Dutch-born former Nigeria coach, Jo Bonfrere, has exclusively told Completesports.com that the Super Eagles’ defeat to DR Congo in Sunday’s final match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup African play-offs in Rabat, Morocco, was the result of the team’s technical and tactical indiscipline.
The Leopards of Dr Congo beat the Eagles 4-3 on penalty shoot-out after the match ended 1-1 after 120 t minutes at the Prince Moulay El Hassan Stadium, Rabat and advanced to the six-nation intercontinental play-offs scheduled for March 2026 in Mexico.
Bonfrere, who led Nigeria to the historic gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games after a famous 3-2 victory over Argentina in the final, spoke from his home in the Netherlands on Monday morning.
Also Read: NFF Apologises For Super Eagles’ World Cup Setback
The 79-year-old, who still cherishes that Olympic triumph 29 years on, expressed bitterness that Nigeria will again miss the World Cup — this time the 2026 finals in Mexico, the USA and Canada — after also failing to qualify for the Qatar 2022 edition.
Super Eagles Failed To Use Their Quality Against DR Congo
Reflecting on Sunday night’s clash, Bonfrere admitted that Nigeria had the quality to overpower DR Congo but lacked the necessary technical and tactical sharpness.
“The players weren’t moving without the ball,” Bonfrere began. “There was no movement off the ball and they were too slow in their build-up. They wasted far too many scoring chances in the second half.”
The 2000 AFCON silver medallist noted that the Super Eagles started the game well, taking an early lead through Frank Onyeka’s deflected third-minute effort.
“They started well, got an early goal, but then took their foot off the pedal. Their tempo dropped, and they became slow and less mobile.
Eagles Lacked Urgency And Purpose In Second Half
Bonfrere was disappointed that the Super Eagles deteriorated into a lethargic side that lacked urgency.
Also Read: Super Eagles Must Focus On 2025 AFCON –Tinubu Reacts After Nigeria’s Loss Vs DR Congo
“If you were watching as a neutral person, you would have stopped watching in the second half,” he said.
“It was like a ‘sleeping game’ from Nigeria. Now they are not going to the World Cup — bad.”
Super Eagles Produced No Shot On Target After The Break
He further lamented that the Super Eagles failed to muster even one shot on target in the second half, allowing DR Congo to dominate and apply pressure throughout.
“Super Eagles refused to attack — not even one shot on target. Big shame,” he concluded.
By Sab Osuji
23 Comments
Corrected version
Just finished watching the highlight again..one key observation i noticed is that S. E central defence pairing of Bassey and Frederick is stronger than Bassey and Ajayi.. If we had maintained that defensive block we use against Garbon the strory will hv been different.. I blame Ajayi for allowing the cross in the first instance.. Anothet glaring weakness in that team is Iwobi. We need a natural no 10 with grit. Iwobi loses possession in dangerous positions far too easily for a no 10. Chelle is good . let The NFF give him a long contract. Im sure he has observed this weaknesses and will surely fix them
This is disheartening and heartbreaking that we couldn’t make to the World Cup. In the next four years, most of them wouldn’t be at the top of their game. History will not forgive them.
They had a Choice, either to prepare to pass or prepare to fail, unfortunately, we didn’t prepare to pass. Is very ridiculous.
I really don’t know what happened to the SE players yesterday against DR Congo; they were so languid, lethargic and withdrawn especially after Osimhen left the pitch, from the beginning of 2nd half- they literally surrendered the midfield to Congo and put themselves under torrid pressure from the 2nd half through Extra time.
It’s like they gave up attack and didn’t believe they can score again against the Congolese, without Osimhen on the pitch. Could it be tiredness-recall they played for 130mins against Gabon just 3 days prior- or lack of adequate preparations, underrating a Congo team stacked with all Europe based players, just because they are far below Nigeria in Fifa ranking?
Even the guys selected to take the penalties were very suspect- with 2 full backs, who should never take them blowing their kick. I know Ekong is a very good Penalty taker for the team, so why did Coach Chelle not put Ekong in instead of another defender Awaziam late on, who can’t take penalties? Well let it be a learning experience for Chelle.
