The Traffic

10. Nigeria are now facing back-to-back failure to qualify for the World Cup. Dropping four points at home does not give any team confidence even if this qualifying series is a 10-game slug.

9. Six points dropped in total means clearly that there is now no more margin for error. For the Super Eagles, it’s now must-win matches beginning from Monday’s trip to Benin.

8. The Super Eagles defence against Bafana Bafana was a disaster that happened any time the visitors attacked. With Semi Ajayi, the quiet bedrock of the team defence at the AFCON, now a major injury doubt, this department must be a great concern for coach Finidi George going into the battle against Benin.

7.Through the gloom of this disastrous draw, a new star was born in goal scorer Fisayo Dele-Bashiru. He took the equaliser very well and his overall display proved that this attacking midfielder is a valuable addition to the Super Eagles

6. The NFF cannot be trusted with handling the qualifying campaign of the team. After the Benin match, President Bola Tinubu should with immediate effect inaugurate a Presidential Task Force (PTF) that will oversee the remaining qualifiers when they resume in March.

5. The Super Eagles under Finidi have something to offer as they showed in the second half, but then a football game has two equal halves and both have to be approached with the same seriousness.

4.Ademola Lookman was again played far away from goal and he was also a marked man anytime he had the ball. He is most effective as a second striker and not a left winger

3.Nigeria ought not to press the panic button just yet. The Super Eagles are certainly not in a good place currently, but it is not impossible to salvage the situation in a group that South Africa coach Hugo Broos described as “very tricky”.

2.The match against Benin in a neutral ground is a second chance for Finidi and the Super Eagles to revive fading World Cup hopes.

1.Finidi and the Super Eagles must be supported all the way to succeed. This is a Nigerian project and must therefore be treated as such all the time. That means the NFF MUST clear the team’s outstanding allowances and bonuses as the sports minister has confirmed the 12 Billion Naira approved by President Tinubu for this is now cooling in their own account.