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Attention is shifting to the 2026 FIFA World Cup following the falling of the curtain on the 2025/26 European Leagues season
Countries have forwarded their team lists to FIFA, and the stage is getting set for the commencement of the mundial.
This flashes before us light of the reminder of Super Eagles missing out of the global football fiesta. The pains of absence, bitter memories of what transpired, and the thoughts of economic loss creep in again.
We wish to turn the hand of time. We wish there is another opportunity to right our wrongs. We wish it was a dream that the World Cup is starting without our green and white flag hoisted among the league of great football playing nations.
We wish to see Victor Osimhen among the top stars, making headlines in the tournament. We wish to see new talents spring up as jokers among Super Eagles. We wish to see players carrying bags of surprises to post 5-star dusplays that will take the shine off the stars of the team – talking about show stealers.
Also Read: Gusau: Super Eagles Will Achieve Great Things Under Chelle
We wish to see our darling team soar high in the United States/Canada/Mexico 2026 World Cup to replicate the performance of the USA ’94 Class of this team which remains the standard bearers of all sux World Cup appearances of Nigeria.
We wish to see Nigeria lead Africa’s charge in this mundial. But all wishes remain illusion. They’re dreams that won’t come true. They’re mere wishes which can’t be horses, and obviously beggars can’t ride on them. That is the worry of stakeholders as the bell of the World Cup rings and its fever catches the world.
Super Eagles World Cup Absence Continues To Hurt Nigerians
Most worrisome of these is the answer to the question : Who is to blame for Super Eagles’ failure to book a ticket to United States/Canada/Mexico/football showpiece?
While a few persons point accusing fingers at the lacklustre performance and unpatriotic acts displayed by the players especially as it concerns their demand of bonuses and allowances cumthreats to boycott crucial games at the eve of the playoffs in Morocco, some others argue that the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) was responsible.
Debate Over Responsibility For Nigeria’s Failure
In this later argument lies the many voices slamming the president of the NFF, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau, for lacking the administrative savvy to deliver the World Cup ticket to Nigeria. The proponents of this argument fail to see the underlining factor of collective responsibilities and to appreciate the factor of division of labour.
Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: Super Eagles Unity Cup Triumph Sweet, But World Cup Absence Still Hurts — Bonfrere
They refuse to understand that Gusau is just one person in the entire establishment and machinery of Nigerian football. They willingly yet mischievoous take their eyes away from the fact that the man may have played his role excellently, but those in the delivery and perfornance chain simply failed to carry out their obligations. This could pass for a clear act of sabotage. Yes, there is an enemy or there are enemies within who felt Gusau will take the credit should Super Eagles qualify for the 2026 World Cup particularly when they consider that his predecessor failed woefully including in delivering the Qatar 2026 World Cup ticket to Nigeria.
This school of thought arguing against Gusau, however is not aware of the shenanigans, under-table developments, and subterranean moves, which were cogs in the wheel of progress of Gusau-led board.
Why Gusau Should Not Carry The Blame Alone
But like the true leader he is, he does not pass blames when failure comes. He takes responsibility. He takes the stones, kicks, knocks, and shoves of failure even when it is obvious he is not directly responsible. He takes the pressure, blames, and faults off his subordinates… all in a transparent move to avoid rocking the boat.
And when success comes, he points at his subordinates as the architects. He often times isn’t seen nor heard, but he does the toughest of jobs. The same people holding executive positions in the federation who failed in their responsibilities to ensure Super Eagles excelled, especially in the playoffs, are the ones quick to grant interviews to exonerate themselves from the failure of Super Eagles to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. They’re the same people Gusau gives credit to when the team does well. That is proof of how humble and transparent the man is.
This best describes Gusau’s approach to management since he took charge as president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF.)
Given the easy-going nature of the man who loves to keep private things private and official things official, he is labelled a failure by his detractors who couldn’t see beyond their noses. Most of them were paid to scuttle his second term bid. They are sponsored by the same people who worked against the interest of Nigeria and her football.
