The Democratic Republic of Congo defeated the Super Eagles 4-3 on penalties after regulation time ended 1-1 in the final of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying playoffs on Sunday.
The result means DR Congo have qualified for the Intercontinental playoffs in Mexico which will hold in March 2026.
The Super Eagles took an early lead through Frank Onyeka before Mechak Elia equalised towards the end of the first half.
After both teams failed to find the winner the game was decided on penalties with captain Chancel Mbemba converting the winning spot kick.
The Super Eagles have now failed to qualify for back-to-back World Cup after also missing the ticket to the 2022 edition in Qatar.
For DR Congo they will be targeting a second World Cup appearance after debuting at the 1974 tournament in the former West Germany.
The Super Eagles got off to a perfect start as Onyeka opened the scoring on three minutes after his shot from the edge of the box was deflected into the net.
In the ninth minute Wilfred Ndidi tried a shot from just outside of the box which went just wide.
DR Congo went close on 13 minutes after Stanley Nwabali spilled a freekick but the opposition player failed to direct his shot towards goal.
Ndidi went close on 20 minutes with a straight shot which the keeper held well.
The Super Eagles missed a big chance on 24 minutes as Ademola Lookman drove down the left and delivered a smart square ball across the box, but his two teammates collided in their attempt to meet it and the opportunity slipped away.
Also Read: 2026 WCQ Playoffs: Super Eagles Won’t Disappoint Against Congo — Chelle
DR Congo’s positive play was eventually rewarded as they equalised through Elia on 32 minutes as he slotted home a cross.
On 38 minutes Osimhen hit a goal bound volley which hit a Congolese player for a corner.
In the 53rd minute DR Congo has a chance but the opportunity was blocked for a corner.
On 57 minutes there was a shout for a penalty by the Congolese but the referee waved it away.
Few minutes later Zaidu Sanusi made a vital block to deny a DR Congo player a clean strike.
With nine minutes left Moses Simon sent in a dangerous cross which the keeper came out to claim.
Nwabali almost gift the Congolese with a goal with a poor pass on 84 minutes but they didn’t capitalize.
Congo had the ball in the net on 94 minutes but it was ruled out for a foul on Nwabali.
In the 100th minute a Congolese turned well inside the box but fired over the bar.
On 109 minutes Congo had the ball in the net but it was overruled for a foul on a Super Eagles player.
Nwabali then made a big save in the 120th minute as he palm away a dangerous header from a set piece.
MATCH STATISTICS
Nigeria 1-1 DR Congo (3-4 penalties)
SCORERS
Frank Onyeka (3rd min)
Mechak Elia (32nd min)
NIGERIA LINE UP
Stanley Nwabali
Benjamin Fredrick
Semi Ajayi
Calvin Bassey
Zaidu Sanusi
Wilfred Ndidi
Alex Iwobi
Frank Onyeka
Samuel Chukwueze
Ademola Lookman
Victor Osimhen
SUBSTITUTES
Akor Adams
(Osimhen, 46 min)
Chidera Ejuke
(Lookman, 57 min)
Moses Simon
(Chukwueze, 57 min)
Tolu Arokodare
(Iwobi, 77 min)
Bruno Onyemaechi
(Sanusi, 96 min)
Chidozie Awaziem
(Arokodare, 115 min)
HEAD COACH: Eric Chelle
DR CONGO LINE UP
Lionel Mpasi-Nzau
Aaron Wan-Bissaka
Axel Tuanzebe
Chancel Mbemba
Arthur Masuaku
Ngalayel Mukau
Samuel Moutoussamy
Noah Sadiki
Mechak Elia
Nathanael Mbuku
Cedric Bakambu
SUBSTITUTES
Fiston Mayele
(Bakambu, 59 min)
Brian Cipenga
(Elia, 71 min)
Edo Kayembe
(Mukau, 71 min)
Michel-Ange Balikwisha
(Mbuku, 105 min)
Timothy Fayulu
(Mpasi-Nzau, 120 min)
HEAD COACH: Sebastien Desabre
By James Agberebi
41 Comments
This could have been 2 – 0 by the 25th minute, and we would have won. Not sure the 2 players that collided while trying to meet that perfect Lookman’s squared cross.
