Former Nigeria international Etim Esin has described Super Eagles players as average following their disappointing 1-1 draw with South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
The Super Eagles faced the South Africans in a must-win Group C, matchday 8 fixture in Bloemfontein on Tuesday.
The South Africans took the lead in the 25th following an own goal by skipper William Troost-Ekong.
But in the 44th minute Calvin Bassey equalised with a superb header which looked to have come off his left arm.
The draw means the Super Eagles, who are on 11 points, are still six points behind Bafana Bafana.
Also Read: 2026 WCQ: How Super Eagles Rated In Draw With Bafana Bafana
Reacting to the game, Esin expressed sadness that the Eagies are on the verge of missing out on another World Cup appearance.
“We have average players in the Super Eagles, the team lacks creativity, we have players who cannot confidently take on a player and beat the player one-on-one, nobody can make anything happen,” he told Completesports.com.
“It is a sad day for Nigerian football, it is unimaginable that we will miss another World Cup, it’s terrible.”
The Super Eagles will be back in the qualifiers in October for matchdays 9 and 10 when they will face Lesotho and Benin Republic.
By James Agberebi
3 Comments
How dare you call our world class Eagles average? At least Chukwueze is far better than Musiala and Busayo Saka.
In contrast, south african players are above average hence their leading group C…..
Oga rest jor…..we know where our problem is coming from…..if you are not bold enough to call a spade a spade, just stay put sir with due respect…..
Instead of yiu to come out and fault this current NFF and SPORT MINISTRY for their failure to qualify for 2 consecutive world cups you are here shifting blames on players….
the people that appointed Finidi and invited Uzoho to come and mess up our world cup hopes from day one, where are there today????
Let’s learn to speak the truth from our heart please….
***SHALOM***
In Nigeria it takes forever to appoint a National team coach. Stop blaming the players. Football administrators are the problem. Gernort Rohr is still performing. Keep waiting for your so-called world class coach. If we fail to qualify which is almost certain, they will sack Chelle and bring back Eguavoen or some 1994 Super Eagle waiting to use the Super Eagles as a spring board for success. Whatever happens pls NFF, stick with Coach Chelle. He is the best we’ve had since Rohr. Hopefully he is not owed salary and would want to stay.