Obviously Gusau’s critics didn’t know or they simply choose not to know or to pretend that they didn’t know that while Super Eagles World Cup qualification games were on, some characters within the NFF were busy chasing committee appointments in CAF through the contacts of the same person who ruined Nigeria football and taking abode in CAF.
These people are the enemy-within. They sabotaged the efforts of the Football House because of their selfish interests and deliberately targeting the person of Gusau. Of course, the bucks stop on Gusau-s desk. So it is a matter of calling the dog a bad name just to kill it.
Challenges Inherited By The Current NFF Leadership
The foundation that Gusau met was faulty, to say the least. As someone with experience in administration, he didn’t want to upset the apple chart. He didn’t want to raise any alarm. He tried to correct the anomalies he found, but there was no time in-between for him to fix these errors and focus on the qualifiers for the World Cup because they’re foundational problems. When the foundation is bad, what can the righteous do?
Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: Super Eagles Displayed Newfound Seriousness In Unity Cup Triumph — Adepoju
When those who laid the bad foundation you inherited or met are fortunate enough to be your bosses and supervising your federation, definitely your hands would be tied. That’s exactly the case and situation of Gentleman Gusau, who decided to work out things rather than to complain and be seen as fault seeker.
Some policies he met or inherited were better described as landmines. Deliberately or otherwise laid to consume his efforts and administration. For instance, the agendas for the appointment of coaches for the national teams, which includes Super Eagles, had been laid before Gusau took over the leadership of the NFF.
The story of the bonuses and allowances owed to the Super Eagles and other tiers of the national teams are better not told. There are backlogs of debts inherited by Gusau’s leadership.
Another instance is the FIFA mini-stadia projects in Warri and Kebbi. These projects, which raised some dusts shortly after the World Cup playoffs, were not handled by Gusau’s administration. The contracts had been awarded, and funds were released before Gusau came into office. Yet those ignorant of the whole story took on Gusau… calling him names.
Super Eagles Qualification Problems Predate Gusau’s Tenure
Has his critics asked why Super Eagles failed to qualify for Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup? Was it under Gusau’s tenure? What about the Golden Eaglets performance before Gusau’s board emerged? How many times has Flying Eagles featured in the FIFA U-20 World Cup before Gusau’s board emerged? What was the performance of the team.
Gusau isn’t the problem of Super Eagles. He wasn’t to blame for the failure of the team to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. He shouldn’t be blamed. Those calling him out are mischief makers who are shielding their paymasters responsible for Super Eagles failure.
By Ahmed Shuiabu Gara-Gombe
15 Comments
Have you now b
ecome David Bwala of Gara Gombe
Blame osimhen for faking his injury…..
And abandoning the team when it mattered….
Gombe! Rather than this write up in defense of Gusau, is it not better for you to prepare a write up on how we can move our football forward.
Who all these your wiked atotonu help? For your info, nobody single out Gusau for blame but rather the entire board.
If a leader has cloud of incompetent fellas running the show of activities, such leader won’t be spared at the end of the day.
Gombe I wike says you are very wiked for putting up a defense on behalf of Gusau.
Thumbs up @ Wike. These people are wicked. But you are wealthy and wise.
Gusau is definitely not to blame.
NFF Onigbese are not to blame. PIpo should stop blaming them.
Pompei is to blame.
Dr. Drey, Papafem, Chima Samuels, Ugo Iwunze, Sly, Tristan, Tony K, and the many other forumites here are all to blame for NIgeria’s failure to qualify for 2 consecutive world cups. Even monkey must carry his own share of the blame.
Las las, we go even blame the market women at Tejuosho market.
Please, no blame for Gusau and definitely not NFF Onigbese!
We thank Gusau and his NFF board for the calamity they have brought upon our football. Their work is very much appreciated.
Ah ah pompei, wat abt I Yaishman nkor? I nor join wunu follow to blame? Kai una nor dey try wit dis wunu members club ooo an also wat abt dis ting, ehm monki mouth? hin sef nor join follow to blamed? an yuh lef out dis tings also Wike aka Digital aka tarara de parara an al de oda user name wey hin get lmaoo hmm okay o
Yaishman, na you get the biggest blame, lol.
You and that wicked Wike. Very wicked.