Ajayi was not match fit. He could have blocked that ball from being crossed in. Perhaps Chelle should have retained Osayi and 2 strikers in Akor and Osimhen. Tolu struggles a lot.
Iwobi is not a hard tackler and loses ball easily. Ndidi sometimes gets too soft too defending.
Anyways, it was a lottery once it got to penalty. And I found out by half time we were going to lose via penalty. I prayed and hoped it won’t happen. But it did. When. I summoned courage to start watching again I saw Osimhen was out, then I knew little could be done if we didn’t score.
Fate gave us many chances, even though we kept blowing it. Congrats to DRC. They deserve another appearance after over 50 years. The aura of this government and the immediate past ones are not good.
Well, this era of players are the most overhyped set of national team players..
The nff blew this opportunity…
It’s time for the Govt. to save our football from Cabals like Picnic, Gussau, Dikko….
Head must roll…
That was all she wrote, folks!
We know, The NFF stinks.
We know, they are corrupt and incompetent.
But previous Nigerian teams have put all that aside and qualified.
You flaunt playing in ‘’ The top five leagues’’ but you are not able to win a group consisting of Benin Republic, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and South Africa whose team is made of 90 percent of players that play at home, then you don’t deserve to be at The World Cup.
It was a false dawn all along.
What is the essence of these analyses. The perfomace from the group shows the nucleos of this team.
Over hype player and under acomplished set of people.
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free…..!!!
So long, countrymen.
I leave you with the propagandists, charlatans, and pseudo-patriots who gave you false hopes by embellishing the truth with lies and Macmillan grammar. Cowards who speak from both sides of their lips, to be hailed as sharing “balanced opinions”.
Please do not even look forward to AFCON, we ain’t making it beyond the quarter-finals if this Malian Touareg, who was nullified for 100 minutes, remains the coach.
I know the scapegoating of players will begin from this point, but note this and note it well…….The difference between DRC and Nigeria today was 1 man…….Sebastian Desabre.
When a technical bench is bereft of ideas, even the players on the pitch would look like chickens lost in the savannah.
Sad end to an era.
Back-to-back non-qualification for the World Cup. UNPRECEDENTED since 1994
So long….. !
Nigerian football will not deny me the opportunity to reap the fruits of my labour in this life.
Your world class Iwobi has proved to be ZERO CLASS AFTER ALL. But when some of us talk, they call us names. How on earth is such a player playing for Nigeria till today?
He has fake pundits and keyboard warriors fighting and defending his mediocrity. The coach was inexperienced, overwhelmed and quickly switched to switched to safety mode with sideways back passes. We had no plan to win the match and the Bassey Ajayi combo is terrible since the match against Benin I. Morocco.
Siasia could have done a better job than this Chelle
Hahahahaha……shameless fake coach.
In the team you are coaching, your most creative player plays closer to your central defenders than to your strikers abi……???
Iwobi is the reason the SE huffed and puffed for 120 minutes yesterday abi……..LMAOooo
Iwobi is the reason DRC took control of the game from the 20th minute….?
Iwobi is the reason DRC outnumbered us in the midfield, and yet your d*b coach still made the midfield thinner by removing 1 midfielder for Arokodare and later subbing off Arokodare for a Defender………LMAOooo. Confused pdullard of a coach.
Iwobi is the reason Ndidi gave our opponents an assist by pstupidly trying to control a cross in the 6-yard box when he should have cleared the ball out 1 time for a corner or throw-in….?? Useless pfool.
