Super Eagles hopes of qualifying for next year’s FIFA World Cup suffered a setback after drawing 1-1 with Bafana Bafana of South Africa on matchday 8.
The result means South Africa are now on 17 points while the Super Eagles are temporarily second on 11 points.
South Africa took the lead off an own goal by William Troost-Ekong before Calvin Bassey equalised late in the first half.
The Super Eagles will be back for matchdays 9 and 10 in October where they will take on Lesotho and Benin Republic.
35 Comments
Complete sports, your headline is wrong.
Super Eagles are out of the 2026 world cup race.
No miracle.
SA cannot lose to Zimbabwe and Rwanda at the same time.
Even if they are deducted 3 points, THERE IS NO SNIFF OF GUARANTEE WE WILL EVEN WIN OUR FINAL 2 MATCHES.
On head to head, we are out of reckoning with South Africa.
On goals for and against, we are impotent too.
Good riddance to the bad rubbish of these Eagles.
A girl earlier today broke my heart.
What a day to have double grief.
AS NIGERIA SUPER EAGLE TEAM IS OUT OF WORLD CUP QUALIFICATION RACE, THERE IS NO CAUSE FOR ALARM.
ALTHOUGH TO BE SINCERE, NIGERIA DOESN’T DESERVE TO QUALIFY FOR WORLD CUP, DUE TO UNSERIOUS OF NFF TO HIRE GOOD COACH AT THE BEGINNING. AND ALSO DUE TO LACK OF SERIOUSNESS & COMMITMENT ON THE FIELD OF PLAY FROM THE PLAYERS.
WE ONLY BELIEVE IN PRAYERS FOR OTHER COUNTRIES TO LOSE FOR US TO QUALIFY WITHOUT HARDWORKING. INSTEAD OUR PLAYERS PREFER TO BE DOING USELESS TIKTOK IN THE CAMP & DRESSING ROOM.
NOW THAT WE ARE OUT OF THE RACE, MY ADVICE FOR ERIC CHELLE IS AS FOLLOWING:
**(1.). START NOW TO BE PREPARING FOR NEXT AFCON IN DECEMBER
**(2.) ERIC CHELLE SHOULD STOP USING PLAYERS AT OUT OF POSITION (E.g Lookman: the best position the whole world know Lookman for, is to be operating from Left winger.)
**(3.) ERIC CHELLE SHOULD STOP SELECTING PLAYERS BASED ON EGOS, SENIORITY, NAMES OR USELESS EXPERIENCE( without fitness).
@AROKODARE, DESSERS are better than BONIFACE, SADIQ-UMAR.
@ U.CHRISANTUS, ONYEDIKA is far far better than NDIDI
@LOOKMAN, CHUKWUEZE at the flank better than M.SIMON, A.MUSA.
**(4) ERIC CHELLE SHOULD LEARN MORE ABOUT 4-4-2 FORMATION BY USING TWO STRIKERS UPFRONT.
#### LASTLY, IF SUPER EAGLE PLAYERS WANT THE NEXT GENERATION TO BE REMEMBER THEM, THEY SHOULD TRY TO WIN NEXT AFCON AS COMPENSATION FOR WORLD CUP QUALIFICATION FAILURE.
@CS moderator it’s a shame that you’re giving a platform to some abusive kid to come up here and disrespecting everyone. Keep the bad work, until a new sport website who will do the needful to keep a respectful atmosphere takes over from your website, should you allow this tyrant continuous participation on this forum. God bless every meaningful forumites for they know the monkey behind this kid.
We’ve missed out on this WC due to so many reasons and not due to lack of talents. Caf president headed by motsepe should be ashamed of himself not only allowing his FA to take a match to a bad pitch but also by appointing officials with favouritism agenda against Nigeria.
Nigeria is the most hated nation in Africa due to its greatness but a defenceless one due to its corrupt leadership. On online forums we see Nigerians being bad mouthed by fellow African nations especially Ghanaians and South Africans for unexplainable reasons.
Heads downs but let’s make the Afcon as an opportunity to correct the wrongs.@ Coach Chelle must do away with Ekong and Bruno. Because the introduction of Bruno killed the attacking flair Bassey was creating in the first half from the Wing back.
