Legendary Nigeria footballer Sunday Oliseh has described exciting young defender Benjamin Fredrick as the most influential Super Eagles player against Gabon.
Frederick continued his impressive performance for the Super Eagles as he played a key role in their 4-1 win against Gabon in the semi-final of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying playoffs on Thursday.
The 20-year-old hardly put a foot wrong and made sure danger man Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang never posed any threat.
Fredrick even made a last ditch tackle to deny Aubameyang inside the box when the former African Player of the Year got in a good scoring position.
Also, Fredrick marked his brilliant display by setting up Victor Osimhen for the Super Eagles third goal.
The Dender FC defender, who is on loan from Brentford, got the ball off a Gabonese player in midfield, drove towards goal before laying it for Osimhen to slot home.
Also Read: 2026 WCQ Playoffs: Chelle Reveals What Super Eagles Must Do To Beat Congo
Reflecting on Fredrick’s display, Oliseh wrote on X:”I personally found Benjamin Frédrick to be the most influential player yesterday versus Gabon for Super Eagles.
“Always well positioned, pacy, decisive and played Simple. Now let’s celebrate today. But from Tomorrow CONGO needs to be our next Victim. Boy it feels great in the morning when Naija do well.”
It is hoped Fredrick will bring his A game again when the Super Eagles face Congo in the playoffs final on Sunday.
The Congolese edged out Cameroon in stoppage time thanks to captain Chancel Mbemba who scored from a corner kick.
Fredrick became a mainstay in the Super Eagles after impressing at this year’s Unity Cup in London.
He made his debut for the Super Eagles in the game against Jamaica which Nigeria won 5-4 on penalties after 90 minutes ended 2-2.
By James Agberebi
5 Comments
Frederick Benjamin kept Aubemeyang silent in the whole 120 minutes.
Frederick is a fresh revelation, a new addition to the Super Eagles.
The rise of Benjamin Fredrick in the Super Eagles is the loudest alarm bell the NFF somehow still refuses to hear. The boy is barely out of teenagehood, yet he has strolled into the national team, settled like he owns a plot of land there, and is now benching the captain, Troost-Ekong — a man old enough to tell him stories about when YouTube buffering was a national crisis. How did Benjamin get here? Simple: youth football. Without the 2023 FIFA U20 World Cup platform, who would have spotted him? Who would have taken him to Brentford? What clip would Eric Chelle have studied? Certainly not the NFF — those ones don’t even know what their own youth teams look like anymore.
And this pattern is older than the current federation itself. Our golden 1994 squad — once ranked 5th in the world — was practically a roll call of U17 and U20 graduates from ’83, ’85, ’87, and ’89. The 1996 Olympic champions? Youth products from the same pipeline, with the ’93 U17 additions. Even today’s Super Eagles still rely heavily on the 2013 and 2015 U17 world champions and the U20 graduates from 2019–2023. The entire foundation of Nigerian football rests on the youth system. Remove it and everything collapses.
Yet here we are: since 2015, the tap has gone dry. No U17 World Cup qualification. No U20 consistency. We can’t even navigate WAFU — a zone we once dominated like landlords. FIFA gave Africa ten U17 slots — TEN — and Nigeria, five-time champions, still missed out. How does that even happen except through professional negligence?
Time is running out. The Eagles’ average age will hit 30 in a few years, yet the next generation is practically empty. Show me one Nigerian U20 graduate under 21 playing for a top European club today. Just one. Meanwhile, Senegal and Morocco are growing talents like it’s a ministry project — Europe-bound prospects every year, elite development, real planning. That’s why they will rule African football for the next decade while we argue over recycled 29-year-old “future prospects.”
If the Super Eagles collapse in the future, let history not lie: it was the NFF that strangled the only pipeline that ever worked.
But here’s the part that should disturb all of us:
Why is the NFF ignoring the youth system that built every great Nigerian team we’ve ever had?
Why are they comfortable watching the future dry up?
Why aren’t they alarmed that a country once feared in youth football can’t even escape WAFU qualifiers?
How do you fail to qualify for a tournament that has TEN African slots? How?
And finally…
Why are we — fans, analysts, ex-players, journalists, stakeholders — not asking these questions loudly, consistently, and publicly?
When did we become so numb that the destruction of our football no longer shocks us?
Because if we don’t start demanding answers now, we may wake up one day to discover that the future we kept postponing has already left us behind — permanently. Yes!
“If the Super Eagles collapse in the future, let history not lie: it was the NFF that strangled the only pipeline that ever worked.”
Who remembers Pinnick’s misrule now? Exactly. We tackle the current leadership and rightly so. It’s the same tape Gusau is playing too.
Owed bonuses as far as 2019? Gusau was on that board of NFF and he was hoping his I’ll administration will quietly wind up and the leftovers and whirlwind will be suffered by the next administration.
Looking at him, he and his fellow crooks will want a second term so he’ll likely lie on the foul bed he laid.
It’s painful and he’s using the same template on the Super Falcons. That team averages 30. Osinachi Ohale still mans our defense at 32.
We are joking with football.
Your claim “FIFA gave Africa ten U17 slots — TEN — and Nigeria, five-time champions, still missed out” isn’t the full truth.
We are missing next year’s edition as well. That’s twice in a row. The next contention will be in 2027 since FIFA thought it wise to make it yearly championship until at least 2029.
10 African nations are going to participate twice – 2 sets and Nigeria will be on the sidelines.
Gusau is not done in ridiculing our football yet and that’s the bomber.
If he is ousted next year (I hope the devil doesn’t give him a second term because God hand no first dey), I just hope the “stakeholders” don’t begin another ethnic jingoism by saying Pinnick of the South went for 2 terms so it’s north turn, which they’ve ruled for too long with little success anyway
This Fredrick sef. The boy don bring small confusion for my head ooo.
We know he can play as a right back or center back. But he showed yesterday that he can also play the regista or deep lying playmaker role. Yes, he can be a creative DM. I bet this boy can also play as a left back. He perhaps could be a goalkeeper too if needed, lol. The boy is incredibly versatile! The challenge for the coach is to use him in the best position FOR THE TEAM’S BENEFIT.
I forgot to add this also: NFF is banking on foreign born pros in the future who’ll give dollars for slots in the national team.
The irony is that severally on this site, people have suggested names and NFF have been aloof.
They are playing the same cards with falcons too because I don’t know why Okafor will not play for falcons yet she’s 22 or even Omewa and Gift who have age on their side.
Spain has since snatched Edna Imade and very soon, falcons will be also ran because the least age of our first team is Plumptre who is 27 this year.
Women football now use youth. Oh, I can’t wait to see North Korea in years to come who have won under 17 wwc twice in a row this year in spite of their “height disadvantage”.
We are playing with fire and we will definitely be burned.
We will reap what we sow. WAFCON 2026 will be ominous with 15 other teams.