Iwobi this…..Iwobi that. Iwobi lost the ball in the middle quite alright, so what were the other 5 players playing behind him looking at….??? Bassey lost his man, Ajayi could not cut out a simple cross on time despite having long legs, and Ndidi cushioned the cross nicely for the opponent to pounce on. But Iwobi is the scapegoat because he is the only one who made a wrong pass throughout the game.
You play Iwobi closer to the CBs than to strikers, and you want goals and assists from him……LMAOooo. Are you that senseless….???
That is how pdumb you and this Malian Touareg coaching the SE are.
S.E greatest undoing are chukweze and iwobi. Going forward SE must go look for a natural no 10 . Iwobi is too easily disposed. Such a player cannot anchor our midfield even he has a wide range of passing. He gave away the ball that led to the equalizer. . He also struggled to cope with physicality of the congonese. I was also a big mistake by the coach to start chukweze. SE alwsys lose bog games in which Chukweze starts. He too inconsistent. Forget what u see in training .. He flatters to deceive always
For long time most of these team players have no winning matches mentally in clubs, How they play for national team. Where under u17 u20 team players. Also I didn’t watch the match because of lineup players not working they failed so many times. Is the time for changes …
xxxAlex iwob
Xxxsemi Ajay
xxx Samuel chekauesi
Xxx zido sinusitis
xxx admola lokuman
Xxx more other
We bottled it long time ago. Nigeria don’t deserve to go to world let be sincere. I laugh when people confidently say they will defeat Congo. This is a team to match us players to players. In fact on paper they have better players and are tactically better than us. They have a very good coach who has been with them for a very long time unlike ours though our coach also tried wish he had been with the team for a while but do to our incompetent NFF we are here we are. Congratulations to DR Congo they deserved it
If They are that good why are they playing playoff then? They are that good and yet they could only defeat us via PK shootout which we all know to be any teams game?
Winner most emerge and they won, congratulation to them. The boys tried Expecially our defence, kudos to nwabali and Federick, I need to know the reason for VO substitution though.
If Nigeria had been in there group maybe we would not even made the play off spot. Did Nigeria even deserve to be in the play off? We only edge Benin on goal difference what a shame. They defeated Nigeria because they are better that is why you and your like are wailing here pointing fingers at players. You don’t need to single out any player for blame the whole team is in shambles plus your incompetent administratior. If Chelles had won the match you would have been praising him by now saying he didn’t loose any match.
Are you minding that 3/5 = 80% olodo…???
If Nigeria was that good too, why did we make the playoff too……infact our playoff qualification was even through the back door because we were the worst placed 2nd placed team in all the groups (I stand to be corrected).
We played the lowest-ranked of all 4 playoff teams, comprising of 30+ year olds, and we couldn’t even defeat them in 90 mins.
DR Congo is not that good, yet they dominated us for 100 out of 120 minutes of football.
DR Congo is not that good, yet we were parking the bus for them as early as the 70th minute and literally hanging onto dear life waiting for penalties.
DR Congo were not that good, but as their coach was bringing on more attack-minded players, our own was bringing in defenders and even had to substitute a substitute.
DR Congo is not that good, but they subbed off their star striker, Bakambu, and their team did not crumble. But we subbed off our own Osimhen, and our team turned into a team of headless chickens.
He should tell us who is heading to the Intercontinental playoffs now……LMAOOoooo
Final analysis and conclusion:
It is as i said! What a sad sad sad shame for Nigeria.
Even though I strongly prayed against it that this thing where this useless Chelle cannot seem to see that Iwobi is a minus one in this team – something that I and some other very discerning fans have been saying for years….YEARS O!, that Iwobi is a glaring short one, brings absolutely nothing worthwhile to the team and actually to the contrary makes the team very dangerously weak with his absolute no tackling football – that is ZERO CONTACT whatsoever ! I’ve been banging on about this for DONKEYS! but some idiots along with the so called “good coach/manager” that the fools at the NFF brought in due to their stealing, selfish and scheming ways could in no way see this very very obvious and glaring fact – Some goats will even come here and start insulting people who have a lot more sense than them and their whole families – like that absolute idiot @tayo or wtfe his stupid name is and a few others who I won’t even bother mention their irrelevant names – these idiots will come here and say it is hatred lmaaoo, in their myopic and sluggish minds, Iwobi is some great playmaker, midfielder – hehehehehehehe I’m laughing so hard that it hurts!