I’m proud of Bassey, Fredicks, Lookman, Dele and rest of the lad who put up a great fight in a fraudulent atmosphere designed to hurt the players. This is football but some people take it as war and do all sort of Gimmicks! What a day that I don’t know how to put my words!!
Well said @Chima –
I forgot to give Bassey and Fredericks their flowers but for me those were the only too that are worthy of any praise in that game we just watched.
Chelle, really needs to go – his substitutions seem to only ever weaken the team – Imagine taking off a strong, determined, ram-raiding and our actual best attacking threat in the game – Bassey off, and replacing him with Bruno?, who just kept being dispossessed and losing the ball or playing wayward passes – Bruno is not good enough for this team and I don’t think that Crisantus is either – Also, anyone who truly reads and understands football should know by now that you NEVER play Iwobi in a game that you know is going to be a big fight, but Chelle seems not to have gotten that
memo either – I think he needs to go and we really need to re-evaluate and re-start!See you all in 2030 or whenever the next WC is and fingers crossed that we are ready for that one!
Ire o!
It’s hard to blame Chelle because on that pitch of play Caf already killed us. And the officiating skilfully designed to hurt Nigeria. I almost wept when I see some weird calls to halt Lookman. Yes some exceptional players weathered the storm but even Messi will suffer in this bad pitch and officiating. Nigeria had this game, Ekong has past his prime a new Heir in Ben has emerged, we would partner him with Ogbu and let Bassey function better at LB.
Tolu was selfish but what if the ball had gone in? So I leave him the slack just like I absorb uche the blame on such a gravious pitch that we rarely had shots on target. Sad day for Africa because minus Nigeria in USA I will do Africa no good!
Kwaisa and nigerians don’t badmouthed other Africans including Ghanaians
Keep quiet u stupid fool
Is now that, u know that insults
Idiot Lmaooo
You think I’m one of those confused people trading disgusting words against countries. You know it that my wife is from your country and my kids recites your national anthem “God bless our homeland” don’t worry you can have a goodnight sleep since it was your wishes that Nigeria must not make it, and I hope you people will win the the WC since you all don’t sleep a day without praying for the downfall of Nigeria. I will not be going back and fort because time will reveal to you all that Nigeria is not your problems. We saw your last appearance with Same Otto Addo and it is the same!
Nigeria – let down by Ekong, Osimhem, Aina, Ndidi
Disappointed by Chelle, Dessers, and Uche.
Iwobi made no impact
Lookman and Simon were MIA.
And it goes on and on and on…
Nigeria miss out on the world cup and lose to the hateful SA’s………
Feel free to fill in the blanks
All in all, a very s****y day and conclusion to proceedings – an abject nation looks on in huge disappointment. Wow!
Sack the NFF, let Chelle go, press reset and start again!
We are about to be eliminated from 2026 world cup for the following reasons.:
A. Incompetence of our football administrators.
B.lack of commitment on the part of some players.
C.failure on the part of our sport administrators to appreciate the politics of fifa and caf.
I hope we have learnt our lessons.
If we win our next 6 matches
If we win our next 4 matches
If we win our next 3 matches.
The truth is that we lost the world cup ticket since the day the draws were made.
Nff only added petrol to the fire with their collective stupidity.
I am not a soccer administrator, neither am I a technical consultant, but I made some points immediately after the draws which a serious FA should have also noted and acted upon
As for Eric Chelle, he should just pack his bags and go once his contract ends in October.
I’ve seen enough to know he has nothing to offer us.
For s*** sakes what was that we just watched….???
Abeg make I relax watch Rohr and his Benin republic boys biko. My prayers to them as they tackle lesotho in Abidjan tonight.
We can continue relying on “Nigerian spirit” in this age and time rather than getting the best technical hands to manage our national team.
Dr. Drey, you were so right. We were hoping against hope all the while. We lost the plot by dropping points in the first 2 matches of this series against lowly opponents.
I was wrong about the important tiebreakers all along. I thought it was head to head but it was not.
Tiebreakers are:
1. Overall goals difference
2. Number of goals scored
3. Head to head result
If we had been raking up points from the beginning, even the anticipated photo finish with RSA would have been needless.
It’s all over.
We can’t score goals to create an illusion.
We can’t concede less.
We can’t win well or ugly.
We are even sharing the same spoils with a team we beat over two legs (head to head), Rwanda.
We must press the reset button.
2nd term ambition of gusau and co in NFF should naturally evaporate.
