2026 W’Cup Qualifiers: ‘Blame NFF, Not Super Eagles …If Nigeria Fails’

Sunday Oliseh, former Super Eagles captain, may look controversial in the way he speaks and handles issues but one thing that cannot be taken away from him is his deep knowledge of the game that shot him to prominence and brought to him fame and fortunes.

Being a member of the FIFA Technical Study Group further shows the extent the former Juventus and Borussia Dortmund defensive midfielder has evolved in deepening his knowledge of the game after retirement.

Consequently, speaking on issues concerning Super Eagles and the fledgling 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification, Oliseh will unarguably be talking from dual standpoints as the team’s former player/captain and now a member of FIFA Technical Study Group which has equipped and further enriched him to say authoritatively on technical issues in the team.

Only recently, the 1994 AFCON winner said the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has no business remaining in the office one more day, should the three-time African champions fail to qualify for the next World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

“If Nigeria does not qualify for the next World Cup, and the people running football in Nigeria are still in their positions, then we don’t even deserve to qualify for the next one,” began Oliseh in the chat with Sports Radio.

He insisted that there is nowhere in the world that the leadership of a football federation will miss two World Cups and they still stay in the saddle.

“If, as an administration, you fail to qualify for two consecutive World Cups—which are worth hundreds of millions of (dollars) to a country’s football industry—there is nowhere in the world where such leadership would remain in place.”

In his opinion, such missed opportunities for Nigeria’s national team to join the rest of the world in the four yearly mundial, damages the country’s football progress.

In Oliseh’s words: “Every four years that you don’t qualify for the World Cup, your football goes back eight years. That is how it works.”
Oliseh was on duty in Qatar 2022 and was in pain missing his country’s team in action. It will even be worse with Africa having nine slots without Nigeria this time around.

Like Oliseh, so many Nigerians still believe the failure of the Super Eagles to assert themselves in a World Cup qualifying group of relatively paperweights should be placed on the shoulders of the Nigeria Football Federtion who failed to be articulate, tactical and decisive in ensuring that the giant birds of prey were adequately prepared for the tasks ahead.

There is no arguing the fact that among the countries in the CAF Group C of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, Nigeria understandably ranks first in terms of quality players and on paper, were tipped to be the frontrunners and bookies’ favourites to win the sole ticket

However, sitting abysmally third on the log with ten points — six points adrift of leaders, South Africa with three rounds of matches to go — means the Super Eagles are not sure of qualification.

In football, while star players are crucial, big names don’t always win matches because a team’s success depends on a collective effort, tactical alignment, and the ability to perform under pressure. 

Individual brilliance can be matched by strong collective defense, unexpected performances from other players, and even a bit of bad luck. For example, Zlatan Ibrahimović, a superstar, never won the Champions League despite playing for several clubs that won it, and Kylian Mbappé has yet to win it despite reaching a final.

NFF failed to leverage other factors that could have galvanised victories to the Super Eagles, beyond being favourites and the top seeds in the group. For example, when the draws were made, a foresighted federation would have looked at the group compositions and align their plans afterwards.

Of the six countries in Group C, three are Southern African neighbours, with minimal flights and logistics for them to navigate. The position of both Rwanda and Lesotho somehow gives South Africa — supposedly and Hitherto Nigeria’s challenger in the group — logistical advantage because of proximity.

That should have placed a burden on the NFF to ensure that the Super Eagles prepare adequately to win, at least, all their home.matches, in preparation for what could happen afterwards.

For a team chasing to qualify for the World Cup, drawing three home matches is an aberration and this was as a result of inadequate tactical planning on the part of the federation. For example, after the technical sacking of erstwhile manager, Jose Peseiro, it took the football house a long time to name his successor while other countries were above board in their planning for the qualifier.

A coach will not only need time but be assured of his position as a substantive manager in order to be able to assert his philosophy and bring his best to impact a team. The NFF, instead, tinkered with time and management of the team with a prolonged wait after they parted ways with Jose Peseiro, even when other countries were deep in their preparations.