Can you all now see?? Complete twats!
I am flabbergasted that no one – NOT EVEN ONE PERSON here tonight has acknowledged the ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM! No one has mentioned who’s error DIRECTLY led to the goal that Congo DR equalised with, a certain Iwobi!! – abi are you people for real??
If it is that you lot actually didn’t see it, in which case I wonder what you people were watching, and I suspect it’s the same thing you all have been watching all these years – the back of the TV and deceiving yourselves that you are watching football or that you know anything about football – I actually don’t blame you lot because even your so called manager too failed the test – I wonder what that Iwobi is doing that has blinded all these simpletons – whatever the dude is using must be very very strong indeed., but please go and wear your specs and find a real TV and watch again and you will see that it was Iwobi!
Iwobi took the ball in midfield, panicked and passed directly to a Congo player and that passage of play led directly to the goal! Ha! O mase o!
The whole hopes of a nation and you slow pokes destroyed it because you were too blind or too emotional to see that Iwobi should NEVER be anywhere near that team, and now you people have reaped what you sowed but unfortunately to the massive detriment of Nigeria!
If Congo had not equalised from Iwobi’s error, the chances are very much in favour of the fact that we would have won this game – I say the chances would have been in favour because even though Iwobi is the SE’s biggest problem, the truth is that he is not the only one – the list is long and it includes the NFF, Chelle, and some other below par players, and also why did Chelle take Osimhen off? He better have ben injured o! Because if he was not and he took him off then that in itself is a capital offence and deserves capital punishment lol.
But jokes aside, and after everything has been said and done – If we love ourselves and want to stand any chance going forward and counting up to 2030 – which is the next available opportunity. from now, then we better jettison the whole NFF and get serious minded, competent people in there, get rid of Chelle – he is not good enough – and his greatest sin is not recognising that Iwobi is a liability to the team, and then start a rebuild that only a very few of the current players will have any chance of being a part of – anything short of these simple and straightforward measure will mean that Nigeria (once a footballing great) will never ever be so again! Not with the likes of Chelle and Iwobi and the NFF as it stands now!
It is as they say – A word is enough for the wise!
When Jordan and New Zealand qualifies and suriname or panama could qualify for a world cup then you know we are in trouble.
NFF ONIGBESE, how market? Are you now satisfied?
You put your bulging stomachs ahead of national interest. You have once again brought sorrow and anguish to hundreds of millions of Nigeria fans, with your gross incompetence and blatant corruption!
You knew that this kind of failure could happen, but your personal interest is more important than the people’s happiness.
NFF ONIGBESE, thank you very much ooo!
Now, you all must exit the stage. Even the most naive observers now know this. You simply must go for Nigerian football to rise again.
No osimhen, No party, so tolu just deceived us with that goal he scored the last time? Boy has been really awful ever since.
NFF onigbese, alawin, alaroro, hope you happy now? Gusau and u all are so senseless to realize that qualifying the team would have even bring in more money for u all. It’s well.
SE were playing with fear, the moment Osimhen was replaced at the beginning of 2nd half, and the Congolese smelled blood and took full advantage. Nigeria was just defending, and gave control of the midfield to the Congolese. You can see fear and panick all through the ranks of SE, and it was a surprise the SE survived till penalty kicks.
Chelle should have brought in Ekong towards the end of extra time to take the first Penalty. Ekong has never missed a penalty for SE- Scored all 3 taken, including in the Shoot-out in semi-finals against South Africa- in the last Afcon in Ivory coast. He also scored a penalty against Lesotho in the group qualifiers, match day 9.
