By Nurudeen Obalola
The Super Eagles and Monday’s opponents Rwanda have both arrived in Uyo ahead of the matchday 6 clash in the concluding round of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign.
The two squads landed in the Akwa Ibom State capital on Friday after contrasting fortunes in their AFCON qualifiers on Thursday.
While Rwanda lost at home to Libya, leaving their qualifying chances hanging by a thread, Nigeria played a 1-1 draw with Benin Republic in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire to win the group.
Now, Rwanda’s only shot at securing the group’s second ticket is to beat the Super Eagles in Uyo and hope Libya beat Benin Republic, also on Monday.
Nigeria’s delegation flew from Abidjan to Uyo aboard a chartered ValueJet aircraft, arriving at 3.50pm.
Rwanda’s delegation flew from Kigali to Lagos aboard a regular RwandAir flight, arriving at 1pm, before boarding an Ibom Air flight to Uyo. They landed in Uyo just before 5pm.
Both countries battled to a 0-0 draw in their first clash in Kigali in September.
Moroccan Samir Guezzaz will be the centre referee in Uyo on Monday, with the match set to kick off at 5pm.
Guezzaz and his compatriots Zakaria Brinsi (assistant 1), Abdessamad Abertoune (assistant 2) and Kech Chaf Mustapha (fourth official) are scheduled to arrive in Nigeria on Saturday, same as Prosper Harrison Addo from Ghana (commissioner) and Ali Mohamed Ahmed from Somalia (referee assessor).