The midfield need total overhaul- Ndidi is passed his sell by date- and very poor in progressive football always scared and doing dangerous lateral and backward passes; Moses Simon is suffering from ageing (forget about his “football age) and now slower and predictable in his play.
Hehehehe…..patriotic pfool……..have the scales fallen off your eyes now…..????
Its so funny you are just noticing all these things now……..LMAOooo. Cheap, shameless pliars like you always end up like this.
A man who sees cracks in a building and, rather than raise an alarm, chooses to lie to the owners that the building is strong and solid and has an all clear, all in the name of “Patriotism,” will always end up buried in the rubble of the same building when it eventually collapses.
Simple truths about this team were so bitter for you and your folks to swallow, you started calling me and my comments a dark cloud……..LMAOooo…..Who has dark clouds hanging over their destiny now…….LMAOOoo????
Serves y’all right. Sit your lying asses down and watch other teams play at the World Cup
Righteousness exhaulteth a nation.
Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set ye free.
The same ndidi u all shower praise on few days ago ooo, like I’ve said before the only area I blamed chelle was not introducing Ekong instead of awazien, ur best PK player shd always take the first or the last, I’ve never seen bassey played PK before for either Nigeria or his club.
Chelle introduced that talk for nothing tolu as he shd and take him off as it shd bcos dude wasn’t doing shit, like that guy shd be playing basketball and Nt soccer, onuachu would have done way better in that situation, I can belt my life on that.
Anyway I will retain chelle for the AFCON except if we are going for any of those A- list coach.
A good point Bonfrere noted is the slow, lethargic, sleepy build up out of the defense. This allows teams with good press to put us under unnecessary pressure. Inevitably, the ball then goes back to Nwabali, who then starts his own wahala, leaving the hearts of fans in their mouths. We recall how Aubameyang almost embarrassed him. A younger Aubameyang would have gotten to that ball, and it would be Gabon playing DRC for the playoff ticket.
We need to move the ball quicker, not only playing out from defense, but all over the pitch. A boxer boxing in slow motion will never land a punch. Slow movement allows the opponent to settle and be ready, because they can see you coming.
How can the “young” players with mostly football age move the ball quicker na when nature finally caught up with them?
Rather than beg to be excluded, they’d rather be called up until they are “well old”.
FIFA want 10 teams from Africa for the WC right, so what will happen if Dr Congo fail to beat their opponent at the intercontinental playoff?
They will come and call you to become the 10th team na……..LMAOoo
You will tell us where FIFA told you 10 teams must come out of Africa.
I wonder what the intercontinental playoffs was meant to serve.
Nigerians wishing FIFA can once again fraudulently give them a ticket to the Americas the way they fraudulently gave them a ticket to the African playoffs despite being the worst 2nd position placed team in the regular qualifiers………LMAOoooo
Okay, thanks for the update that FIFA didn’t said they needed 10 teams from Africa. Na question I ask ooo @Drey.
I disagree. The defenders resisted everything thrown at them. The mídfield and attack were non existent after the break. The team lacked the confidence to even surge forward. The team had no shots on goal and barely moved close to the opponents 18 yard box until Arokodare’s missed header.
Arokodare should have left that header as Akor who’s a more clinical shooter was right behind him unmarked.
Arokodare is always too eager to get to the ball without watching his strike partner to decide whether to head, shoot, or leave it to him.
It was the same reason Chelle dropped him for Akor whenever he’s playing 4-4-2 as Arokodare kept getting in the way and impatiently. Lookman had to even signal him with his hand in the match against Rwanda to calm down after another missed chance.
For me, the pecking order for 9 is
Osimhen
Akor
Terem/Onuachu
Arokodare
These are all evidence of poor team chemistry.
Invite this today, call that 1 up tomorrow, drop that one next week. At the end of the day, football in not computer game. Players need to understand each other’s movements for them to get the best out of each other.
A good manager is the one who knows how to combine the individual qualities of 11 men to achieve results.
