South Africa and Benin Republic.

Of a truth, it wouldn't sound encouraging if the Super Eagle fails to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. In the last World Cup, the Super Eagles failed to qualify for it, not qualifying for this upcoming one, will be a big blow for them. I think they will do everything in their power to come to the top of the Group C, AFCON World Cup qualifiers, to make Nigerians happy because football unites the country's citizens not to think of bad government and leadership.

[Oluwa-btc]

I think this two players have done very well from their respective club, I think the best Africa player this year can go to boniface because of his team winning the Bundesliga tittle and Bayern Leverkusen getting to the final of europa league.  But to be honest the two players have done very well in this season, I must say lookman have done well for scoring the three goals during the Europa finals game, it is not easy for a player to score all the goals to win the title of the team. Ademola Lookman is just a great player and if not for him Bayer Leverkusen would not be able to win the Europa League.

The two players have really contributed much to their club and I think Africans will be proud of them because of the mich works they have put in their respective clubs.

No arguments with these names this season but extend your search when making nominations for this African best player. Ademola Lookman would come first ahead of Victor Boniface because he was ruled out of the African Cup of Nations Competitions. Lookman went on to play in three different finals this season and finally got to win one of them.

Sebastian Haller of Ivory coast and Borrussia Dortmund you cannot overlook, he won the African Cup of Nations with that his winner against Nigeria.
Came close to winning the Champions League Competition also and I think  he also should be amongst the names to win it ahead of Victor Boniface.
The fight is between Ademola Lookman and Sebastian Haller.

Boniface won the treble no doubts but I see him as the third African best player if we are doing it the way it's suppose to be.

[Marvelockg]

Take a look at the picture above. Which of the Super Eagle players do you think Finidi George did not include in Nigeria's squad for the 2026 World Cup qualifications?

how the hell is Aina not on the squade? It's understandable that Troost ekong has injury and that's why he's not on the list but what happens to Aina? Dude literally held man city captive in the recent Manchester City game against noteham forest and I was just expecting that a combination of Aina and kelvin bassey would be the perfect defense that can hold strengthen ekong's absent.

Well, outside of that, the strong seems to be strong and ademola lookman's form and seeing Victor Boniface on the list, it sends a sense of relief that we have a team we can potentially work with. It's going to be a huge responsibility for the new Nigerian coach to see that he wins today's game most expecially as it involves the South African side that are obviously a strong rivals with Nigeria and that wouldn't want to take any chances. We've seen how they played at the AFCON and they know that our defense isn't as strong as it used to be during the AFCON and so they would want to cease all the advantage they would have. It's a big game today and we're all rooting for team Nija to make the home fans happy at the end of the game.

[Frankolala]

Which African footballer do you think is most likely to win the next award for the best African player of the year?

Ademola Lookman and Victor Boniface are like my two favourite African players right now. They are stars in their own right and if the African Footballer Award can be given to two players, I'll certain pick the both of them. However, that is not the case so I will bring in my own bias just like those who will vote will do too. My pick will go to Victor Boniface because even though he was absent from the AFCON due to injury (I hope the judging criteria will not include this), he has had impressive stats in his own league and club. Lastly, because he is witty and has a great sense of humor. Have you seen his tweets. Dude would have been a very successful comedian if football didn't work out for him.

I think this two players have done very well from their respective club, I think the best Africa player this year can go to boniface because of his team winning the Bundesliga tittle and Bayern Leverkusen getting to the final of europa league.  But to be honest the two players have done very well in this season, I must say lookman have done well for scoring the three goals during the Europa finals game, it is not easy for a player to score all the goals to win the title of the team. Ademola Lookman is just a great player and if not for him Bayer Leverkusen would not be able to win the Europa League.

The two players have really contributed much to their club and I think Africans will be proud of them because of the mich works they have put in their respective clubs.

Ademola Lookman is who I will vote for and I believe that he will be the winner. He did what no players has done before in history of Atalanta and Italy in Europa finals for scoring a hat trick which made Atalanta the winner of this past season Europa League. He is the second player to score a hat trick in the finals since the history of Europa Legaue.

He played in three finals, and deserves to the best African footballer of the year. Victor Boniface didn't feature in AFCON, which will lower his odds of winning.

[Marykeller]

Take a look at the picture above. Which of the Super Eagle players do you think Finidi George did not include in Nigeria's squad for the 2026 World Cup qualifications?

how the hell is Aina not on the squade? It's understandable that Troost ekong has injury and that's why he's not on the list but what happens to Aina? Dude literally held man city captive in the recent Manchester City game against noteham forest and I was just expecting that a combination of Aina and kelvin bassey would be the perfect defense that can hold strengthen ekong's absent.

