Nigeria beat Benin 4-0 to leapfrog their opponents and keep their World Cup dreams alive. The Super Eagles had their star striker Victor Osimhen to thank as his hat-trick, added to by Frank Onyeka’s late goal, gave them the three points they needed to finish as runners-up in Group C, which went down to the wire.
Benin began the day top, needing to avoid a heavy defeat against Nigeria, but they were thrashed in Uyo.
Nigeria needed South Africa to drop points against Rwanda, but the Bafana Bafana ran out 3-0 victors to jump above Benin and top the group.
In the African qualifying stages, only the group winners qualify directly for next year’s World Cup in the USA, Mexico, and Canada, while the runners-up qualify for a play-off stage.
As such, Nigeria will be thrown into a rankings list of the best four group runners-up throughout the continent.