The two West African nations enjoy proximity and share the same border but logistics issues may make movement between their major cities a big challenge ahead of the Afcon-qualifying game next month
Head coach Gernot Rohr has revealed that the Super Eagles may be forced to travel by sea to the Benin Republic in their bid to honour their Africa Cup of Nations qualifying clash on March 27.
There is only a bit more than 120 km between Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos and either of Benin’s official capital Porto Novo or the country’s largest city and its administrative capital Cotonou.
But a journey that should not be more than three to four hours by road oftentimes takes double that time, due to the poor condition of the inter-linking roads.
There’s a better and faster option of getting to the Benin Republic either by air or by sea, and Rohr has hinted that the Super Eagles may make the trip in a boat to reduce the hours spent travelling.
The Franco-German manager wants the national team to make their camp in a hotel in Lagos, but one close to the Nigerian-Benin border.
“We will have the “fitness” at the hotel, which we did not have on the previous day in Benin City,” Rohr told French radio station Europe1 (via Football 365).
“We will be very close to Benin. We risk making the trip to Cotonou, where we play our match of the 5th day on March 27, by boat, because the road is not good and the crossing only lasts two hours.”
Three days after their clash against the Benin Republic, the Super Eagles are scheduled to trade tackles with the Crocodiles of Lesotho, with only a point required from any of those games for Nigeria to be represented at Cameroon 2022.