Former Super Eagles head coach, Sunday Oliseh has warned it will be disastrous for Nigerian football if the team failed to qualify for 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The Super Eagles were denied a place at the just concluded 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar by West African rivals, Ghana.
The three-time African champions attended three previous editions of the World Cup before failing to secure a place in Qatar 2022.
Oliseh stated that the Super Eagles can’t afford to miss out on a place at the 2026 mundial.
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“Nigeria football will be all but dead if we failed to qualify for the next World Cup,”Oliseh said in an interview on ARISE TV on Monday
“We’re already behind many countries because we didn’t qualify (for Qatar 2022) and we’re farther behind because we didn’t participate at this World Cup.
“Football is a religion in this country, but when you don’t have a solid league, you cannot have a good national team.”
USA, Mexico and Canada will co-host the 2026 World Cup .
The competition will ill be expanded to 48 teams with Africa presenting nine qualifiers.
By Adeboye Amosu
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COMMENTS
Its not about having the best league in the world. Croatia, Argentina, Morrocco and France do not have the best leagues in the world. The rise or fall of Not Only football but all sectors of the Countries lies in the hands of The NFF and senators. If they refuse to give up their corrupt practices such as written notes , bribes, Sharing of coaches salaries and plebendalism it will be easier for a carmel to pass through the a needle eye than for To assemble her beat talents much less equal morroco’s world cup record..Its a thing of great pain and sorrow that people on whose shoulders the affairs of the nation are placed are the ones messing every sector up just to fan the embers of their selfish interest
CORRECTED VERSION
Its not about having the best league in the world.After all, countries that got to the last four; Croatia, Argentina, Morrocco and France do not have the best leagues in the world. The rise or fall of Not Only football but all sectors of the Country lies in the hands of The NFF and senators. If they refuse to give up their corrupt practices such as written notes , bribes, Sharing of coaches salaries and plebendalism it will be easier for a carmel to pass through the eye of a needle than for Nigeria to assemble her best talents much less equal morroco’s world cup record..Its a thing of great shame, pain and sorrow that people on whose shoulders the affairs of the nation are enrusted are the ones messing every sector up just to fan the embers of their selfish interest at the expense of national prosperity.
All I know is that we have a very long way to go with our football and football management and no success will happen overnight except we succeed with the resourcefulness and talent of the players but in terms of football Management in comparison to some top African footba countries, we are like a good 19 years behind. The only thing now is to get a sound coach and scout the very best legs we can assemble. League development and grassroot football will take years to materialize if properly managed. With all that being said corruption and mismanagement is still our bane.
Peseiro needs to scout for players in these positions asap
1 Defensive midfielder to replace Ndidi due to his inconsistencies lately.
3-4 central defensive players.
2 playmaking midfielders.
I think we should be good with Osayi and Aina for the right back
Calvin and zaidu should remain left back and Calvin fill into the central sometimes due to his versatility.
But honestly Ekong, Awaziem, and Musa gotta go to the bench or give way for new talents . Football no be joke or by Instagram no more….or promises on the media with things like ‘ We are ready for tomorrow’s game or we are ready to destroy so so and so” no be by mouth anymore it’s by doings now lol.
Finall, we need 3 solid goalkeepers. That no 1 spot is seriously up for grabs. Maybe give the current goalkeepers more time I’m not sure…but man with the level of football seen at this WC, it seems we have been left behind.
We are pretty much stacked in the attack dept but trying new names out won’t hurt.
The football calendar for 2023 is pretty much empty apart from Afcon qualifiers, so the suggestion should be as much friendlies as possible.
Even in the attack department, we are not as “stacked” as we imagined. We definitely need to keep an eye out for new talents, with a view to selecting the best of the best.
True Osimhen is the only one that is tested and trusted so far
How many more time do you give these goal keepers? Uzoho has been in the team for 4 years and he still does not cut it. All these ex footballers are thinking with their heart and not their head. Mutiu also said “Nigeria can compete for the world cup title”, no be juju be that..ROTFL. The achievement of Morroco has made them delusional, they did not factor the pristine organization the Atlas Lions had in place. They were not owing their ex coach’s salary and they sure were not owing their present coach’s salary arrears. They were not owing their players bonuses, they were not picking an overage player who was playing in the division 2 of the Saudi league for a crucial world cup qualifier, there was nothing like picking players based on tribal inclusion. They did not pick a club less player ahead of active players in a crucial qualifier, they did not exhume a retired striker who was strutting his stuff in the lower ebb of the Saudi league. Do they really think they would be world beaters with ekong , Etebo and co? The backline needs a total overhaul, the midfield needs a rejig, The only position where we have a bit of quality is in the attacking dept. It appears that the coach is also delusional, citing that they can challenge Morroco for the afcon title…lol…yeah right! I understand that their goal keeper is sevilla’s first choice goal tender, we have Uzoho who is 2nd choice at a club in Cyprus.