Well, outside of that, the strong seems to be strong and ademola lookman's form and seeing Victor Boniface on the list, it sends a sense of relief that we have a team we can potentially work with. It's going to be a huge responsibility for the new Nigerian coach to see that he wins today's game most expecially as it involves the South African side that are obviously a strong rivals with Nigeria and that wouldn't want to take any chances. We've seen how they played at the AFCON and they know that our defense isn't as strong as it used to be during the AFCON and so they would want to cease all the advantage they would have. It's a big game today and we're all rooting for team Nija to make the home fans happy at the end of the game.

From the list of Nigeria's squad, Finidi George chooses to represent Super Eagle for the 2026 World Cup qualification, we can say that Nigeria's team looks strong to win against South Africa and the Benin Republic. However, in recent weeks, some of the Super Eagles star players like Osimhen, Victor Boniface, and Ademola Lookman have developed injuries that they need to be dropped from the Super Eagles squad for the 2026 World Cup qualification matches.

However, let's see what Finidi George would think of, having the right substitute to represent the injured players(Osimhen, Victor Boniface and Lookman), that will enable the Super Eagles to have their home match against South Africa by 8pm today .

[Mate2237]

Nigeria lack football activities, look at the camera and the field they are playing the ball. It is very poor. And there is no station (channel) to watch the match so it is the news stations are showing the match and they suspend their news hour for the match. The video is very bad and the Audio also bad.

Because of the cracking and breaking of the video. The match is not interesting because the game is not smoothly playing. And now all what we are waiting for are the goals. Because there is no way to watch the match. But I am always seeing the ball at the area of Nigeria. And finally South Africa has scored their first goal.

[Frankolala]

The match is ongoing and South Africa is on the lead with 1-0. T. Zwane score the only goal in the match currently on the 29th minutes of the first half. Nigeria are gaining possession of the ball, but the South Africans are just waiting for any opportunity that they will create in order to score again.

It will be lovely if Nigeria can equalize this goal in the first half so that they will not play with much pressure in the second half. I don't like the view of the match...

Nigeria 0-1 S.Africa

[DaNNy001]

The match is ongoing and South Africa is on the lead with 1-0. T. Zwane score the only goal in the match currently on the 29th minutes of the first half. Nigeria are gaining possession of the ball, but the South Africans are just waiting for any opportunity that they will create in order to score again.

It will be lovely if Nigeria can equalize this goal in the first half so that they will not play with much pressure in the second half. I don't like the view of the match...

Nigeria 0-1 S.Africa

At the end it all settled one a piece (1-1). And Nigeria did very well to get the comeback. The African world cup qualifiers matches today all had quite a good number of goals which for some time now has been the era with African football because goal scoring was actually some sort of problem for their games.The Algeria game that they lost was a shock to me because they lost to a very big odd of which I even played them to win and they were defeated by guinea.

[Lida93]

The match is ongoing and South Africa is on the lead with 1-0. T. Zwane score the only goal in the match currently on the 29th minutes of the first half. Nigeria are gaining possession of the ball, but the South Africans are just waiting for any opportunity that they will create in order to score again.

It will be lovely if Nigeria can equalize this goal in the first half so that they will not play with much pressure in the second half. I don't like the view of the match...

Nigeria 0-1 S.Africa

At the end it all settled one a piece (1-1). And Nigeria did very well to get the comeback. The African world cup qualifiers matches today all had quite a good number of goals which for some time now has been the era with African football because goal scoring was actually some sort of problem for their games.

Yea in times past the African football games were really lacking goals in almost every match played bit recently things have really changed which depicts improvement in the games among the stars.

Watching this Nigeria v South Africa match to night am very impressed with the  Super Eagles performance despite them not winning the game as it was all hard luck for them in the second half missing those creative chances. I love the attacking variant coach Finidi George is bringing into the team  but I'll also advise they put a stronger defense in place too to balance the team.

South Africa on the other hand had a good defense which held Lookman still that he couldn't have a breathing space to attempt to shots he made in the Europa league which could have perhaps changed the scores. Nice one!

[EL MOHA]

At the end it all settled one a piece (1-1). And Nigeria did very well to get the comeback. The African world cup qualifiers matches today all had quite a good number of goals which for some time now has been the era with African football because goal scoring was actually some sort of problem for their games.The Algeria game that they lost was a shock to me because they lost to a very big odd of which I even played them to win and they were defeated by guinea.

