Today’s encounter between Nigeria’s Super Eagles and Ghana’s Black Stars at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja will not be any different from their previous clashes as they vie for one of the five African tickets for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The Super Eagles host the Black Stars in the second leg of the final play-off for the World Cup, after the first leg ended 0-0 at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi on Friday, leaving this fixture evenly poised as both West African archrivals battle for a place at the biggest football showpiece in the world.

A tough challenge awaits Austin Eguavoen’s side, as they hope to qualify for a seventh appearance at the Mundial.

The 60,000-capacity Abuja stadium will be filled up for the mouth-watering clash after the Confederation of African Football gave approval to the Nigeria Football Federation to have full capacity.

The Eagles will hope to replicate the 2001 feat, when they held Ghana 0-0 in Accra before beating the Black Stars 3-0 in Port Harcourt courtesy of a first-half brace from Tijani Babangida plus a strike from Victor Agali to reach the 2002 edition in Korea/Japan.

However, there are growing concerns among some Nigerians, as the Eagles take on their long-time rivals in Abuja.

The three-time African champions have home support in Abuja, but arguably not the advantage, with Ghana knowing how valuable an away goal could be. They’ll also be emboldened by their performance in the midfield, where a trio of Thomas Partey, Iddrisu Baba and Mohammed Kudus impressed against Nigeria’s pair.

Without injured Wilfred Ndidi, the Super Eagles are missing arguably their most influential player, and, despite his promise, FC Lorient’s Innocent Bonke is a far inferior version of the Leicester City man. A combination of Ndidi’s absence and Ghana’s extra man in midfield completed ceded initiative to the Black Stars, and if Augustine Eguavoen doesn’t correct his errors in the return leg, then Nigeria could be Africa’s most high-profile World Cup absentees.

Speaking with The PUNCH, a fan, Seun Popoola, expressed fear ahead of the highly anticipated clash.

“I am a little bit panicky ahead of the game because it seems when much is expected of our guys, that’s when they seem to disappoint,” he said.

“I really hope we can get the win and qualify for the World Cup in Qatar.”

Ekene Igwebuike added, “I watched the first leg in Kumasi and I believe we should be able to beat the Ghanaians, but I’m just afraid. We have the quality, but I don’t know where the problem is. We are not playing very well and that’s why I’m worried because the Ghanaians may just score first and make us panic.”

Tope Adekunle also expressed fear ahead of the game, believing the Black Stars might adopt the same style the Tunisians used, when they beat the Eagles 1-0 at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.

“Ghana will want to get the early goals and sit back, knowing that Tunisia did it and it worked at the AFCON. I just hope our boys have learnt from their mistakes and hopefully we can beat Ghana to qualify for the World Cup.”

A Twitter user with the name Soulaymane wrote, “Please, I have invested too much time, energy, resources just for the passion I have for the Super Eagles. Please let my effort be rewarded with a WC ticket. I beg you guys please.”

“They better win, they can’t break our hearts in AFCON and now again,” another Twitter user with the username Prince Music said.

Also expressing anxiety on Twitter is Iamdx2, who hopes the Eagles can put smiles on the faces of Nigerians.

“Nothing good comes easy, and in Nigeria, all we must do is win. Over 200million Nigerians want to be happy on Tuesday since Buhari has brought hunger, worries and frustration to the land. The only thing that makes us one Nigeria now is our football. Please put smiles on our faces on Tuesday,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian authorities have begun moves to mobilize support for the Eagles, with sports ministry and the Nigeria Football Federation on Monday announcing the purchase of 20,000 tickets for fans to storm the stadium and support the Eagles.

Sunday Dare, the sports minister, stated, “We will buy 20,000 of the tickets and give them to fans at designated centres on Monday and Tuesday morning. We want to ensure maximum support for the Super Eagles by filling up the stands.

“The NFF have done well to secure maximum capacity of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium for the match. This move will guarantee us a full house, if you also consider the efforts that the ticket rights holder, Africa Independent Television, has been making on their own.”

The Eagles are winless in their last six meetings with Ghana across (D3, L3) since a 1-0 victory in the AFCON back in 2006 – although each of the last three meetings ended goalless.

They have lost just one of their last 43 World Cup qualifiers (W28 D14), with that defeat coming against Central African Republic in qualifying for the 2022 World Cup.

Ghana on their part are winless in their last five games across all competitions (D2 L3) since a 1-0 victory against South Africa in the current World Cup qualifying campaign.

The Black Stars have also lost just one of their last 11 World Cup qualifiers (W5 D5), conceding just six goals in total during this period and never more than once in a game.

The Punch