Bizimana Djihad and Victor Osimhen © Backpagepix

Nigeria interim coach Augustine Eguavoen is aiming to finish the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign undefeated as he prepares for Rwanda’s visit to the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium on Monday, November 18.

Kick-off is at 6:00 p.m. CAT (SA, GMT+2)

Current form:

The Super Eagles had already booked their place for the African competition in Morocco ahead of the 1-1 draw against Benin in Abidjan on November 14, which kept them four points ahead of the Cheetahs at the top of Group D .

Eguavoen has done an admirable job since replacing Finidi George at the helm in the 2025 AFCON qualifiers, securing two wins and two draws in his fourth term in charge of the national team.

The Afcon 2023 finalists also secured a 3-0 victory over Libya last month after the heartbreaking ordeal they endured before the match was ultimately called off.

The Eguavoen side were not at their best against Benin and needed an 81st minute equalizer from Victor Osimhen to keep their unbeaten streak intact after Mohamed Tijani opened the scoring in the 16th minute .

Rwanda held the West African giants to a goalless draw in the reverse match on September 10, but they will need more than that to qualify for the tournament for only the second time in their history.

Wasps trail Benin by two points in third place and need a massive favor from the Mediterranean Knights to propel Gernot Rohr’s side into second place in the group.

Libya recorded their first victory in the group by beating Rwanda 1-0 in Kigali on November 14, thus throwing a spanner in the works.

What was said:

Augustine Eguavoen, Nigeria interim coach

“Coming into this game we haven’t lost a game, so we have to maintain this level and try to win the game, worst case scenario.

“We want to qualify without losing a match and we knew we were capable of it, we have all the qualities necessary to beat anyone at any time. Then it was quite under pressure but we didn’t give in to it attention. .

“Nigeria are a respected team, who almost won the AFCON last time, so we must maintain this level.”

Players to watch:

Nigeria – Victor Osimhen played the full 90 minutes against Benin for the first time since the 2023 AFCON final, after finally fully recovering from the muscle injury that hampered him for much of 2024. The 25-year-old forward was rested for the October playoffs and only featured for 63 minutes of the first two matches. His goal against the Cheetahs moved Osimhen to second place in the Super Eagles’ all-time top scorer rankings with 23 goals.

Rwanda – Innocent Nshuti has become a staple of the team over the past 18 months, appearing in all 13 of their matches since making his first start in the 2-0 defeat to Mozambique in the CAN 2023 qualifiers on June 18, 2023. The former striker opened his account in a 2-0 win over South Africa almost exactly a year ago and is Group D’s joint top scorer with two goals.

Face to face:

Matches – 5

Nigeria wins – 2

Rwanda wins – 0

Draws – 3