I was wondering who will take the penalties with Osimhen and Ekong not in the field! Well it shows Nigeria SE is a one-man team- all of the 5 games he did not play in the WCQ group stage- we could not win, not even against lowly Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Benin who even beat us 2-1 away.
Time to find replacement for these slow and weak players with young, fitter and pacier ballers, especially in midfield- Ndidi, Iwobi, Ajayi, Moses Simon, Chukwueze, Arokodare, even Ejuke. Tital overhaul before Afcon.
What happened? Nigeria didn’t qualify for the world “cop” with all the players you have? The giants of Africa? Lol
@Yawa, even your yeye name says it all lol, whoever named you did a stellar job lmaaoo
Hahaha typical jealous and bad minded Ghanaian – nothing good will ever come your way because you have a black heart crafted by satan himself. Wait and see what will befall Ghana in the competition, they have played 2 friendlies in the last 2 week and have lost both woefully and Nigeria, even with all our own internal issues will still beat Ghana easily any day, any time – so go on to your world cup, we couldn’t care less lol
Something went wrong in the dressing room at halftime. After the resumption we played not to concede and not to win. I refuse to believe Congo is this good. I think the players or even coach sabotaged it. Even the penalty sef. From changing the formation to removing Osimhen to substituting Tolu.
Atleast they got their money…Some of them can make way now and leave. Momentum of training and rest is crucial for a short international window like that…Should have protested before Afcon. NFF bastard need to resign asap…All of them. Eguavoen first.
Let me still bring this issue up here, because it is very shamefull that this is the second time in a row the NFF cost us our world cup ticket…..beccause of that , i think The only thing i am expecting to hear this week is “THE GUSSAU LEAD NFF HAS BEEN OVERHAUL INCLUDING NDIDI, SIMON, CHUKWUEZE, AJAYI….. NEW ADMINISTRATION IS EXPECTED SOON”…..
This news will appease every super eagles fan world wide
I mention NDIDI here because that guy is off completely…..
The error he made against Benin Rep. lead to our first defeat under Finidi during the normal world cup qualifiers…..
Against Zimbabwe, he had all the chance to seal the victory for nigeria but he shoot wide, and started laughing as if we were all ready through to the world cup….
Against DR Congo, he met a ball in his box and instead of him clearing the ball out for either throw-in or corner kick , he decided to trap the ball for the opponent to score……
When I highlight the way Ndidi gives away the ball easily, some sentimental people (probably they come from the same village as Ndidi) would get angry. We need midfielders who will stop losing the ball. That hardly happens with Onyeka. But you see Ndidi and Iwobi, just get aggressive with them, and you’ll take the ball with them just jogging lazily after you, rather than hustling to take the ball or tackle you like Bassey, Frederick, Onyeka, or Osayi would do.
Iwobi is by far worse than Ndidi and Simon put together but are the two most on here unexplainably call out while leaving out the chiefest culprit- Iwobi, Ndidi is still useful and unless we find somebody else in his position, who plays that position well – like a Tielemans of Belgium or McTominay or a Joelinton kind of player which cannot be hard to find or develop in a country like Nigeria, then, Ndidi and Simon are still currently the 2 best options and even when we find those players, these two should still be on the bench as utility options but the clearest thing we must do is make sure that Iwobi is no longer an option for the team as he makes the team extremely weak and is the teams achilles heel currently.
