German football coach Gernot Rohr missed the “Miracle of Benin” and lost World Cup qualification on the last matchday.
At Rohr’s former employer Nigeria, the outsiders who went into the “final” as league leaders lost 0:4 (0:2) and slipped to third place in Group C. The dream of the “Squirrels” taking part in the finals for the first time was shattered.
South Africa got the direct ticket for next year’s XXL finals in the USA, Canada and Mexico with a 4-0 (2-0) win against Rwanda.
“Bafana Bafana” is taking part in a final tournament on home soil for the first time since the 2010 tournament. South Africa last won the ticket through qualification in 2002. Nigeria will play as one of the four best runners-up in the eight groups in the play-offs, the winner of which will fight for another ticket against a team from another continental association.
In Uyo, southeastern Nigeria, star striker Victor Osimhen (Galatasaray) prevented a football fairytale with a hat-trick. The ex-Wolfsburg player scored in the 3rd, 38th and 51st minutes, and the fourth goal by Brentford’s Frank Onyeka (90+1) finally brought Nigeria into the play-offs. Benin acted nervously in what was probably the most important game in national football history and was clearly inferior.
Even before kick-off, it was clear that Benin had no chance of making the play-offs for the best runners-up in the group and could only reach the World Cup as group winners – the same applied to South Africa. For Benin it would have been the first final round participation, for the 72-year-old Rohr the second – in 2018 he failed in the preliminary round with Nigeria in Russia.