Super Eagles get Ghana, Mali friendlies after Argentina cancellation

• The Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, has announced that the Super Eagles will play two international friendly matches this March.
• The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations finalist will trade tackles with Ghana and Mali in the Moroccan city of Marrakech later this month.

The Super Eagles were earlier scheduled to face world champions, Argentina in China, but the game was cancelled following a controversy involving Lionel Messi and the Chinese government.

Following the cancellation, the NFF has organised two games for the three-time AFCON winners.

Nigeria will face off with Ghana's Black Stars at the Grand Stade de Marrakech in Morocco on the 22nd of March.

It would be the first encounter between the two eternal rivals since Ghana edged out Nigeria in the playoffs for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Four days later (March 26th), the Super Eagles will lock wings with Mali's Eagles also inside the Grand Stade de Marrakech in Morocco.

The last international friendly between Nigeria and Mali was played at the Stade Robert Diochon, Le Petit-Quevilly, in 2016, where a second-half strike from Kelechi Iheanacho gave the Super Eagles a 1-0 win.

Nigeria will hope the two warm-up games serve as preparatory sessions for the Super Eagles ahead of their 2026 World Cup qualifiers with South Africa in June.

The West African powerhouse currently boasts only two points from draws against Lesotho and Zimbabwe.