Nigeria might very well decide not to participate in the 2026 World Cup.
The Super Eagles haven’t participated in the competition since 2018.
The competition was staged in Qatar in 2022, although the three-time African champions were not there. It all came down to a play-off over two legs against Ghana, bitter opponents. There was no goal in the first leg in Kumasi. The Black Stars managed to hold on for a 1-1 draw in Abuja.
It wasn’t a good start for the quest to play at the next one in Mexico, the USA, and Canada.
In their Group C opener, Nigeria was held to a 1-1 draw at home by Lesotho, and in their second game, they overcame a late deficit to draw once more with Zimbabwe.
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Jose Peseiro was replaced as head coach by Finidi George in the interim, prior to Friday’s match in Uyo against South Africa.
Finidi made an intriguing starting lineup against Bafana Bafana. Alex Iwobi trailed Paul Onuachu, Ademola Lookman, and Kelechi Iheanacho as they launched an assault. Victor Boniface was supposed to lead the assault in Victor Osimhen’s absence. However, Terem Moffi, Samuel Chukwueze, and he were all left on the bench.
After cautiously navigating through Nigeria’s defence, Themba Zwane scored the first goal. Furthermore, despite Fisayo Dele-Bashiru’s first goal for his country tying the score, there was no rally.
Clinton McDubus, a renowned football pundit and podcaster, tells Obasanjonews.com, “I think it was a decent performance, considering how little time Finidi has had with the team.”
He made a few mistakes, such as onuachu, who did not help us even though we were able to get a few fouls.
“In fact, it seemed to stop our momentum whenever we started to move past the South Africans and forced us give up possession more.
“There was some enjoyable interplay, with Iwobi at the middle of it, that could have resulted in goals if we had performed better in the end.
We can improve on this performance because, in the end, there were more positive indicators than negative ones.
The Super Eagles are currently in fifth place in Group C as a result of their three straight 1-1 matches.
They need to win the final seven games in order to qualify for the World Cup once more.
McDubus continued, “I think things are really bleak.”
It’s awful to start with three games lost. We have to win every game left; we cannot afford any more mistakes.
“Losing the ability to make mistakes is never a good thing. Nevertheless, this group is capable of succeeding.
“We truly don’t deserve to be at the World Cup if we can’t win all of our remaining games.” That is all there is to it. The athletes must take the pitch.
The fact that the other teams in the group will deduct points from one another is a huge plus. So all we have to do is concentrate on doing our share, and everything will fall into place.
