Former Super Eagles forward, Emmanuel Amunike has warned that it would not be smooth sailing for the team to qualify for the 2026 World Cup after the draw for qualification matches were announced.

The Super Eagles will face South Africa, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe, and then the Republic of Benin.

“I think, in modern football, now as the game is always evolving, you can never write any team off, no team is going to make things easy for you,” Amunike said on Brila FM.

“Everybody in that group C wants to have the pleasure of participating in the World Cup, and all games are going to be very difficult.”

“Football has gone beyond just having big players; playing at the top level, and think there’s a guarantee of qualifying. Nothing is easy; it all depends on the plan.”

“Nothing is going to be easy, we have been to the World Cup many times, and we should not live in denial in terms of always expecting that things will be easy, but if we work towards having that avenue and space that we want to achieve, it is possible.

“But we have to have a clear pathway to what we want to achieve.”

The Super Eagles have the opportunity to correct their mistake of missing out on last year’s tournament in Qatar, after failing to get good the result against Ghana; over two legs.

Nine automatic tickets will be available to CAF as the World Cup takes a new format from 2026, giving Nigeria ample opportunity to grab one.