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Alex Iwobi claimed the Super Eagles will keep pushing hard after they failed to beat Zimbabwe in their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying contest at the Huye Stadium, Butare on Sunday.
Jose Peseiro’s side held their hosts to a 1-1 draw leaving them without a win after two games.
Iwobi reckoned the Super Eagles should have earned more points from the two games, but stated that they must keep fighting to ensure they secure a place at the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals.
“We’re disappointed with the players we have, Nigeria is a country with a lot of quality players, we should have been able to get more points and goals,” the Fulham midfielder said after the game.
“We won’t dwell on this, we’ll keep fighting till the very end to make sure we qualify.”
The Super Eagles had a little rest after their 1-1
home draw against Lesotho on Thursday.
Read Also:2024 U-20 WWCQ: Falconets Reach Final Qualifying Round After Beating Tanzania
Iwobi admitted the rigours of traveling affected the team’s performance.
“He [Jose Peseiro] has already said the travel was a lot for us, after the game [against Lesotho] we had to fly four hours then another three-hour coach down here which was not easy but as a player, we should not use that as an excuse,” he said.
Reflecting further on the game, Iwobi said the time wasting antics of the Warriors affected the Super Eagles.
“Of course they had the tactics to try and waste time to disrupt our tempo of the game so it favored them,” the former Everton player stated.
“Credit to them. They are a good side but I feel like with the players we have we should have done much better.”
The Super Eagles will take on the Bafana Bafana of South Africa in their next game in the qualifiers in June 2024.
By Adeboye Amosu
16 Comments
Generation L!
With the present coach and goal keeper I don’t see Nigeria qualifying for the world cup. Sack pasero now and bring in Sunday Oliseh to rescue the sinking ship. Seems pasero is confuse . Just fixing players here and there . Why must he play Eheachi as a a winger in a game we needed to score . No , No , no sack him now and bring in someone who understands Nigeria football philosophy. Time Too short to bring a foreigner. Oliseh can redeem us.
Please don’t mention Olise here , he is a crook , what has he achieved as a coach ?.. he is a black Johny man like peserio, Super Eagle coaching job is not a rehabilitation center , they should look for a better job to do , we need a sessioned coach to take over form the useless Johny man !!
Sheeeze there. We must all come together to rally around Coach Egu who mistook Amuneke as a good fellow and never knew he was being sold out. Egu remains the best coach Nigeria has right now. Sunday Olise ké? We also need to pray for Victor speedy recovery otherwise, bye bye to wc.
Nigerians never learn
It’s. Still early days. But the maths is clear. The Super Eagles must ein all their remaining matches! It’s doable.
IWOBI I have always been one of your biggest fans. I am a fan of a player simply because the huge huge potential I see in them.
You are playing well well below the huge huge potential I see in you. YOU MUST START UNLEASHING THE LION IN YOU BOTH FOR CLUB AND COUNTRY. YOU MUST START MOVING BALLS FORWARD WITH GREAT TENACITY, DRIVE, SKILL AND POWER. AWAY WITH ALL THOSE SIDEWAYS, BACKWARD PASSES. THEY ARE NOT THE DEFINITION OF GREAT MIDFIELDERS AND COULD JUST BE THE REASON YOU ARE YET TO BE PLAYING FOR CHAMPIONS LEAGUE CLUBS, THE LIKES OF REAL MADRID, BARCA, BAYERN, ETC. YOU HAVE BEING ON THE STAGE LONG BEFORE JUDE BELLINGHAM, DECLAN RICE. THERE IS A REASON PEOPLE TALK ABOUT EVEN MUHAMMED Kudus.
You remain my fave SE player and will always be but it’s about time you started to bring that A game I see in you on board ……… AND FINALLY, IT SEEMS MOST OF YOU GUYS DON’T KNOW THE HISTORY OF NIGERIA FOOTBALL. WE DON’T FIGHT AGAINST NATIONAL TEAMS LIKE LESOTHO, ZIMBABWE, SIERRA LEONE, CAR,, ETC WE BEAT THEM. WE KNOW THE TEAMS WE WE MAY ACCEPT, ITS OK TO USE THAT PHRASE ‘ WE KEEP FIGHTING’….