Players may win you matches but a great goal keeper will win you tournaments. Think about it, every time we won major honours , we had great goal keepers. From Okpala to Rufai to Enyeama, we had great goal keepers.If the coach is really serious, then he needs to scout for a great and dependable goal tender, strengthen the backline and midfield, then we might have a chance. They need to get the dominant center back at atlanta and Marvin ekpiteta , get a play maker and Alhassan Yusuf in midfield . I won’t lose sight of Nwakali(The boy has qualities, I see him as a national team player and not a club player ). What is the update on Goodman, Okonkwo and the fc midtjylland goal keeper. What about Osigwe?A lot of work needs to be done before we can begin to think we are favourites.
They are talking of the next world cup . The next Olympic football competition i ve be looking at the names of teams that wil qualify but Nigeria name not coming out for the pass week. .I ve forgotten the last time dream team qualify for Olympic now …
With the numerous under 22 players in Europe league still dey still Wil find it to qualify even from Africanot to talk of winning the gold.since Atlanta.
Na wa o this was supposed to be the benchmark to plan for 2026.
Gasau I don tell u wat baba jujunu reveal
If WE MUST QUALIFY for the 2026 WORLD CUP, WE need to Bring Back GENERAL ROAH or a COACH BETTER than HIM!
If Nigeria fail to qualify for 2026 world cup, heaven will definitely not fall.
World cup no be birth right. To qualify, you have to plan for it, and fight tooth and nail on the pitch. Especially now that the gap between the traditional powerhouses and the so called minnows is narrowing rapidly. The Afcon and just concluded world cup have demonstrated this fact beyond doubt. Any country, I repeat, any country that considers itself to be a “giant” and expects to just stroll leisurely to the mundial is disconnected from reality, and needs to wake up.
How can we compete with countries who have serious, competent football administrators? How?
NFF need to sit up and handle the business that has been entrusted to them. The buck starts with them. Players and coaches may shoulder some blame for poor results, but the lion share of all blame has to rest with the officials.
It is up to them to move our football in the desired direction.
@pompei.. may God bless you.. You’re definitely right. I’m afraid that at this rate, Nigeria may not qualify for the 2026 world cup. Our administrators don’t have the requisite to do the right thing in order to ensure that our football moves forward. At this point, Nigeria is already 20 years behind other serious countries. It will take a lot of miracles and proper planning in order for us to be considered as a football elite. For me personally, once it comes to Nigeria, I’ve given up because we don’t learn. And we’ll never learn.
“At this point, Nigeria is already 20 years behind other serious countries”.
Tee, you’re not the only one who is depressed regarding Nigerian football.
And what makes it even more depressing is that with competent, forward-looking administration, Nigerian football could really prosper!
Nigeria will likely qualify most especially now that the numbers coming from Africa has been increased. The fact that we didn’t qualify for this year World Cup shouldn’t be a parameter to predict our doom in next qualification. We should not be disturbed or deceived by what Morocco or some African countries did at the World Cup , Africa has not gotten there and Morocco especially will find it difficult to replicate their performance at the World Cup in subsequent matches. what were the performance of these African countries after performing beautifully at previous World Cup Cameroun at Italia 90, Nigeria at uSa 94, Senegal at 2002, Ghana at 2010 World Cup , did any of these teams translate their World Cup performance at the subsequent Nations cup.
Another reason why I feel the we are going to qualify is due to the money that will be given to participating countries in all honesty believe Picknic when he said he regretted Nigeria not being at the World Cup , He meant it not because he loves football but because it opens up for them to embezzle more money, it was this fear of not qualifying that made him sack Rohr which eventually backfire.
Just looking at the team right now, I’m afraid the favouritism towards the PL players is the most frustrating thing about the coach already. Yussef & Onyedika are doing great in midfield in Belgium. Onyedika is in the rd of 16 in the CL. How are Iwobi & Aribo playing together before him. Also, Moses Simon is possible the worst player I’ve seen for Nigeria. These are issues in the team that need changing before AFCON imo.
Having 9-10 slot from africa for the next wc 2026 means nothing. Just few years ago Nigeria couldn’t qualify for nc back to back.
Bros , qualify cheap talk. As Pompei as rightly pointedout the gap between powehouses and the minnows have been narrow so except the NFF and senators arise from their slumber Nigeria will not qualify and heaven will not fall. To start do u have a goal keeper?
Most technically qualified Nigerian as football coach is Sunday Oliseh. Unfortunately he talks and writes too much childish garbage. The man comes across as an arrogant and irrational Mr. Know All. Oliseh lacks discretion and is too emotionally charged to manage human beings. At best he should take up a job to train German Sheperd Dogs.