Perhaps none more so than the battle to finish as one of the best runners-up. After beating Ethiopia on Monday night, Burkina Faso were in pole position to claim one of the four spots, though their 3-1 win left the door ajar for the Super Eagles.
Leading 3-0 thanks to Victor Osimhen’s stunning hat-trick, Nigeria needed to score another to eliminate Burkina Faso and Brentford midfielder Frank Onyeka came up with the all important goal in stoppage time.
As a result, the Super Eagles sealed a spot as one of the four best runners-up in CAF qualification by virtue of a superior goal difference to Burkina Faso after the two nations finished level on points.
However, there has been some confusion around why Les Etalons missed out on a play-off spot given they accumulated more points than Nigeria (21) and had a better goal difference (+15) in Group A.
Why Nigeria qualified for World Cup play-offs ahead of Burkina Faso?
After Eritrea – initially placed in Group E – withdrew from qualifying before playing a game, it was determined results against the sixth-placed teams in each group were discounted to determine the four best runners-up.
Therefore, Burkina Faso’s wins over Djibouti home and away ultimately counted for nothing as was their goal difference of +9 after scoring 10 and conceding just once across the two games.
So, the 21 points Burkina Faso accumulated dropped to 15 and their goal difference went from +15 to +6 with Onyeka’s stoppage time strike for Nigeria proving decisive.
Nigeria, Gabon, Cameroon and DR Congo will play a mini tournament in Morocco in November to determine a single team that will go on to compete in an inter-continental playoff in March for a place at the 2026 World Cup.
