Super Eagles touch down in Douala for crunch World Cup qualifier

The second leg of the qualifying clash against the Central African Republic is scheduled for the Cameroonian coastal city

The Super Eagles have landed in Cameroon ahead of their Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifying matchday four faceoff against the Central African Republic on Sunday, October 10.

The Nigerian national team gave up their over two-decade unbeaten World Cup record on Thursday when they fell to a disappointing 1-0 defeat to the Wild Beasts at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.

34th-ranked Super Eagles dominated their lowly rivals for a significant part of the encounter. Still, they saw the likes of Leicester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho, Napoli’s Victor Osimhen, Union Berlin’s Taiwo Awoniyi, and Nantes Moses Simon miss several goalscoring opportunities.

And the Central Africans made their hosts pay for those wasted chances when Karl Namnganda netted a 90th-minute winner to hand the 124th-ranked team their first win of the series.

The return leg was earlier billed to be played inside the Stade Barthélemy Boganda in Bangui, the capital city of the Central African Republic.

However, CAF later banned the CAR from hosting any World Cup qualifiers on home soil after deciding that none of their football pitches fit international matches.

The match will now be played at the Japoma Stadium in Douala, Cameroon.

The Nigerian delegation of players and officials took off from Lagos on Saturday morning and, in a few hours, landed in Douala for the encounter. The Super Eagles will have their first training session later on Saturday afternoon. 

Despite their embarrassing defeat on home soil, Nigeria still sit top of Group C with six points and could consolidate their grip with a win on Sunday.

However, the CAR could overtake the former Afcon kings on the group standings with another victory in Cameroon.