Wilfred Ndidi Hails Finidi As He Comments On Nigeria’s World Cup Qualification Chances

Leicester City defensive midfielder, Wilfred Ndidi has congratulated the Super Eagles of Nigeria’s head coach, Finidi George, over his appointment as the team’s new manager.

Wilfred Ndidi who is expected to play a major role in the Super Eagles’ must-win 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against South Africa on June 7, and against Benin Republic on June 10, said Finidi George deserved his new role.

Recall that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) appointed Finidi George as the Super Eagles coach in April, almost two months after the contract of the team’s former coach, Jose Peseiro expired.

Before he was appointed as the Super Eagles coach, the former Enyimba of Aba head coach had served as the national team assistant manager for 20 months and also as the team’s interim coach.

“I would say congratulations to him because uh he’s been part of the team for months now and I think him coming into that role as a manager, I think it is a big one for him”, Wilfred Ndidi said.

Ndidi added, “But you know when we played in the friendly game in Morocco against Ghana and Mali, I really felt bad for him because he was alone and uh there was no assistant no one to help him. He was basically conducting the training, doing the tactics, even doing games and conducting the warm-up and I think you know we as a group and then seeing him going through all this and still confident with the team it is amazing because with little help from other people coming in I think he’s going to do well.”

Wilfred Ndidi stressed that the Super Eagles must beat South Africa and the Benin Republic in their forthcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers to stand a better chance of qualifying for the tournament.

The Super Eagles are going into the qualifiers sitting in the third spot of Group C, a point behind second-placed South Africa, and two points behind first-placed Rwanda. Hence, the Nigerian side must win their subsequent games to remain in contention for the World Cup ticket.

Wilfred Ndidi said, “Yeah they (the games) are really important because we know where we stand at the moment. it’s not a good position, to be honest, we should be honest with ourselves.

“As long as you’re in that group you want to qualify so there are no small country or small team.”

The Leicester City star midfielder added, “Where we are at the moment gives us more pressure because these games are must-win games. I’m not saying we will win the game but I’m saying they are must-win games because we don’t know what’s going to happen but it all bores down to us as a team because we know what is at hand and then we know we have to get as much as we can in these two games just to go up there.”