We are lucky afcon 2025 draws have been done. We’ll fall in FIFA rankings.
The insult is not over.
Our nations cup opponents have either qualified for the mundial (Tunisia) or contesting for the playoffs spots (Uganda) even if farfetched/unrealistic (Tanzania).
Our soccer is set for another oblivion because there will be no new magic from this team that has set an unwanted record in Nigerian football (missing 2 consecutive world cups in spite of its expanded profile).
Okocha and co who missed out on 2006 will not be remembered again.
Did anyone see the statement from oshimen club today. Minor injury and he will play their next match. I am sure of that.
Same scripts..
Well, I didn’t watch the match live. I am not a teenager again. I don’t want to give myself high blood pressure because of unserious players.
NFF is terrible but leave NFF out of this. These players deserve sticks.
They bungled this with missing many scoring chances in earlier matches. Shameful. Ademola cannot even register a single goal.
Same with iwobi. We have countries who football federation are not even as big as ours but the players will give everything to win matches.
And I believe it’s time ekong is allowed to leave this team. He caused us Zimbabwe match and now this..
I have always complained about his presence in a two man defence. He has lost confidence playing in a two man defence.
But these coaches are always blind and don’t learn. I wonder why they pay them all the dollars.
Starting dessers shows this coach is blind..
I wonder why.. Why not through uche into that position. A match you know will be rough.
Omo9ja I hope you can see your desser now? So don’t make noise again if he is not invited..
Well we still can qualify.
Three points will be deducted from South Africa. It will be deducted. South Africa will lose the remaining matches.
And we will win all ours and we will qualify.
I am sure you love that..well just joking. These players are over hyped. They should watch the world cup at home. Oshimen should watch it at home..
Ola aina was also faking injury I guess? Precaution is wisdom so why judge Victor even as a true believer? Some views are right but Victor is unfairly judged. If he feels discomfort and wants proper diagnosis as a professional why judge him. Football insiders will not think like this!
Oga shut up joor! At least Aina played the first game with Rwanda for 90 minutes…but your fave just 20 minutes was forming injury
So the Nigerian national team is called “Victor Osimhen and 10 others FC” and not SE right…?
That is why you are looking for Osimhen to blame, even when he scored 3 goals in the 3 matches he played b4 his early sub off in the Rwanda game.
I suppose that if you were the one paying a player $400k per week after tax, you wouldn’t take their medical status seriously.
Ndi we will win our next 6 matches…..as per you guys are the only ones who serve God….how market…..LMAOooo.
Are you sure we don’t have hope again? What of playoffs?
The players are simply overrated. They dont deserve to be at the world cup.
The state of the nation definitely has a big hand in this too.
We’re already Eliminated and I hope those who conjured it will win the Trophy. A good pitch and honest officiating would have created some truth that is why I won’t sack this coach. The fact that he was bold to make some great calls signals that he can only get better. Time is another thing in football that is needed to make a great coach and team progress.
If 40% of the players were bad I would have called for his head, but no the atmosphere was already set for our unfair elimination. This players are humans and have blood in their vains, if you treat them bad it will reflect the result. Maybe a new Honest Nigeria government will fight our future fight. Else I don’t know how we can succeed with these terrible treatments we get all over the world for Being Nigerians.
Opportunity missed.. Even if we win all our remaining matches, 17 points will be too low for play off, other teams have 18, 19.. We gonna miss the world cup back to back..
ITS BEEN CONFIRMED THAT OLA AINA SUFFERED A HAMSTRING INJURY PLAYING ON THAT TERRIBLE PITCH. FOR ALL THOSE WHINING ABOUT THE RESULT, PLEASE, SPARE A THOUGHT FOR HIM.
They should watch how their stock go down too now. As for you guys making excuses for them about the bad pitch.
The truth this present se are bunch of waste, it is just a pity even the afcon they won’t still go far.
They toil with this world cup qualification, you guys should check am now. We are not suppose to draw our last game against Zimbabwe.
It was at that moment that will kill our hope not even today cuase me don’t expect us to be SA at home.
I wish nff disbanded, yes let fifa band us then let us press a reset button.
