Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) officials have expressed confidence in the ability of the country’s under-23 squad, Olympic Eagles, to defeat DR Congo during next month’s continental qualifiers.
Sports247 reports that both countries will clash in home and away fixtures to determine which of them moves into the final stage of the 2027 African U23 Cup of Nations qualifiers and a chance to gun for an Olympic Games ticket.
DR Congo will host the first leg on November 9th, following which both sides move to Nigeria to settle scores in a decisive reverse fixture on November 17th, to determine which of them goes unto the final round scheduled to hold in March 2027.
Apart from the race to Egypt 2027, the forthcoming face off between Nigeria and DR Congo holds many symbolic trappings that will make both matches next month stand out as crunchy battles on the football field.
First is the fact that Nigeria – who have won Olympic gold (1996), silver (2008) and bronze (2016) – were unable to qualify for the last two editions of the Games in 2020 and 2024, with the immediate past squad even failing to reach the U23 AFCON in 2023 after losing their last qualification game to Guinea.
Apart from football on the pitch, there is also the recurring issue of Nigeria’s protest to FIFA that DR Congo used ineligible players during the play-off game that prevented the Super Eagles from qualifying for this year’s World Cup.
Although FIFA threw Nigeria’s protest out back then on technical grounds – amidst reports about a late petition that was not backed up with the requisite fee – latest information has revealed that officials of the global body actually knew that DR Congo’s goalkeeper was not eligible for that game at that time.
The latest revelation has added another dimension to why the Olympic Eagles must defeat DR Congo next month, but Nigerian football fans know it will not be an easy task, considering poor results picked by the senior national team in recent months.
There is also talk about distractions that Super Eagles’ coach, Eric Sekou Chelle is bound to face, as he was recently put in charge of the under-23 squad, while still holding on to the senior national team’s saddle.
With the Super Eagles also set to battle Tanzania in two matches of the 2027 AFCON qualifiers at about the same time the under-23 squad will face DR Congo, it’s now left to be seen how the Franco-Malian tactician will combine the two duties and come out victorious in both.
However; while many fans are already apprehensive of Chelle’s chances, top shots of the NFF are standing firmly with him and their confidence in his ability gained leverage with the Eagles’ dramatic 3-3 draw in an international friendly away to Russia on Tuesday.
With a large number of rookies appearing in that match, most of whom are aged below 23, NFF’s egg heads are already looking towards lining out a star-stadded Olympic Eagles’ squad against DR Congo, in a semblance of the highly acclaimed Dream Team that became the first African side to win an Olympic Games football gold medal with their heroics at Atlsnta 1996.
A statement by the NFF’s communications department noted, “The encouraging result has renewed hopes of the U23 boys’ capacity to tumble the Democratic Republic of Congo in the race to next year’s U23 Africa Cup of Nations.
“The U23 boys’ home-and-away encounters will happen within the same international window as the 2027 AFCON qualifiers next month.”
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