I don kuku include everybody for CSN. All of us are to blame.
Please don’t blame Gusau and his yeye board. No try am!
pompei
Bros I hail ooo
Dis pipo ehn??? lmaoo
Well dere is kuku God.
As for comrade Gara abi na Gombe ne , dem don helep dis wan find small change, na hin don begin sing like birds wey sidon inside tree, dem add wan lanko an 2 Guilder join, guy man just relax begin sing lmaoo
Kai Nigerias, awhu do wunu like dis naa
Gara Gombe says Ibrahim Gusau is not to blame for Nigeria missing out on the World Cup. Chai…
Of course he would say that. After all, both men are from Gombe State. And in that part of Nigeria, like many other parts of this country, once somebody is “na mune”, criticism suddenly becomes illegal. Accountability disappears. Every failure gets a thousand excuses. Every question becomes an attack.
But unfortunately, FIFA no dey use na mune calculate qualification tables.
Nigeria, with Osimhen, Lookman, Aina, Boniface, Ndidi, Chukwueze and co… could not qualify for the World Cup. Let that sink in properly.
A squad that should be frightening Europe. Out. But somehow, nobody at the top is responsible?
Really?
This is the same NFF under Gusau that has spent years moving like a team without direction. Coaching drama here. Administrative confusion there. Constant reactions instead of planning. Everything looks like fire brigade management.
South Africa practically turned the qualifiers into a home tournament. They played 7 of their 10 World Cup qualifiers at home.
Some teams in the same group even chose South Africa as their “home” base. So you had opponents travelling into South Africa to play their own home matches in SouthAfrica against South Africa and where was Nigeria’s protest? Where was the pressure? Where was the NFF Silence.
Same silence when a crucial qualifier was moved to Bloemfontein, to a rugby stadium with a pitch that looked like punishment, a surface not football-ready. It wasn’t even Sunday league-ready. And that was where Ola Aina got injured. Months later, he’s still recovering his rhythm with his team and has not even resumed with the national team.
But again, no serious outrage from the NFF. Yet we are told Gusau is not to blame. Interesting. And this is where you start to wonder if some people are really watching football or just watching politics.
Look at Senegal. Look at Morocco. These are now two of the most organised football nations in Africa. And they are not guessing. These people are building something great.
Senegal’s youth system (Génération Foot to Europe pipeline) has produced a conveyor belt of talent: Amara Diouf (Génération Foot / Metz pathway) , already a teenage international, U17 AFCON standout; Lamine Camara (Metz, France) – U20 AFCON winner, already playing top-flight European footbal; Pape Demba Diop (Strasbourg, France) – elite midfield talent breaking into Ligue 1; Souleymane Faye (Real Betis B, Spain), Spanish academy system, rising attacker; Landing Badji (Metz system), long-term European development prospect These are not “future maybe players.” These are already inside Europe’s football machine. Senegal have been winning youth tournaments and consistently transitioning players into elite leagues.
Let me not even get started with Morocco. Thiers is no longer “potential.” It is dominance.
Morocco are the current FIFA U-20 World Cup champions, not finalists, not surprise package. World champions!
That is the result of a system built over years through academies like Mohammed VI Football Academy and structured European pathways.
Their recent generation includes: Yassir Zabiri (Famalicão, Portugal) – U20 World Cup final hero, already attracting top European attention; Othmane Maamma (Montpellier, France) – Ligue 1 academy product, highly rated winger; Abdelhamid Aït Boudlal (Rennes, France) – defensive prospect in one of France’s top academies; Saad El Haddad (Wydad Casablanca / European scouting pipeline) – strong youth international profil; Fouad Zahouani (Morocco youth system to Europe tracking) – U17 standout, now in structured development path; El Mehdi Maouhoub (Dynamo Moscow) – already playing senior professional football in Europe
Morocco’s U17, U20, U23 systems are all functioning. Not scattered. Not accidental. Not emotional. Structured.And the result is clear:
World Cup semi-finals at senior level.
U20 World Cup champions.
U17 consistent appearances.
U23 Olympic bronze.
This is not noise. This is football architecture.