Also Chelle is suspect in that even though I like him, he is not the type of coach that we need – ideally we need someone who thinks like a Thomas Tuchel – a hard line, no nonsense coach who also has an impeccable eye for a good player, combined with incredible people/players skills – if Tuchel was Nigeria’s coach (in our dreams, not because we can’t afford him, but because our NFF are thieves and we do not have nor are we ready to commit to building and fostering the infrastructure and environment needed for excellence to flourish)
If we can successfully jettison the NFF as it is, and the Federal Govt or whoever are the powers that be can change the current structure and criteria that we are currently using for the appointment of those who will run our football so that the same old usual cabals – thieves and selfish narrow-minded and myopic individuals can never take the reigns at our NFF again, then maybe we can tell Chelle never to use Iwobi again and then let him continue for a bit to see his results and if he still does not evolve tactically enough to be in charge then we should look for someone else and like I said, spare no expenses and go for someone like Tuchel, who i know is currently unavailable, but apparently may become so after the WC, if England are stupid enough to let him go (I very much doubt that they will) but the main point being that we find a manager in his mould – there are many others around – even in Africa, the current Morroco or Algerian managers are 2 good examples will do finely, and again, even if these all remain unavailable, there are many more around the world who meet this specification or criteria.
Iwobi is by far worse than Ndidi and Simon put together but are the two most on here unexplainably call out while leaving out the chiefest culprit- Iwobi, Ndidi is still useful and unless we find somebody else in his position, who plays that position well – like a Tielemans of Belgium or McTominay or a Joelinton kind of player which cannot be hard to find or develop in a country like Nigeria, then, Ndidi and Simon are still currently the 2 best options and even when we find those players, these two should still be on the bench as utility options but the clearest thing we must do is make sure that Iwobi is no longer an option for the team as he makes the team extremely weak and is the teams achilles heel currently.
Also Chelle is suspect in that even though I like him, he is not the type of coach that we need – ideally we need someone who thinks like a Thomas Tuchel – a hard line, no nonsense coach who also has an impeccable eye for a good player, combined with incredible people/players skills – if Tuchel was Nigeria’s coach (in our dreams, not because we can’t afford him, but because our NFF are thieves and we do not have nor are we ready to commit to building and fostering the infrastructure and environment needed for excellence to flourish)
If we can successfully jettison the NFF as it is, and the Federal Govt or whoever are the powers that be can change the current structure and criteria that we are currently using for the appointment of those who will run our football so that the same old usual cabals – thieves and selfish narrow-minded and myopic individuals can never take the reigns at our NFF again, then maybe we can tell Chelle never to use Iwobi again and then let him continue for a bit to see his results and if he still does not evolve tactically enough to be in charge then we should look for someone else and like I said, spare no expenses and go for someone like Tuchel, who i know is currently unavailable, but apparently may become so after the WC, if England are stupid enough to let him go (I very much doubt that they will) but the main point being that we find a manager in his mould – there are many others around – even in Africa, the current Morroco or Algerian managers are 2 good examples will do finely, and again, even if these all remain unavailable, there are many more around the world who meet this specification or criteria.
LOL – this UBFE guy did not mention Iwobi at all lmaaoo
Are you sure you really wish 9ja well?? Hmm some of you ehn lool
LOL – this UBFE guy did not mention Iwobi at all lmaaoo
Are you sure you really wish 9ja well?? Hmm some of you ehn lool
We are trying to ventilate our anger with NFF and their backers.
Let us tackle the real questions.
1. Why can’t we employ a real high-flying coach with all our wealth?
2. Why must we rely on second-best coaches and resort to players to win games?
3. Why should we be slow starters with competitions? Don’t we know that results are cummulative?
4. Why do we make the same mistakes year in and year out, but expect different outcomes? Is that not insanity?
5. If the govt is unwilling to hire and pay competent coaches, why not launch a national fund to do so?
Not one to cry over spilled milk but have consistently called for the resignation of the human waste, Dikko, Gusua and their minions. However, I had never held my breath because I know, the disgrace called men, would never ever resign. And of course, we got a reactionary presidency that lack vision and still sticks to that foolery that heads the Sports commission.
Dikko is a failure. Gusua and his board are losers, and their incompetency is taking us down.
As long as this leadership remains, Nigeria sports is doomed. It’s not a prediction. it’s a spoiler.
The best gift to soothe the pain of Nigerians right now is the resignation of these men, Dikko, Gusua and all of their team. The lot a disgrace.