GERNOT ROHR WAS FAR BETTER THAN THIS COACH. THEY HARDLY SCORE GOAL SINCE HE TOOK OVER AND ALSO CONCEDE GOALS ALWAYS. SACK THIS COACH NOW
Sack Peseiro now and bring in Sunday Oliseh (or any other good Nigerian coach). It may be too late in the day to bring in another foreigner who does not understand the Nigerian football philosophy. If South Africa beats Rwanda, Nigeria is already trailing by a massive 4 points and qualifying for the next world cup may just be a pipe dream.
When NFF is ready they will do the needful without delay Emmanuel Amunike paired with one of our foreign base coach in Europe while Vicent Enyama as Goal keeper Coach. A well structured salary package devoid of third parties interference both in player selection & Management with emphasis on players from local league blended with committed foreign base players this will bring out the best in our players then that fast pace football we are known for will return with the fear factor of playing against Super Eagle of Nigeria will be on the mind of our opponents in the Continent which has evaporated over the years will naturally return. Anything less is another debacle in the making & time is running out.Peace
sunday olise is not a coach, moreover he has bad attiude, he abandoned Super Eagles years ago.
Take5 o’jare. Our next indigenous couch is Coache Augustine
May thunderstorm strike anyone who mentionss Sunday oliseh here. Why are some Nigerians too mayopic? They don’t even think straight forward. Bringing Sunday oliseh dat does not have good winning ratio. There are certain criteria the administrators should consider before employing any coach. To employ coach, u have to consider his winning ratio to matches . Apart from Stephen kesh, amodu shuaibu. Sisia is even better than eguavon, Sunday oliseh and co. He has that winning ratio and he can master a plan 5o defeat any team. But the only disadvantage about him is that if u give him a team that started the qualifier on a bad note, he can’t stire the team to emerg victory from the group. He only prepares his team from the beginning. So I would emplor nff to find a coach who has winning ratio to games not just a coach who with big name but lacks winning ratio. Do u guys expects pisero to perform magic wen the nff knew he is not upto standard. To me, I will prefer this south Africans coach that is coaching a team in Saudi Arabia. He can lead this eagles to Victories.
Super eagles have become “SUPPER EAGLES” to small predators which now target once fearsome Nigerian team as a prey.What did we do to deserve this humiliation? Chai!!! Imagine Lesotho and Zim now prey on Nigerian eagles for supper. Repentance! Let’s repent o fellow Nigerians
You have a valid point @erstinoh So if Coach Mosimane of South Africa is good for you who has won Caf Champions league with clubs home & abroad without replicating such yet with any national team yet So what stops us/NFF from not offering a very good contract at this stage to Emmanuel Amunike paired with one of our foreign base Coaches with Vincent Enyama as Keeper’s Coach as i posted earlier in this thread?. Talking of winning matches & pedigree he has qualified a lowly rated Tanzanian national team to Afcon , First time in their history just like what Keshi did with Togo team both Afcon & World Cup respectively.
Our solution is right here at home except our unfortunate Nigeria factor that has always retarded us from looking inwards & making progress.typical example of gradual success is Senegal and Cameroon national team but again what do I know just my little piece of ideas moving forward.
Peace
I love Iwobi more than l could say. l doesn’t just call him IWOBI, l call him “Iwobi of Nigeria” But to come out to say that Nigeria will continue to fight with these second-rate Countries, like Lesotho, Zimbabwe, South Africa, or all these other minor Countries is, to say the least, the devaluation of Nigerian football. We don’t fight with them, we beat them. Yes! They fear us. For Lesotho to draw with us at Home is the worst thing to happen for you and Uzoho. Only 2 year ago, Iwobo and others beat this very Lesotho by 7 goals to 2. Ho, if only our Oga Rohr was not removed by Evil doers in our mist. If l have my way, l will send some serious gang of kidnappers to pay a short visit to this foreign coach. To punish him for the ‘show of shame’ he is hipping on the Nigerian people. Uzoho, what has Nigeria done you why you do this to us. Excuse yourself like a fake Okoye to allow Obasogie to do what he does best for Nigeria.