Arookodare was never needed in that match once Akor had come on. They were definitely going to clatter into each other unless specific instructions were given.
You have a midfield that is being dominated already, then you pull out 1 from that thin midfield and sub on a striker with practically the same profile as the man on. Who would get the ball to them…..? Why will they not clatter into each other when the ball eventually manages to get to them?
We don’t have a coach yet. The earlier we realize this, the better.
You don’t have to coach a team for donkey years before you are able to read games and react to tactical transitions by your opponents.
You’ve lost control of the midfield; your immediate goal should be reclaiming authority of the midfield, not piling bodies in the box.
NFF should not wait till this guy is fired/resigns/ runs down his contract before looking for a replacement…….the search for Chelle’s replacement should be on as soon as yesterday…..!!!
They play without confidence, they need someone to believe in them to motivate them and the recall of the combative Etebo in the middle of the pack.
No proper attacking midfielder for only God knows when. We need a non EPL player as an AM. Who can play football and not be afraid to lose the ball and track back to regain possession.
Ajayi and Bassey combo should never happen again in that defence. Fred Bassey is the best going forward. We cant keep
possession in the opponents half as the Eagles of yore which has hampered the SE dominance in games
The same Ajayi and bassey combo that dismantled Benin republic ooo. U all shd continue okay.
Ajayi and Ekong are 32 years old.
So, he got a point.
Bassey is still 25, thankfully, not football age.
The earlier we built our defense round them since it is most unlikely influential foreign born pros will choose the Eagles right now because of NFF ineptitude and no local substitutes either, the better for us in the long run.
Fredricks suffered on Sunday at the right back
Delusional fans left the main culprits out of the blame in a usual mentality decided to go after another player..
Iwobi has been the weakest link in the team throughout the qualifiers. He is the only midfielder that failed to score or assist. .He passed the ball to an opponent under minimal pressure. The second culprit was Ndidi whose long legs could failed him like he did against Chad creating an assist against his team
The goal Bashiru scored against South Africa in Uyo…..who gave him the assist….?
Iwobi contributed half the number of goals we scored under Finidi’s short-lived reign.
Even though i have never been a fan of that dunce, the one thing I like him for was that he wasn’t stupid enough to play Iwobi as a deep-lying playmaker the way this touareg has been playing him.
If you are looking for whom to blame, as you have desperately been doing, blame the coach who plays a player with Iwobi’s profile in a position meant for an Onyeka or Onazi-like player.
No matter how well you train a fish, it will never perform outside of water the way it performs in it. Know that and know peace, and rest your hatred for Iwobi.
You can rant till 2030, Iwobi will continue to be a key player in the SE for the next 4 years. It is left for the d++b coaches that the NFF will hire for the SE to determine whether they will play him closer to the strikers, like Rohr did and Marco Silva is doing, or play him as a central defender or a goalkeeper.
Iwobi this, Iwobi that…….as if Osimhen will still score the number of goals he normally scores if he’s played in midfield or as a right winger.
Do you guys all realise that Chelle only won matches where Osimhen played?
He drew against Zimbabwe right under our nose in Uyo, Osimhen played and scored but the team collapsed immediately Osimhen was substituted, leading to equaliser from Zimbabwe and an unjustly disallowed goal which would’ve given us a loss.
Another draw in SA was also in the absence of Osimhen.
So there was no difference between Chelle and Pesseiro or Finidi, the only difference was the availability of Osimhen
Please I am begging you all, open your eyes clearly to see that Chelle is not a good coach like Dr Drey always reiterate here. Osimhen seems to be the Coach-Player in this SE Team at the moment. Once Osimhen is out, the team always collapse like we see against Congo
Let’s face this truth and know that the SE urgently needs a sound world class coach to turn things around for Nigeria if you ever dream of getting to SF in AFCON next month
So we shd discard Chelle when we have AFCON in abt a mth. For who exactly? If u ask me, I will leave him to take the boys to AFCON and if he fail again then kick him out.
If Gabon eventually won us in the first playoff, we would have still blamed it on the coach without considering osimhen last minute miss, same way we keep blaming the coach for the draws whe. We shd have won the game if not for Ekong and the defenders error.