After all said and done, though Gernot Rohr was not the best of all coaches, but he remains the best of all other Super Eagles coaches that came after him. There is no way Rohr wouldn’t have qualified Nigeria for any of the World Cup editions we missed, with at least a game to spare. Since his exit, Super Eagles. have not moved on well. Two world cup editions consecutively missed. Honestly, Rohr deserves some respect from Nigeria.
…….. Abeg, make those wey no like Mr Rohr no abuse me ooo! I only said my mind.
Hehehehehehehe…… The chicken has come home to roost. We warned them but they will not listen!
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result.
We lamented that Ekong cannot play in a back four but this coach still opted for Ekong in a back four despite his complicity with the draw against Zimbabwe.
When he dropped him against Rwanda, I was elated, thinking that we had seen the back of him but this coach still went ahead to field him.
One will just seem like a prophet , I had stated that it will end in tears and that is how it played out.
The problem is that the players don’t know when to quit. And we only bring in weak coaches who can’t stand their grounds and say no to the interference of NFF in player selection. Ekong has seen good days. Why wait to be kicked out as a dead wood?
As it stands, his exit from the SE will be marked with shame and pain.
I can feel the emotions in this forum. I saw the 1st half, but was in a meeting the entire 2nd half. Watched the highlights just now. I think our problem is our FA, we’ve stopped developing talents. Bassey and Frederick were the top rated online. I wouldn’t call Tolu selfish for that miss, how that ball didn’t go in is a mystery. In my opinion, the coach is all over the place. You know your best players after the unity cup and Russian friendly, why not play them? Onyedika didn’t see any time. I don’t know about this coach sha. Let’s just do Benin a solid and allow them beat us like 5-0
South Africa 1 – Nigeria 1.
This is what you get when you have a football federation that runs the Super Eagles like a roadside kiosk. Three coaches in one qualifying campaign—as if they were auditioning for a comedy show. First, we had Peseiro, who looked like he came just to collect per diem and leave. Then, an ex-international was thrown in, and all he managed was a glorious 1 point out of 6. By the time Chelle arrived, the team was already drowning under pressure. Yes, he scraped 8 points from 12, but that’s still tragic for a country who needed is sitting 3rd in a group where only one team is guaranteed direct qualification for the world cup.
And yesterday? Chelle proved he too can join the NFF’s “Hall of Shame.”
Genius move 1: Dropping Arokodare—our only striker with recent goals—for Dessers, the same man who struggled against Rwanda. That’s like trading an umbrella for a sieve in a rainstorm.
Genius move 2: Dragging Ekong back into defence. After his Zimbabwe disasterclass, every sane person knew he was finished—except our coach. Now he’s cost us four vital points. Awaziem would have been ten times safer, but no, let’s keep forcing liability into the lineup.
Genius move 3: Picking Moses Simon over Chukwueze. Simon offered nothing against Rwanda, but somehow he’s rewarded with another start. Meanwhile, Chukwueze—the only spark capable of tearing Bafana apart—was left warming the bench. Brilliant logic, right?
And don’t get me started on this diamond formation obsession. It makes us predictable, toothless on the wings, and laughably easy to read. Top coaches adapt. Chelle? He looks like he’s reading “Coaching for Dummies” on the touchline.
I supported his appointment once, but after today, never again. This isn’t the Super Eagles—it’s the Super Errors.
now we all know our fatte….No world cup participation till 2030….hahahahahahaha…
oh O God of innocent gernot Rohr, thank you so much…..
At least rohr will qualify for the play off….
we saw it coming and we cried but it fell on deaf ears….
at this junction i think nobody should blame anybody because we are the problem of ourselves….
okoye did a little blunder at the afcon and we pushed him out of the team, we lamented for the inclussion of Uzoho who later caused us 4 good points against Lesotho and Zimbabwe….conceding goals from impossible positions….we are now hunted by those flimsy mistakes of Uzoho which eventually contribute to our missing out on 2026 world cup….
Finidi also added to our sorrows though i will spare him a little because it was people that appointed him to come and add more salt to the injury….but he still contributed to our failure by inviting Tanimu over experience and seasoned defenders like Ugbo and co….
Finally, our arc enemy as far as football is concerned did the worst….infact, they are the reason of nigeria not going to 2 consecutive world cups…. i’m talking about our incompetent NFF….
if you check all these things you will realise that the cause of our failure dependsn on all what i listed above…..
The sacking of Rohr destroyed our football!