Nigeria, coming from behind to draw 1-1 against Lesotho in their first home match of the qualifiers in Uyo under the Portuguese, should have been a red flag for the NFF but after announcing non-renewal of Peseiro’s contract over monetary issues, the Glass House failed to swing into action and had to wait a long time before Finidi George was appointed.For

For a country intent on qualifying for the World Cup, the long wait was unnecessary and realising that the trio of South Africa, Lesotho and Zimbabwe are Southern African countries, efforts would have been made to ensure that at least all of them are defeated in Uyo given what so many people say could be a conspiracy when the chance to qualify is narrowed down to Nigeria and South Africa. Incidentally, all the home draws the Super Eagles recorded were against them.

Worse still, the countries, according to a coach from Zimbabwe, see South Africa as their big brother and won’t do anything to effectively hurt the former apartheid enclave.

“Both Zimbabwe and Lesotho see South Africa as their London and big brother; in this race for a place at the World Cup, if they won’t qualify, they will not sabotage South Africa for sure,” said the coach who posted on X.

Perhaps this is why the duo of Lesotho and Zimbabwe had chosen their bigger brother (South Africa) as their home ground and the consequence of the development is that the Bafana Bafana would be at home for all their remaining matches as they would play both Zimbabwe and Lesotho ‘away’ and host Nigeria and Rwanda. They already played Lesotho ‘away’ (there in South Africa) on Friday and walloped them 3-0.

The above development should have spurred the NFF to ensure their hands were on the plough for the Super Eagles to win all their home matches which would by now have placed Nigeria at a highly advantaged position heading into the remaining fixtures.

Even after Finidi was sacked, it took NFF time to find his replacement. Until Eric Sekou Chelle, the Franco -Malian, was appointed in January 7, the former African champions were without a manager for a long time, with qualification for the World Cup further dipped following further poor results recorded under the short reign of the former Super Eagles winger.

Just like Oliseh, Isaac Success thinks the NFF hasn’t done enough to ensure Nigeria has a seamless passage in the qualifiers.

Speaking after some Nigerians criticised the engagement of Chelle, the Super Eagles star said the Malian should not be blamed should Nigeria fails to qualify eventually.

“Do we have a structure before Eric Chelle was appointed? That’s the first question. The second question, if he’s coming with his own philosophy, do you think you have the players to fit in? Success told Home Turf.

“If you are looking at these areas, you shouldn’t put all the blame on Eric Chelle. You should put the blame on the staff, everyone involved because everyone is at fault at this point not just the boys.”

Speaking similarly, Harrison Jalla, also former international and president of Nigerian players union, said NFF technical committee  is culpable in the qualifiers.

“What is the composition of the NFF technical committee? Who are the people in the technical committee, and what are their qualifications? Jalla wrote in a message in a national daily.

“How can Nigerian Football make progress with the current governing structure? Jalla asked. “Winning games with all strata of the national football teams and development of any federation’s domestic football is a collective responsibility. 

“The collective responsibility is twofold – managerial and technical.

“How many match bonuses and allowances are outstanding to be paid to the Super Eagles players? What happened to the intervention fund from President Tinubu in January 2024 to clear all backlogs of allowances owed to the Super Eagles?  Has the intervention fund been retired?

In all, Jalla said the entire planning of the football house hasn’t shown a federation committ d to the qualification of the team for the Mundial.

Meanwhile, without the expected points deduction from FIFA on South for fielding ineligible player in their first leg game against Lesotho, the Bayana Bayana would likely qualify ahead of others in the group even if they lose to the Super Eagles, provided they won their other matches.

Currently on thirteen points, nine more points (assuming they win all but their game against Nigeria) will leave them with 22 points while Nigeria will end up with 18 points in the event the Super Eagles make it four wins in the forum remaining games.

With the development, the Glass House would come back to take assessment of their doings and undoings in ensuring that Nigeria failed to qualify for a second World Cup on the bounce.

COURTESY: Idependent