Not trying to free the coach from any fault here but who exactly are we replacing him with?
If NFF had hired Chelle from the start IN A TIMELY MANNER, we would have qualified without needing playoffs. Chelle will take us to the Afcon, unless he resigns.
If he wins the Afcon, then he has earned the right to continue.
If he doesn’t win it, but the performance is satisfactory, he may also continue. Depending on other things.
Anything else, and he’s out.
For me, his replacement MUST BE GOOD ENOUGH TO COACH IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE, OR ANY TOP LEAGUE. I repeat, the coach we want to hire must be the type that a typical premier league club will not mind hiring. A coach that the likes of Barca, Madrid, Bayern, PSG, etc will consider a respectable coach. No more unknown quantities. No more wanderers. No more charlatans!
If the coach is not in that elite category, he is AUTOMATICALLY not a suitable candidate for the job of Super Eagles coach.
Chelle is not an elite coach, yet look at the progress he’s made. Can you imagine what an elite coach would have achieved given enough time? Even with this rag tag squad, an elite coach would do wonders. Rohr, who is also not an elite coach, got decent results with these same set of lads. An elite coach would surely do much better. Look at what Unai Emery is doing at Aston Villa. That’s the impact an elite coach brings to the table.
I don’t want to hear THERE IS NO MONEY. NFF, get off your fat, lazy backsides and go and look for the money. Even better, resign from office, and let capable hands take over. I don’t trust this current NFF leadership one bit to do right by us in the matter of hiring coaches or managing players. So we can suggest ideas till we’re blue in the face, as long as these nincompoops remain in office, you might as well just be wasting your breath. ALL SOLUTIONS TO OUR PROBLEMS BEGINS WITH THE SACKING OF THE CURRENT NFF BOARD AND THE USELESS TECHNICAL DIRECTOR.
NFF ONIGBESE MUST GO!!!
I felt the coach should have introduced Rapheal when our midfield collapsed. This is a guy who stood his ground against Almighty Barcelona.
Besides why were the players suddenly lost interest in winning the ball back ? It got to a time I felt we were playing against Brazil because we were thought basic football lessons yesterday.
Our players are more interested in off field activities than on field actions. We need a psychologist to prepare these boys mentally for the next AFCON. Then are sure there’s love and unity among the players, hopefully bigotry has not crept into our team.
If not that I have prepared my mind for the worst outcome because of few fans on this platform that always speak the truth and also said we should not totally rely on Super Eagles I can’t say what would have happened to me after the loss.
My advice to all my brothers in this platform don’t let us follow Eagles wholeheartedly because the players will not even play wholehearted football on the field.
I watch Tunisia vs Brazil today , I tell you African football has gone beyond what Super Eagles are at the moment and it will take sweat and blood for us to get to the quarter final in the next AFCON.
Bye love you all.
Hehehehe…..Y’all will learn.
They want me to speak from both sides of my mouth in the name of “balanced opinions” when it’s glaring overall that this dude just isn’t good enough.
I am not here to massage anyone’s ego, facts and figures never lie.
The man never defeated any team ranked above 80 in the FIFA rankings (bar an understrength Ghana side). Even the ones below 80, bar the Benin game where Osimhen took it upon himself, it was all wuruwuru to the answer sort of victories…..Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, etc. And even against the Below 80 teams, once Osimhen is not around, just forget any chance of a victory.
It took just 20 minutes for a DRC team with equal player strength but a better coach to shackle him. Gabon seized the game from him in the 2nd half, and he needed extra time before we regained total control of that match. Against Russia, there was barely any time at all throughout 90 minutes that we can say we had control of the game.
The less said of our performance at CHAN, the better.
That is the man Nigerians depend on for a medal at AFCON.
As a matter of fact, as things stand now, it will be a waste of space letting this dude take us to AFCON. He’s not going beyond the Qfinals after all, let Ogunmodede and Ilechukwu begin the rebuilding process of the SE while NFF starts looking for us a good Dutch or French coach asap