Sunday Dare is the one who started the wreckage and surprisingly he’s in the current government after the terrible job he did as minister of sports..
I don’t understand why Rohr was sacked still baffles me.He was doing so well and he keeps making qualifications so easy.
I’m so sure if he was still our manager we would be top of this group and he will achieve this effortlessly because he’s a very good tactician who understands our players and knows how to get the best out of them.
Since his sack we have been jinxed because of the evil against a good man.
We started on a wrong footing now it’s all over.
Troost Ekong should move on.He has served us well.
We should start planning well for 2030.
I wish the NFF employed a quality manager early enough.The tight NFF chairman in his usual ways of being conservative just to save money got us in this mess,he has failed and should resign though I know in Nigeria lacks competency so I reckon he will still carry on with his job and still get government appointments just like Dare in the future.
Our focus now AFCON!
According to NFF chieftains, “we sacked Rohr because he could win the 2022 AFCON and become more difficult to sack”…….LMAOOoo
Rohr was sacked after topping our 2022 WCQ group with a 2-point lead…….LMAOooo.
That failure called Dare ordered his dismissal after drawing Cape Verde in a match where we only needed a draw to consolidate our strangle hold of the top spot. That same Capeverde has now qualified for the 2026 WC ahead of Cameroon in a group that has Cameroon, Libya and Angola.
The funny thing was that some imbeciles were jubilating after the sack…….LMAOoooo.
Still waiting for the NFF board to resign (but wouldn’t be holding my breath).
They simply failed us from the onset. Bad hirings and terrible management.
And with all respect and appreciation, hopefully, Eric Chelle leaves when his contract expires. He shouldn’t be renewed. He simply doesn’t cut it. He’s tactically naive and terrible with his match day player selection. He has the tools but can’t use it. Playing Lookman out of position, benching a Samu while sticking to a Simon that has been half decent at best. It was quite glaring that Lookman wasn’t comfortable in his makeshift role. Why not switch him back to the left-wing, take-out Simon, bring in Samu to the right. And when he did that, it was already too late.
What’s the point of starting Dessers over Tolu when we all saw the drastic change the latter made against Rwanda?!
What’s so impressive about Bruno in the left back? He’s not that good and offers little attack wise and defensively. Why not trust Agu, who performed reasonably well agains
……What’s so impressive about Bruno in the left back? He’s not that good and offers little attack wise and defensively. Why not trust Agu, who performed reasonably well against Ghana, as you trusted Frederick. At least he can’t do worse than Bruno Onyeamachi!
And to the elephant in the room, for the love of God, why start with Ekong?! With respect to our captain, ıt is glaring, he has been our weakest link throughout the qualifier!
I am just disappointed because we got ourselves here. There’s nothing special about this group. Nothing strong about Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Benin, Rwanda or even South Africa that we couldn’t beat home and away. Benin, Rwanda and South Africa are just better managed sides. And that’s from the board room to the field. We simply don’t deserve to be at the world cup.
The priority now should be on the AFCON. We should take the remaining two world cup qualifying matches as a serious build up to the AFCON.
Solid points there, Mr Hush. Solid points.
On Felix Agu (We all saw his huge capabilities at the Unity Cup), on Lookman being played out of position, on Simon offering little or nothing cos the opponent always knows what he wants to do; and on slow Ekong making way for Frederick. I’ll add Ndidi getting eased out to the bench and Onyedika pairing with Onyeka in DM instead.
To top it, as you said, we had a better team and star players on paper, but Benin, SA, and even Rwanda had better, more experienced coaches. Give this same Super Eagles to any of these coaches and we would have long qualified, with 2 games to go.
Had the NFF hired the Portuguese who was the former manager of Cameroon in the 2022 Afcon we wouldn’t be in this mess.He is a very good tactician and was willing to assume the super eagles job.
Nff is to blame because it’s chairman don’t like spending he’s so tight with money which led to the employment of the likes of Finidi and co.
It’s sad with the big stars we have qualifying from a cheap group like this is an uphill task..
I am not surprised at Nigeria terrible results on ongoing World Cup qualifier.
It started with our preparation. NFA is behind Nigerian football underdevelopment.
In the first instance, why using a stadium that supposed to be fortress for Super Eagles that turned to an abattoir for some ‘small’ countries to be beating Nigeria without mercy! Yet still used it after their numerous lacklustre performances.