And where are our own?Most of our youth talents are in Croatia second division, Serbia lower leagues, floating in random Eastern European clubs or disappearing completely after youth tournaments
A country that once dominated U17 football is now struggling to even qualify even from WAFU Zone. People don’t seem to realize how our football has degenerated under this man.
Morocco is producing world champions. Senegal is sending talented players to Ligue 1 at 18. But we are producing “agent projects”. What a shame.
When Morocco invest in Mohammed VI Academy, it is intentional. When Senegal build a direct pipeline to Europe through Génération Foot, it is intentional.
When they win U20 World Cups and produce elite players every cycle, it is intentional.
But when Nigeria misses the World Cup with arguably its strongest squad in years, suddenly nobody is responsible Instead we get“Na mune.” “Don’t blame him.” “It’s not his fault.” Meanwhile, football is moving on without us.
History will not remember the excuses. It will remember the result. And the result is simple:
Under Ibrahim Gusau’s NFF, Nigeria missed the World Cup, while Africa moved forward without us.
And no amount of emotional protection can change that fact.
Papafem, what is this na? Pompei says we are to blame for our football misdirection. Little Mbaye of Senegal has just won his 2nd UCL with PSG. We should really leave Gusau alone.
We are the people who distributed the 30bn special FG funds to pay outstanding salaries to all our national teams yet deo had the mind to say flamingoes of last year or so are still unpaid.
Gombe says saboteurs like us were seeking FIFA and CAF positions instead of helping Gusau to plan and win ordinary 10 matches of world cup qualifiers irrespective of whether they are played on rugby pitches (that our advance team from CS received estacode to go verify the pitch in SA)
I remember we went with tax payers money to SA, not Gusau.
Gusau is not in CAF and FIFA committee abi, that is one laughable excuse.
I hope USA don’t give him a visa. If they did, he’ll lie it’s because of the FIFA committee he is in.
It’s saboteurs like us that have ILLPREPARED super falcons for the next WAFCON.
It is us that let our cadet teams come to camp 16 hours before the next qualifiers or even know their coaches at the last minute.
It’s CS people that have mischievously kept till this time a technical department that has supervised back to back failure for the world cup and are still calling the shots in our football.
We are the ones to invoke a change of NFF voting statutes to democratise the process, not Gusau.
Anyway, it is good they are feeling the heat before September elections.
It is us who rewarded a failure as sec Gen Sanusi with another term since his uninspiring rule began in 2011 or so.
We take the blame seeing the decline in our football and blaming Gusau. Don’t mind us jare. We dey overreach at times.
Gusau for second term jare. Person wey fail class dey repeat am, abi.
Senegal and the rest will wait for us before they will advance themselves. We are their big brother.
These nff and their friends are just very wicked
Nothing is working
From youth level to the senior one’s,
Cape Verde, a tiny island country of just over 600,000 pipo, is going to the world cup. Nigeria, with over 200 million pipo, is not going.
Under Eric Chelle, we now have a Team A and Team B. We don’t even know for sure which team is better. Such is the quality at our disposal! Yet awon Onigbese still managed to bungle it big time. Creating massive, calamitous failure from an environment that should have succeeded with ease.
The same Chelle that NFF refused to hire on time. If they had given him the job then, we would not only be preparing for our opening world cup game by now, we would have a Team C as well. Chelle would just select the best of the best out of the bunch, and off we go to terrorize the world.
That is what should have happened. That is what would have happened if we had a proper functioning NFF. But alas, these goons are only interested in sharing money and brown envelope. Pay players, for where? Pay coaches, na lie! And yet, someone has the audacity to say that the NFF president is not to blame? Ok na, let us blame Iya Sikirat that sells amala at Ojuelegba.
Our pipo say you can’t live near the river and have no water to wash soap from your eyes. I guess our pipo have not met Gusau and company.
With the kind of talent we have, we are not going to the mundial..
Only NFF Onigbese can accomplish such a stunning feat!
Chelle’a contract won’t be renewed by Gusau and his NFF. People should write that down. e be like say they send that man come punish us.
Very correct and well detailed brother man
They are just annoying
You touched all the points
Nff no get head…..