I’m saddened by Nigeria’s failure to reach the mundial. But something gladdens my heart. My joy now is that the hoodlums in the Glass House will not smell even one kobo from the FIFA participation funds. They watched greedily in 2022 as the money went to Ghane, and now they will watch it go to South Africa and DRC, if they eventually make it. SERVES NFF ONIGBESE RIGHT!
If we had qualified, they would have shared the whole thing, and left the coach and the boys empty handed.
Talk about being kobo wise and pounds foolish. Between 2022 and 2026, the foolish, useless NFF have missed out on almost $70 million in FIFA money. All they needed to do was ensure we qualified for both world cups, and they would have had all these money to share! And we the fans would not have minded. Just take a bit to take care of coaches and players, and do whatever you like with the rest. Alas, NFF ONIGBESE would rather chase kobo kobo in bribe collection, embezzlement, player agency, pay and play arrangements, shameless looting of funds provided by the government and local sponsors! Any money they diverted to themselves is but a tiny fraction of what they could have shared among themselves if we qualified. But their thick skulls are too daft and too greedy to realize this.
I hope all the money they stole is enough to last them for a while, because they will all soon be joining the unemployment line.
NFF ONIGBESE MUST GO!
NFF KILLED NIGERIA FOOTBALL IN 2025.
as we mourn the untimely death of Nigeria football the entity that must be held responsible for the total destruction of Nigeria soccer is the Nigerian football federation.
These organisations is known for incompetence ,lack of vision, corruption, stupidity and inability to understand international sport politics.
An organisation that cannot pay players bonus, that does not know when and how to hire competent world class coaches and how to develope youth soccer cannot deliver world cup ticket.
It is time for gusau and his incompetent technical committee to park thier load and give other opportunity to manage our soccer.
If they refuse to resign i will advise the federal government to engage the service of efcc,icpc and dss to probe them.
IT IS A BIG SHAME THAT THIS GENERATION OF LATE COMER PLAYERS, TIK-TOK BLOGGERS, INDISCIPLINE PLAYER, CONTENT CREATURE WILL NOT QUALIFY FOR WORLD CUP AT LAST.
## SHAME TO NFF
I had predicted that it will end in tears and my prediction came true. You can not do wuru-wuru to the answer, you must show workings. I had complained of the problem of meritocracy in inviting players but it enters voicemail. There are too many questions and very little answers , sadly.
Here are some of the questions:
1. Why do we keep inviting players who the coach does not believe in? Alhassan and Onyedika are two names that stick out and guess what position both players play? You got it midfield! The same position that the NFF Technical Committee has Ignored for years.
2. Why are we not looking at options in Goal like Arthur Okonkwo?
3. Why are coaches not paid on time and player bonuses delayed?
4. Why can’t we find other wingers than Simon who never beats a fullback, cannot cross to save his life and by yesterday’s evidence , He cannot take a penalty.
To move forward:
1. Injection of new legs in midfield (David Moses, Akinsanmiro, Eletu, Onuche & Anthony Dennis) for the Afcon. We need dynamism.
2. It time to move Simon and EL Capitan on. Their best years are behind them and it will be only downhill from here on.
3. We need to explore other options in attack like Rafiu Durosinmi and Ilenikhena of Monaco because Arokodare, Onuachu and Boniface are not good enough.
4. The real change will be the overhaul of the entire NFF Board but we know that this will not happen. I am not holding my breadth.
Golden Child, good suggestions. And as you mentioned, the real change would be the non-negotiable exit of the current NFF.
NFF must go, because the other changes you suggested will never happen under them.
They are waiting for players who should be in the team on merit to bring brown envelope. No pay, no play.
In addition to your list of midfielders, I would like to suggest the left footed Peter Agba. He likely could be a good option.
Whoever we finally select, it has to be on merit, and that will not happen with corrupt, incompetent officials at the helm, who keep interfering with the coach’s list.
