Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium to host Eagles, Benin, to hit Lesotho via chartered flight
The Super Eagles of Nigeria will host the Squirrels of Benin Republic in a 2021 AFCON qualifier at the refurbished Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin on November 11 this year, this was exclusively confirmed to SportingLife.ng.
The last game the Eagles hosted in Nigeria was on June 8 which was an international friendly game against the Warriors of Zimbabwe played at the Stephen Keshis Stadium in Asaba and since then, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has been shopping for a new venue following complaints about the quality of the pitch in Asaba.
That search has now yielded results as a top source inside the NFF secretariat confirmed yesterday that indeed the game between Nigeria and Benin Republic will hold in Benin.
It was also disclosed that the NFF has made arrangements to fly the Nigerian contingent to Maseru for the Eagles’ next AFCON qualifier on November 19, 2019 against the Crocodiles of Lesotho.
Nigeria’s next games will be a double header against Sierra Leone with the Eagles hosting the first leg on Aug 31, 2020 and the return fixture scheduled for Freetown on September 8, 2020.
Already, coach Gernot Rohr has said that he used yesterday’s friendly against Brazil to prepare for the two AFCON qualifiers against Benin Republic and Lesotho next month.
“We hope for a very good game against Brazil because it will help us prepare for the 2021
AFCON qualifiers against Benin Republic and Lesotho.” Rohr said.