Super Eagles’ World Cup Opponent, CAR, Lose Home Ground

Femi Solajawith agency report

Following the inability of the Central Africa Republic (CAR) to meet up with the standard set by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), one of Nigeria’s World Cup qualifying opponents have been stripped of the honour of playing Super Eagles on her traditional home ground the qualifying round of matches begin next month.

Eagles will now face The Wild Beastson 12 October on a neutral ground, five days after the Qatar 2022 qualifying Match-day 1 clash with the Lone Star of Liberia in Lagos.

Eight African countries were stripped by CAF of their home advantages in next month’s World Cup qualifiers.

Central African Republic is one of the eight countries whose home grounds were deemed unfit to host international matches and will now have to play their home ties elsewhere.

The others are Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Guinea Bissau, Malawi, Mali, Namibia and Niger. Their venues failed inspections by a team from the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

The decision will come as a particular blow to Burkina Faso, who ceded home advantage for what could be the key tie in Group A when they meet African champions Algeria on 6 September.

Instead of the match to be played in Ouagadougou, the Burkinabes will now have to travel to Marrakesh in Morocco to host the Algerians.

Several other games will also be played in Morocco with Djibouti facing Niger in another Group A game in Rabat on 5 September while Mali, who are favourites in Group E, must host Rwanda in Agadir on 31 August according to FIFA schedule. There are 40 teams competing in 10 African groups, with only the group winners to proceed to the home-and-away playoffs next March which will determine five African qualifiers for the finals in Qatar in late 2022.