Former Super Eagles forward Jonathan Akpoborie has expressed displeasure with the team’s performance in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and Zimbabwe.
Akpoborie also stated that current head coach Jose Peseiro is not good enough to manage the Super Eagles.
The Super Eagles held the Likuena of Lesotho to a 1-1 draw in their opening fixture.
The three-time African champions also laboured to a 1-1 draw against the Warriors of Zimbabwe in their second game.
Peseiro’s side were roundly criticised for their poor showing in the two games.
In an exclusive chat with completesports.com, Akpoborie also stated that the current coaching crew is not good enough.
“I’m tired of watching the Super Eagles because the coach is not good enough, he has never been good enough and they are actually wasting time,” Akpoborie said.
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“They are actually wasting time to get a better coach that would handle the team quickly before the World Cup. We keep beating around the bush when we talk about football in Nigeria. The actions that are being taken right now does not really tell me that we are actually going through the right direction.
“The league is a different story. I am still assessing and looking at the Nigerian league but we are still at the same point just turning around. There are some improvements but look this is 2023. A lot of countries have made very much improvements in very short time. Actually these things, it’s not rocket science when you put the right policies the improvement will come. It would not come overnight but you will see those things coming out.
“We have exciting players but we don’t have the right person that can now put the right tactics or what they need to produce what we want. We want to play good football and we want to win games that is football. We want to entertain the crowd at the same time but we are not doing that. We are not doing that when we have the right players, in football time does not wait for anybody.
“They keep telling me that the man is learning. Learning? With our national team? The discussion where people keep telling me that a Nigerian must handle our national team, no! I haven’t seen any yet. Okay ,there are some promising coaches in the Premier League right now but do they have the experience to handle the politics of our national team. I don’t think so because they are young.
“So there are so many things, when I say some of these things, some people say I criticize too much. No! it’s just what is on ground that I am saying. I’m talking about the things on ground, and when those things are on ground.”
The Super Eagles currently occupy third position in Group C with two points.
The West Africans will host the Bafana Bafana of South in their next game in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers on June 3, 2024.
The Eagles will compete at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations early next year.
By Toju Sote
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COMMENTS
I think there are tow things to decide on Super Eagles fate and how to develop; frist thing if NFF let Peseiro to lead SE in the next AFCON. Cup in Cote De ‘Ivore ,NFF technical committee has mandatory to compel Peseiro to change his style of play form playing long and vertical football to short and ground football with complling him to play with 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 formations with also compelling him to play total football, also he must be compelled to summon old SE guards just like Ahmed Musa, Victor Moses, Ogeny Onazi,with adding new guards like Al- hassan Yousuf, Anderson Esiti,Ifeanyi Matthew, Fisayo Dele Bashiru; in goalkeeping Arthur Okonkwo, Noah Otubolu instead of Uzoho and Okoye.The second thing that NFF must hire new foriegn or local coaches to lead SE to the next AFCON. Cup, France and Dutch coaches can lead SE to new high and new era, coaches like Reymond Domenech or Jaquette Santini or Frank Rjikaard or Patric Klujevert one of them can lead SE at the next time.
Una Don start again, all this exinternationals follow sack rohr
And what have u done to improve Nigerian football no be to dey talk and talk u no dey coach,u no be administrator na 2 dey do CSN EXCLUSIVE u sabi oga go and prove yourself B4 talking.
Breaking news Complete Sports has gone broke.
It is the unknown names that will criticise you but I won’t forget when you were hailing Rohr after Sao Tome game???
Nobody should tell us before we know that. Super Eagles is bigger than the gaffer, but Nigeria is a country where almost everybody is looking for loopholes to milk the country.
Are the NFF care for the Super Eagles like us absolutely no. This is why we are seeing them hiring incompetent coach for Nigeria.
No wonder Renard, the former Zambia and Ivory Coast, did not want to coach Nigeria he knows NFF atrocities they have committed in the past.
If truly NFF love their fatherland, how would they hire Oga Paseiro and Oga Rohr in the first place?
The two coaches that could not play strong opponents outside Africa?
Within a short period, we saw what coach Eguavoen had done in the last Afcon before he fumbled against Tunisia. We all enjoyed total football. Am I lying ba? No kę.
However, that should tell the NFF that they need to treat our indigenous coach like a foreign coach. Giving enough of time and paying them well and giving them respect, they deserve it will boost their interest to give their all to serve Nigeria.
The best NFF should do now is to let go of Oga Paseiro.
Then Amunike, Marnu Gerba, and Egbo should lead Super Eagles to Afcon. By doing so, the three of them won’t be like a stranger when World Cup qualifiers resume.
And nobody knows us more than ourselves. These three men can reform the Super Eagles in less than three weeks and get Eagles ready for the World Cup.
These three gaffers can win the Afcon in less than two to three weeks in charge of the Super Eagles if given them all that required to excel because we are Nigerians while we believe in God first then our ability to achieve anything when all hope is lost.
The government should do something in our favor. They should ponish NFF for hiring Oga Paseiro. The government should ask NFF to pay the coach his remaining salary from their pockets and replace the gaffer with Amunike, Egbo, and Marnu Gerba this month.
Doing this will make NFF more serious. Oga Paseiro can not coach Super Falcons, not to talk of Super Eagles. Nigerians are the enemy of Nigeria until they put corruption, tribalism, and selfishness out of their ways. Hmmm. Truth is very hard to say, but saying the truth is like daily bread for me.
Government and the Nigeria Football Federation officials should do something about what I have said before Oga Paseiro and the NFF disgrace Nigeria. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
I still wonder why and how NFF still went ahead to extend Peseiro’s contract. We saw him finish, yet we went ahead to give him another 6 months….Something is really fishy about that extended contract…….
Amaju Pinnick and Dare were involved. I don’t know what the EFCC is waiting for. It is very embarrassing to see Oga Paseiro to lead Nigeria to Afcon.
I will prefer Amunike, Egbo, and Marnu Gerba to Oga Paseiro, but NFF does not believe in our indigenous coach period. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!