It is finished. We like listening to ourselves. We dislike being told the bitter truth. We think that things should be swung in our favour simply because we are Nigeria. Indeed. We have forgotten that it is easier to wake up a person deep in sleep than one who is pretending to sleep. For the latter, the pretender, he doesn’t want to listen to you. This is the story of Nigeria’s sports administration succinctly.
Instead of spending the quiet moments before the game on Tuesday evening reflecting on the game, our busybody sports administrators spent time celebrating a likely deduction of three points from South Africa for fielding an unqualified player in their game against Lesotho last week Friday. Bafana Bafana won the match 2-0. The euphoria from a pyrrhic celebration soon got to the boys. And it was being discussed with the media celebrating what wasn’t in the bag, yet. It is important to ask NFF and those media people who escalated the infringement of the law by South Africa if FIFA would award the points to Nigeria instead of Lesotho.
Zimbabwe coach Michael Nees mocked the Nigerian media in Tuesday night’s post-match conference where he reminded them of the need to be humble. “I said before that the World Cup qualification is over when it is over. If it is over for us then it is over for Nigeria also,” Nees said. His statement caused some laughter among the Nigerian journalists, and he replied, “You’re laughing, how many points do you (Nigeria) have?”This jab is below the belt.
Again, we witnessed in Uyo where Nigeria’s Head Coach, Eric Chelle barred visitors, journalists, e.t.c from entering the team’s camp for maximum concentration for the boys. Yet, one of the federation’s sponsors was permitted to showcase their brands with the players captured driving the vehicles a day before the game. You need to have seen Ola Aina’s dexterity on wheels. Let’s ask the federation’s chieftains and Chelle if this exercise wasn’t a distraction. How about those skit-making girls seen on tape creating content from interviewing the players? Our players were the only ones on social media. Pity.
We have surrendered with Chelle having the audacity to tell the media in a post-match press conference held inside the Stadium of Champions in Uyo on Tuesday night that Nigeria can still qualify for the 2026 World Cup as second best nation from Group C. What do you expect from a person who isn’t a world class manager? But even the task of being second best for Nigeria is a mountain to climb because currently the teams occupying these playoff spots are Gabon (15 points), Cameroon (12 points), Senegal (12 points) and Namibia (12 points).
Comoros (12 points), Mozambique (12 points) and Burkina-Faso (11 points) are also ahead of the Super Eagles, who are on seven points.
But for the fact that football is like biscuit where nobody can determine where it would crack, one would have suggested that the Federal Government should authorise the NSC and indeed NFF to begin the preparations towards grabbing the 2030 World Cup qualification ticket like Japan, New Zealand, Iran and Argentina have done with the 2026 edition. These four qualifiers have joined the three co-hosting nations, Canada, Mexico and the United States, as the early birds for the 2026 World Cup competition.
With seven points and an away game to South Africa, it would require the players to play out their skins to beat Bafana Bafana at home in September. It is achievable arithmetically, but not with these players to prosecute the kill-and-go match plans to upset Bafana Bafana in Johannesburg. We would require all the players to play the game with the kind of passion, enthusiasm and hunger for glory displayed by Victor Osimhen in the last two matches, where he has scored three goals despite being marked tightly by at least two defenders.
It is important to stress Osimhen’s significant contributions in the two matches. Of course, had Osimhen been part of the campaign from the beginning, perhaps our situation wouldn’t have been as precarious as it is today. Soon, nations playing against Nigeria would work strategies to stop Osimhen from scoring goals in Nigeria’s matches. That will be the day when certain lessons will be learned.
In fact, Troost-Ekong has apologised to his teammates and assured fans that the team remains focused on securing a place at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. “Responsibility taken. Same target ahead. We will do it together! Nigeria Super Eagles,” the 31-year-old defender wrote on Twitter, responding to the backlash.
Bafana Bafana’s remaining games are in South Africa. It’s almost impossible for them to lose any of these matches, which incidentally include the tie against Nigeria in September. What did Nigeria do when Lesotho and Zimbabwe chose South Africa as their home venues instead of a neutral ground? On Thursday, Lesotho graciously withdrew their protest against South Africa after they fielded an ineligible player in their 2026 World Cup qualifying match.
As Nigerians, we all want the Super Eagles to be at the Mundial in 2026, but let’s be honest: These players have let themselves down, winning just one game out of six. It’s disturbing that Nigeria failed to beat Zimbabwe over two legs, drawing at home against South Africa and Lesotho and losing to Benin Republic on neutral ground in Cote d’ Ivoire.
Last week, we advocated that if we won all our six games, we would be fine. Now, the tone has changed to us winning our remaining four matches. For how long would we continue to shift the goalpost? Is it until we move it to displace the crowd? Common NSC, NFF, coaches and the players – you have bungled it!
Atlanta ’96 Olympic Games gold medal-winning coach Johannes Bonfrère raised concerns over the team’s tactical approach and lack of ruthlessness in front of the goal.
According to Bonfrere: “I didn’t watch the game, but did the coach not have enough information on Zimbabwe? Did he use the wrong tactics? Or did the players fail to execute the game plan? Was it a loss of concentration? Why couldn’t the attackers score more goals? If they had put away two or three chances, Zimbabwe’s late goal wouldn’t have mattered as much.
“It’s sad, painful, and unfortunate. Small teams are now looking the Super Eagles in the eye and asking, ‘What can you do?’ No team fears them anymore, and that is worrying.”
Can Nigeria still qualify for the 2026 World Cup? Not anymore, great patriot. Let us rebuild the Super Eagles with Osimhen as the team’s captain. Any player older than Osimhen should excuse us. We can use the new squad to prosecute our next four qualifiers and see how well they perform.
Time to infuse the home-based players into the Eagles, beginning with the defenders. don’t you think so? You tell me, dear reader.