We also need to select enough bodies in the midfield department. We cried out that the midfield going into the playoffs was thin. A thin midfield cost us the last Afcon trophy. We usually concede control of the games to teams with decent midfields, because ours is so poor. That needs to change.
And leave Iwobi in ba? hahahaha
you and anyone who agrees with this your madness are idiots.
I read all the comments here and the summary of it was that NFF should go(non-negotiable) and does anyone know why its so?
Because they created the electoral statutes whereby the various state FA chairmen who make up the NFF board by the way are recycled into power whenever elections come around,ever wonder why outsiders or ex internationals can’t win the elections….
secondly we have a system Coach who lacks the tactical flexibility and dexterity to manage the team in game and his systems usually has two particular weaknesses
a bad rest defence &
weak full backs in the OOP phase
he was a man who used to rely heavily on his automatisms and unnecessary tactical switches(square pegs in round holes) but his Chan outing thought him a valuable lesson:-
Without the emotional motivation, simplification of tactics and tactical organization you are going nowhere especially in international footy where training time and preparation is few and far between. but he still has an awful lot to learn and this is not the type of Coach Nigeria who claims to have Stars should appoint.
as for the events of what happened in the Congo drc match I smell a conspiracy one so bad tempered you’ll have to wonder if there’s something going on behind the scenes, when we scored the celebration was muted and not so extravagant from the team as if they’re planning for something to happen. then by halftime VO was substituted for an invisible injury and something tells me that they halftime team talk was about trying to get one over the NFF after all they had a row with the NFF before the Gabon game. Well! one will never truly know what goes on behind the scenes so I’m not so sure but the body language was strange after halftime.
going forward I don’t see anything good coming out from the NFF,The Coach and the team itself cos that environment is a toxic one.
I’m of the same opinion regarding the players/coach sabotaging the game. Right from Osimhen celebration during the Gabon game, when he ran towards the bench and diverted, I started suspecting something wasn’t right. Also, let’s not kid ourselves, if eventually these guys qualified, there’s a high possibility that the NFF would have done the same thing they did to Oliseh and co for protesting. I refuse to believe that Congo DR is so good. From the 2nd half it was like Bayern Munich playing a division 3 club. Something definitely was up! My 2 cents.
If anyone is looking for the evidence that NFF is a den of crooks, look no further. If you review the scorecard of NFF , which indicates an overwhelming failure, anyone who with a speck of integrity would have resigned but there is no honour amongst thieves. They will stay on to continues to suck life out of the nation’s football.
You see, the guys at NFF are politicians and not technocrats and an average politician understands Nigerians very well. They know without a doubt that when things like this happens, there will be uproar and they might even come under scathing attacks on media outlets but they are willing ride the waves until calmness is restored, then the vicious cycle continues.
Why is there nobody protesting outside the glass house? Putting pressure on them to leave or step down? Let me make another prediction, if immediate action is not taken, a time will come when the super eagles may start struggling to qualify for afcon. Other countries are investing in their football, coming up with progressive policies that has seen them gain ascent and prominence within the context of African football but we are here moonwalking with skates on the slippery terrain of Nigerian football. If this was in the US , protest would have been going on by now but we do not hold our leaders accountable and hence why they will continue to take undue advantage of us.
What do we expect as a result when the person heading NFF is a Fulani whose primal vocation is taking care of cows. People managing our football are illiterates and in this era where other FA are compliance with modern management of football for better results, we rely on abundance of skills. If not because we have foreign rejected players Nigeria would have been dead long time go.
70 per cent of goals conceded over the past four years har been directly linked to Iwobi. That guy can not play African football, mark him once he will quickly release the ball to opponents. A serious nation will not be using Iwobi in the midfield because he lazy, so also are lookman and Chukueze. Our midfielders are lazy and don’t want to get dirty, they can’t throw their bodies on the line.
Once we have midfielders that can tackle mark push the ball front and also pacy we will become difficult to beat.
At the moment we have a very good attackers and defenders.