Although South Africa are a strong football nation too but I am disappointed in the result though. This is the third straight 1-all draw for the super eagles in this 2026 World Cup qualifiers. The most frustrating thing to me is that two of this draws had came from them playing at home, which is alarming, yes people will say there still more matches to be played and the point gap is just two but we all know that playing and winning at home is what get on the safer side in international games. The likes of South Africa and table toppers Lesotho will be hard to defeat at their respective homes.

Yes this is Findi Gorge first game as manager and I will give a necessary of doubt but Nigeria missing of the World Cup again will be a heavy blow

[Stepstowealth]

It will be lovely if Nigeria can equalize this goal in the first half so that they will not play with much pressure in the second half. I don't like the view of the match...

We played better in the second half , thanks to Iwobi, his creativity was top in the game, and it helped our coach avoid a very long night of insults that would have come his way from Nigerians who were waiting to see how the Super Eagles are under him.

Onuachu was very slow, not a proper replacement for Victor Osimhen whose presence would have been more troubling to the South African defenders. In our next game, Onuachu should be a second half option.

[snipie]

At the end it all settled one a piece (1-1). And Nigeria did very well to get the comeback. The African world cup qualifiers matches today all had quite a good number of goals which for some time now has been the era with African football because goal scoring was actually some sort of problem for their games.The Algeria game that they lost was a shock to me because they lost to a very big odd of which I even played them to win and they were defeated by guinea.

Although South Africa are a strong football nation too but I am disappointed in the result though. This is the third straight 1-all draw for the super eagles in this 2026 World Cup qualifiers. The most frustrating thing to me is that two of this draws had came from them playing at home, which is alarming, yes people will say there still more matches to be played and the point gap is just two but we all know that playing and winning at home is what get on the safer side in international games. The likes of South Africa and table toppers Lesotho will be hard to defeat at their respective homes.

Yes this is Findi Gorge first game as manager and I will give a necessary of doubt but Nigeria missing of the World Cup again will be a heavy blow

There is still 7 matches and I agree that home games have a heavy weight but we are still in the beginning and teams will know each other more and will figure weakness in their opponents squad but also their squad.
Nigeria missed points in November last year against weaker teams but this time a draw against South Africa is not bad at all in my opinion since we are talking about a good team here. Their group is not that hard and Nigeria could end easily second thought.

[nelson4lov]

I was opportuned to see this game live and it was highly contested almost like an actual world cup finals game. Without any doubt, it's safe to say that the south African team was the much better team based on their overall performance in the game. However, the Nigerian team should have won because they had plenty of clear cut opportunities including an attempt that ended up in the top left corner of the south African goalpost. A win would have been much more favorable but it was against a solid and composed South African team so i guess a draw is a befitting scoreline.

Onto the next.

[SATWAT]

At the end it all settled one a piece (1-1). And Nigeria did very well to get the comeback. The African world cup qualifiers matches today all had quite a good number of goals which for some time now has been the era with African football because goal scoring was actually some sort of problem for their games.The Algeria game that they lost was a shock to me because they lost to a very big odd of which I even played them to win and they were defeated by guinea.

Although South Africa are a strong football nation too but I am disappointed in the result though. This is the third straight 1-all draw for the super eagles in this 2026 World Cup qualifiers. The most frustrating thing to me is that two of this draws had came from them playing at home, which is alarming, yes people will say there still more matches to be played and the point gap is just two but we all know that playing and winning at home is what get on the safer side in international games. The likes of South Africa and table toppers Lesotho will be hard to defeat at their respective homes.

Yes this is Findi Gorge first game as manager and I will give a necessary of doubt but Nigeria missing of the World Cup again will be a heavy blow

There is still 7 matches and I agree that home games have a heavy weight but we are still in the beginning and teams will know each other more and will figure weakness in their opponents squad but also their squad.
Nigeria missed points in November last year against weaker teams but this time a draw against South Africa is not bad at all in my opinion since we are talking about a good team here. Their group is not that hard and Nigeria could end easily second thought.

Situation is looking not good as now having three draws after three games and next game is against Benin who won against Rwanda things are looking not good because now it's time for them to have something good if they will keep playing like this no doubt this could be going a troubling end for them Victor Osimhen was missing in this game as he is still key player for the team.
South Africa done good performance and their performance is also on improvement which is good sign, but now it's time for the Super Eagles to have something in coming games if they want to keep things on high.