Heading into the game against Rwanda, the Super Eagles of Nigeria are currently nine points behind South Africa, but have been handed a possible lifeline ahead of Tuesday’s game, Soccernet.ng reports.
While Bafana Bafana are jubilant, having taken another step in ensuring they secure a World Cup spot for the first time since they hosted the 2010 edition, they suffered a huge blow in their 3-0 win over Lesotho yesterday.
According to the South African, Siwelele FC right-back, Nyiko Mobbie, will miss the FIFA World Cup qualifier against Nigeria on Tuesday at the Free State Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein.
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The 30-year-old right-back was subbed off in the early stages of the match against Lesotho following a nasty head injury and was replaced with Mamelodi Sundowns defender Zuko Mdenyelwa.
The injury happened as a result of a clash of heads in the first half, and he sustained a fracture of the eye socket in three places.
South Africa head coach Hugo Broos confirmed the experienced defender will not make it in time to feature against Nigeria, and has instead called Kaizer Chiefs defender Thabiso Monyane up to the National Team as his replacement.
“It’s a pity that we have those injuries. [Thabo] Moloisane is not so bad, but Mobbie is out,” the Belgian coach told the media following his side’s victory yesterday.
“So we’ll have to call someone else, and we will decide in the next hour who that will be. That’s the only negative point of this game, but again, that can happen in any game. But I saw a very motivated and aggressive team from Lesotho.”
“That’s also why we have those injuries. However, our CEO [Lydia Monyepao] will make a call for the game on Tuesday.
“You know that we have a list of players, and the one who will come on Monday will come tomorrow [Saturday] will be someone whom we have confidence in,” the 73-year-old concluded.
With South Africa’s first-choice right-back out of the picture, Nigeria have a slender edge, if they can take advantage of the slight disjointment between Bafana Bafana’s backline.
With Monyane having less training time than the rest of his teammates, it might take him a while to get on the same wavelength with them, should he start against Eric Chelle‘s side.
It’ll be down to the pacy Nigerian wingers, like Moses Simon, Samuel Chukwueze, and Ademola Lookman, to play to their strengths and exploit the little weaknesses.
However, for the three-time AFCON Champions to be fully fueled on Tuesday, they’ll need to secure all three points against Rwanda this evening at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo.