African Football Discussion Thread {Male & Female} Current Topic: 👉 WAFCON

[Youngrebel]

You should not underestimate the power of any team especially for a team like Russia. The outcome may turnout differently at the end. Just be patient and wait for it to come and see how it goes.  Just imagine the game to turn around after much high hopes and estimation have been put on the Nigerian team and it turns out that the Russian team Carrie's the day by beating the Nigerian team. How would the feeling be? Just wait for the teams to meet before you would tell weather or not Russia is not a match for the Nigerian team.

[Fiatless]

The countries you mentioned the Russian team played friendlies against and won are not that of a tough side you know. So i won't count them to be a formidable side (am glad you called them low rated teams) knowing full well the Super Eagles has played several tournaments. Although i will agree that the team should prepare using this game to practise different tactics to see which works better. In the meantime, i will watch the game to observe how weak or prepared the Super Eagles is for the upcoming big games.

Not trying to let the super eagles down, but I can predict that the Nigerian team might not win thes countries I called low classed are highly rated more than Nigeria in the FIFA rating. Iran, Serbia and even Russia are ranked higher than Nigeria. What I meant was that these countries are low class if you compare them with the top European sides. Zimbabwe that Nigeria failed to win in their last game is rated 116th by the world football governing body. The Super Eagles is in bad shape and if care is not taken, Russia will win the game convincingly.

[Pokapoka124]

The countries you mentioned the Russian team played friendlies against and won are not that of a tough side you know. So i won't count them to be a formidable side (am glad you called them low rated teams) knowing full well the Super Eagles has played several tournaments. Although i will agree that the team should prepare using this game to practise different tactics to see which works better. In the meantime, i will watch the game to observe how weak or prepared the Super Eagles is for the upcoming big games.

Not trying to let the super eagles down, but I can predict that the Nigerian team might not win thes countries I called low classed are highly rated more than Nigeria in the FIFA rating. Iran, Serbia and even Russia are ranked higher than Nigeria. What I meant was that these countries are low class if you compare them with the top European sides. Zimbabwe that Nigeria failed to win in their last game is rated 116th by the world football governing body. The Super Eagles is in bad shape and if care is not taken, Russia will win the game convincingly.

The Super Eagles are unpredictable. You can never be sure of their performance, their recent outings have not been very convincing even though we have star players who are recognized internationally in our squad we still struggle to win games. The problem of the team has been identified but is yet to be addressed by the management.

[Spaceman1000$]

The 2026 World Cup Qualification:

Nigerian Super Eagles is in the danger zone of the group and their qualification is very slim. And the Super Eagles have to secure all the remaining 12 points to qualify has the best team in the group and in that case they have to win all the remaining 4 games to get the 12 points.
The third leg of the World Cup Qualifiers will kick start from September to October 2025.

Their last draw against Zimbabwe would have been better if it was a win, it would have elevated them in points but the draw just made the task much harder. Now they need to win the coming games to stand a chance of earning qualification to the world cup. The big question on my mind is why must we play poorly and depend on others failure to achieve what we want because that is where we are heading towards again.

That's how it has mostly been with the super Eagles, with the way the group is now, they would have to win all their remaining games to clinch that second position, and from the way this guy's are playing, is not going to be an easy task. You where right about if they had succeeded in winning Zimbabwe, at least they would have been second in the group with 9 points behind South Africa, now they at fouth in the table behind Rwanda and Benin Republic who share 8-8 points respectively.  I just feel, Nigerians at this point should just hang their hopes on the balance concerning this forth coming world cup.

[Slow death]

I honestly can't understand why Nigeria chose Russia to play in the friendlies, since Russia doesn't even have any relevance at world level in football when it comes to the national team. When a team really wants to achieve great things at world level, that team should try to play against very strong opponents such as: Spain, France, England, Germany, Brazil, Netherlands, Italy, Portugal and Belgium.

because that way the Nigeria coach could have a better idea of ​​what to expect if Nigeria qualified for the World Cup, even if the coaches of these national teams did not put all their best players, it would still be worth playing against these great national teams.

Russia is under a competitive football ban, which has made it not to feature in any FIFA-organized competitions. But they have been actively playing friendly games. They have played with lowly rated teams like Syria, Belarus, Brunei, Grenada, Qatar, Cuba Iraq, Vietnam Serbia, and Iran in the past few years. The Russian side have won seven of their last game showing that they are a formidable side. The Nigerian Super Eagles should just use the match as a preparation for other important games. I also be that it is difficult to secure a slot for a friendly match with these top European countries since they will be very selective.

I know Russia was banned, but even when Russia wasn't banned, they weren't a strong team, so I don't understand why the Nigerian national team doesn't make an effort to play friendly matches against strong European teams. Playing against weak opponents like Russia, even in friendly matches, doesn't allow the coach to test the full potential of many of the national team's players.

- The last time Nigeria played Argentina was in 2018

- The last time Nigeria played Brazil was in 2019

- The last time Nigeria played France was in 2014

- The last time Nigeria played Italy was in 1994

- The last time Nigeria played Spain was in 2013

- The last time Nigeria played England was in 2018

It's been many years since the Nigerian national team played against these big teams, something that shouldn't happen, since Nigeria is a big African team. They should be constantly playing against the big teams from Europe and America.

[Btcdeybodi]

I honestly can't understand why Nigeria chose Russia to play in the friendlies, since Russia doesn't even have any relevance at world level in football when it comes to the national team. When a team really wants to achieve great things at world level, that team should try to play against very strong opponents such as: Spain, France, England, Germany, Brazil, Netherlands, Italy, Portugal and Belgium.

because that way the Nigeria coach could have a better idea of ​​what to expect if Nigeria qualified for the World Cup, even if the coaches of these national teams did not put all their best players, it would still be worth playing against these great national teams.

Russia is under a competitive football ban, which has made it not to feature in any FIFA-organized competitions. But they have been actively playing friendly games. They have played with lowly rated teams like Syria, Belarus, Brunei, Grenada, Qatar, Cuba Iraq, Vietnam Serbia, and Iran in the past few years. The Russian side have won seven of their last game showing that they are a formidable side. The Nigerian Super Eagles should just use the match as a preparation for other important games. I also be that it is difficult to secure a slot for a friendly match with these top European countries since they will be very selective.

I know Russia was banned, but even when Russia wasn't banned, they weren't a strong team, so I don't understand why the Nigerian national team doesn't make an effort to play friendly matches against strong European teams. Playing against weak opponents like Russia, even in friendly matches, doesn't allow the coach to test the full potential of many of the national team's players.

- The last time Nigeria played Argentina was in 2018

- The last time Nigeria played Brazil was in 2019

- The last time Nigeria played France was in 2014

- The last time Nigeria played Italy was in 1994

- The last time Nigeria played Spain was in 2013

- The last time Nigeria played England was in 2018

It's been many years since the Nigerian national team played against these big teams, something that shouldn't happen, since Nigeria is a big African team. They should be constantly playing against the big teams from Europe and America.

You're right because playing only weaker teams cannot help the team improve but when they meet stronger countries that have tactical and more experienced players, it will boost the teams morale to strive to also learn how to play like those players and that is what makes a team become formidable when they face hard opponents even if they lose but there is a mentality that the players will start having unlike when they play teams that are not too experienced and win them, they won't even push to learn more because they will feel so full of themselves thinking they have given their best performance. If the Nigerian Super Eagles want to improve more, they should be playing friendly matches regularly with teams like Argentina, England, Spain, France, Italy and Germany because this teams have a lot of professional players that they can learn from.

[Roseline492]

I know Russia was banned, but even when Russia wasn't banned, they weren't a strong team, so I don't understand why the Nigerian national team doesn't make an effort to play friendly matches against strong European teams. Playing against weak opponents like Russia,

- The last time Nigeria played Argentina was in 2018

- The last time Nigeria played Brazil was in 2019

- The last time Nigeria played France was in 2014

- The last time Nigeria played Italy was in 1994

- The last time Nigeria played Spain was in 2013

- The last time Nigeria played England was in 2018

When you mentioned Russia banned I got very surprised but now I remember why they were banned, however I don't no if they have missed any world Cup yet since they banned them after the last world Cup had finished, so that means they have not prepared for anything in regards to the world cup this year. However this record is not nice, imagine how long is been after the last time super eagles went out to meet European clubs, from all this ones 2019 is the last time they play this kind of match, is as if something is wrong about them that's why they have not been able to fixed any.

[Mate2237]

I know Russia was banned, but even when Russia wasn't banned, they weren't a strong team, so I don't understand why the Nigerian national team doesn't make an effort to play friendly matches against strong European teams. Playing against weak opponents like Russia,

- The last time Nigeria played Argentina was in 2018

- The last time Nigeria played Brazil was in 2019

- The last time Nigeria played France was in 2014

- The last time Nigeria played Italy was in 1994

- The last time Nigeria played Spain was in 2013

- The last time Nigeria played England was in 2018

When you mentioned Russia banned I got very surprised but now I remember why they were banned, however I don't no if they have missed any world Cup yet since they banned them after the last world Cup had finished, so that means they have not prepared for anything in regards to the world cup this year. However this record is not nice, imagine how long is been after the last time super eagles went out to meet European clubs, from all this ones 2019 is the last time they play this kind of match, is as if something is wrong about them that's why they have not been able to fixed any.

Russia is banned from football because of their invasion of Ukraine so the Russians senior national team was band and so they will not be participating in the next world cup but apart from that I don't think that Russia would not have been able to qualify from their group so because the Russia national team has not been doing great of recent



Russia should invest more into their sports especially in the age grades competition as it will help grow young talent and developing them so in the nearest future  They will be of benefit in promoting Russian football at the international stage by competing favorably in international competitions

[Marykeller]

The 2026 World Cup Qualification:

Nigerian Super Eagles is in the danger zone of the group and their qualification is very slim. And the Super Eagles have to secure all the remaining 12 points to qualify has the best team in the group and in that case they have to win all the remaining 4 games to get the 12 points.
The third leg of the World Cup Qualifiers will kick start from September to October 2025.

I don't agree when you say Super Eagles are the best team in the group, nothing makes us the best when we are not topping our group table, we are less behind others, we have the squad but still failing. Haven't you wondered that each international break we play our games we get shortened with slim chances we had to qualify, we haven't been making decent progress, the last two matches played we were supposed to win to give us more acceptance of playing in the World Cup we drew one of them, sincerely i am not expecting much from Super Eagles, if we can't beat our fellow African Nations freely to qualify what are we going to play when we face teams from different continents.

I am asking the same question of what can the Super Eagles do when they qualify for the World Cup to face teams from other continent. Will they be kicked out from the group stage as usual or advance to the next round when they will finally be kicked out?

It's quite unfortunate, we find the Super Eagles to perform in a manner that it is hard to say whether they will win their match against any African team, whether home or away. I will be happy if at the end of the World Cup Qualification matches, we can say that Super Eagles made us proud to qualify for the World Cup

[Mate2237]

The 2026 World Cup Qualification:

Nigerian Super Eagles is in the danger zone of the group and their qualification is very slim. And the Super Eagles have to secure all the remaining 12 points to qualify has the best team in the group and in that case they have to win all the remaining 4 games to get the 12 points.
The third leg of the World Cup Qualifiers will kick start from September to October 2025.

I don't agree when you say Super Eagles are the best team in the group, nothing makes us the best when we are not topping our group table, we are less behind others, we have the squad but still failing. Haven't you wondered that each international break we play our games we get shortened with slim chances we had to qualify, we haven't been making decent progress, the last two matches played we were supposed to win to give us more acceptance of playing in the World Cup we drew one of them, sincerely i am not expecting much from Super Eagles, if we can't beat our fellow African Nations freely to qualify what are we going to play when we face teams from different continents.

I am asking the same question of what can the Super Eagles do when they qualify for the World Cup to face teams from other continent. Will they be kicked out from the group stage as usual or advance to the next round when they will finally be kicked out?

It's quite unfortunate, we find the Super Eagles to perform in a manner that it is hard to say whether they will win their match against any African team, whether home or away. I will be happy if at the end of the World Cup Qualification matches, we can say that Super Eagles made us proud to qualify for the World Cup

I tend to agree with you because if the super eagles of Nigeria are finding it difficult in qualifying from the African continent where they have weaker teams and opposition how will they make it out of the group stages of the main world cup when they gets there so it's better that we don't qualify from this group that we find ourselves because we are just going there for the purpose of completing numbers at the world cup so no need of us qualifying.



The super eagles have found it difficult to leaving the group stages for the past two world cups that they have participated and that is because we struggled to qualify from the qualifying matches and only qualify through luck and luck will not take you far

[Doan9269]

The 2026 World Cup Qualification:

Nigerian Super Eagles is in the danger zone of the group and their qualification is very slim. And the Super Eagles have to secure all the remaining 12 points to qualify has the best team in the group and in that case they have to win all the remaining 4 games to get the 12 points.
The third leg of the World Cup Qualifiers will kick start from September to October 2025.

I don't agree when you say Super Eagles are the best team in the group, nothing makes us the best when we are not topping our group table, we are less behind others, we have the squad but still failing. Haven't you wondered that each international break we play our games we get shortened with slim chances we had to qualify, we haven't been making decent progress, the last two matches played we were supposed to win to give us more acceptance of playing in the World Cup we drew one of them, sincerely i am not expecting much from Super Eagles, if we can't beat our fellow African Nations freely to qualify what are we going to play when we face teams from different continents.

I am asking the same question of what can the Super Eagles do when they qualify for the World Cup to face teams from other continent. Will they be kicked out from the group stage as usual or advance to the next round when they will finally be kicked out?

It's quite unfortunate, we find the Super Eagles to perform in a manner that it is hard to say whether they will win their match against any African team, whether home or away. I will be happy if at the end of the World Cup Qualification matches, we can say that Super Eagles made us proud to qualify for the World Cup

I understand you, the Nigerian Super Eagles deserved more than what they are being rated, and this was due to their own performances as well in some of their matches, you can imagine if we cant deal well with our African countries to win, how can it be for us to face the world giants and get close to the final stage, this qualifying stage will tell about how far we could go, but if we can escape it, we may still go further in pushing ahead, but there is still no hope or confidence that before the final stage, we might not have been kicked out already of the world cup.

[Roseline492]

When you mentioned Russia banned I got very surprised but now I remember why they were banned, however I don't no if they have missed any world Cup yet since they banned them after the last world Cup had finished, so that means they have not prepared for anything in regards to the world cup this year. However this record is not nice, imagine how long is been after the last time super eagles went out to meet European clubs, from all this ones 2019 is the last time they play this kind of match, is as if something is wrong about them that's why they have not been able to fixed any.

Russia is banned from football because of their invasion of Ukraine so the Russians senior national team was band and so they will not be participating in the next world cup but apart from that I don't think that Russia would not have been able to qualify from their group so because the Russia national team has not been doing great of recent

If they end the war before next time world Cup qualifier Donald Trump might remove the banned if he has the power to make that decision, however I would have still believe that Russia will qualify if they were to be on the part of countries because they're country that's also good in football. However they have a lot of players on the club side who will not be happy watching others as they are playing the world cup, Ezequiel Barco is part of the good players they have and a lot more because as Nigeria has players in some of the club on England that's how they also have, if not there but on other leagues.

[SatoPrincess]

The countries you mentioned the Russian team played friendlies against and won are not that of a tough side you know. So i won't count them to be a formidable side (am glad you called them low rated teams) knowing full well the Super Eagles has played several tournaments. Although i will agree that the team should prepare using this game to practise different tactics to see which works better. In the meantime, i will watch the game to observe how weak or prepared the Super Eagles is for the upcoming big games.

Not trying to let the super eagles down, but I can predict that the Nigerian team might not win thes countries I called low classed are highly rated more than Nigeria in the FIFA rating. Iran, Serbia and even Russia are ranked higher than Nigeria. What I meant was that these countries are low class if you compare them with the top European sides. Zimbabwe that Nigeria failed to win in their last game is rated 116th by the world football governing body. The Super Eagles is in bad shape and if care is not taken, Russia will win the game convincingly.

I won’t be surprised if Nigeria fail to win these coming games because on so many occasions I have kept my hopes up and they have disappointed, this time I prefer to be open minded and expect the worse while praying for the best. I guess that’s the safest way to protect my mental health while supporting the Super Eagles.

[Agbamoni]

The countries you mentioned the Russian team played friendlies against and won are not that of a tough side you know. So i won't count them to be a formidable side (am glad you called them low rated teams) knowing full well the Super Eagles has played several tournaments. Although i will agree that the team should prepare using this game to practise different tactics to see which works better. In the meantime, i will watch the game to observe how weak or prepared the Super Eagles is for the upcoming big games.

Not trying to let the super eagles down, but I can predict that the Nigerian team might not win thes countries I called low classed are highly rated more than Nigeria in the FIFA rating. Iran, Serbia and even Russia are ranked higher than Nigeria. What I meant was that these countries are low class if you compare them with the top European sides. Zimbabwe that Nigeria failed to win in their last game is rated 116th by the world football governing body. The Super Eagles is in bad shape and if care is not taken, Russia will win the game convincingly.

I won’t be surprised if Nigeria fail to win these coming games because on so many occasions I have kept my hopes up and they have disappointed, this time I prefer to be open minded and expect the worse while praying for the best. I guess that’s the safest way to protect my mental health while supporting the Super Eagles.

The best advice I will give to you is not to put your hopes on the Super Eagle, as well as any football team because you might be disappointed. The Super Eagle team have all the players needed to qualify for the world cup more than any other African side at the moment. So, when I see how poor they are in the pitch i wonder if this players really want the best for their country. The only passionate player I see in the team is Victor Osimehn and the goalkeeper Nwabali.

[Obim34]

I know Russia was banned, but even when Russia wasn't banned, they weren't a strong team, so I don't understand why the Nigerian national team doesn't make an effort to play friendly matches against strong European teams. Playing against weak opponents like Russia, even in friendly matches, doesn't allow the coach to test the full potential of many of the national team's players.

- The last time Nigeria played Argentina was in 2018

- The last time Nigeria played Brazil was in 2019

- The last time Nigeria played France was in 2014

- The last time Nigeria played Italy was in 1994

- The last time Nigeria played Spain was in 2013

- The last time Nigeria played England was in 2018

It's been many years since the Nigerian national team played against these big teams, something that shouldn't happen, since Nigeria is a big African team. They should be constantly playing against the big teams from Europe and America.

Among the listed countries, see only Brazil as the team they can play against since Brazil is not as quality as it used to be, just some average players making up the team. Nigeria has the squad, but our performance is really scary for a giant of Africa with a team worth €376.10 million according to search engine, ranked 13th in worth among the world. We wallow in despair for our players to turn up only during their club games, when it comes to playing for Nigeria, there is always a mistake at the end that causes us to lose points..

Nigeria is struggling to qualify for the World Cup, we don't have what it takes to brag for the remaining games we have to play to qualify. Our hope is lost sincerely, perhaps we make it into the World Cup qualifier what stage of the competition are we certain to reach.

[Fiatless]

I know Russia was banned, but even when Russia wasn't banned, they weren't a strong team, so I don't understand why the Nigerian national team doesn't make an effort to play friendly matches against strong European teams. Playing against weak opponents like Russia, even in friendly matches, doesn't allow the coach to test the full potential of many of the national team's players.

- The last time Nigeria played Argentina was in 2018

- The last time Nigeria played Brazil was in 2019

- The last time Nigeria played France was in 2014

- The last time Nigeria played Italy was in 1994

- The last time Nigeria played Spain was in 2013

- The last time Nigeria played England was in 2018

It's been many years since the Nigerian national team played against these big teams, something that shouldn't happen, since Nigeria is a big African team. They should be constantly playing against the big teams from Europe and America.

The Nigerian national team is not as strong as it was a few years ago. There should be an agreement between both teams before the match is fixed. These nations you mentioned would also want to consider the quality of the team before according to play with them. Nigeria would have gotten offers from top teams if they were performing well. I think the Russian national team is not bad for the Super Eagles to play with. After all, they are ranked higher than Nigeria in the FIFA male national team rankings.

[Mate2237]

I know Russia was banned, but even when Russia wasn't banned, they weren't a strong team, so I don't understand why the Nigerian national team doesn't make an effort to play friendly matches against strong European teams. Playing against weak opponents like Russia, even in friendly matches, doesn't allow the coach to test the full potential of many of the national team's players.

- The last time Nigeria played Argentina was in 2018

- The last time Nigeria played Brazil was in 2019

- The last time Nigeria played France was in 2014

- The last time Nigeria played Italy was in 1994

- The last time Nigeria played Spain was in 2013

- The last time Nigeria played England was in 2018

It's been many years since the Nigerian national team played against these big teams, something that shouldn't happen, since Nigeria is a big African team. They should be constantly playing against the big teams from Europe and America.

The Nigerian national team is not as strong as it was a few years ago. There should be an agreement between both teams before the match is fixed. These nations you mentioned would also want to consider the quality of the team before according to play with them. Nigeria would have gotten offers from top teams if they were performing well. I think the Russian national team is not bad for the Super Eagles to play with. After all, they are ranked higher than Nigeria in the FIFA male national team rankings.

The truth of the matter is that the circular politics that is played has found it way into the Nigerian footballing area that is why Nigerian football has been struggling in recent times there is no level of commitment from the football governing body in Nigeria talking about the Nigerian football federation in making sure that there is improvement in the Nigerian football what has taken over the footballing body is politics that is why there are court cases in every NFF election


In such an environment taken over by politics you don't expect our football to grow because what the football stake holders are interested is their interest and what they can get

[Slow death]

I know Russia was banned, but even when Russia wasn't banned, they weren't a strong team, so I don't understand why the Nigerian national team doesn't make an effort to play friendly matches against strong European teams. Playing against weak opponents like Russia, even in friendly matches, doesn't allow the coach to test the full potential of many of the national team's players.

- The last time Nigeria played Argentina was in 2018

- The last time Nigeria played Brazil was in 2019

- The last time Nigeria played France was in 2014

- The last time Nigeria played Italy was in 1994

- The last time Nigeria played Spain was in 2013

- The last time Nigeria played England was in 2018

It's been many years since the Nigerian national team played against these big teams, something that shouldn't happen, since Nigeria is a big African team. They should be constantly playing against the big teams from Europe and America.

The Nigerian national team is not as strong as it was a few years ago. There should be an agreement between both teams before the match is fixed. These nations you mentioned would also want to consider the quality of the team before according to play with them. Nigeria would have gotten offers from top teams if they were performing well. I think the Russian national team is not bad for the Super Eagles to play with. After all, they are ranked higher than Nigeria in the FIFA male national team rankings.

Angola national team will play against Argentina in November in a friendly match, see that the Angola national team is not better than the Argentina national team in my opinion, but even so they managed to reach an agreement to play against the Argentina national team in November. you can read in this link

https://mundoalbiceleste.com/2025/05/01/argentina-could-play-angola-in-november-matches-in-china-and-qatar/

This means that these big teams accept playing against African teams. The problem lies with the African teams, who in recent years have been using politics in football. African leaders have been very pro-Russian and Chinese due to dictatorship policies, in order to remain in power and restrict the opposition. They are even taking this to sports.

[Fiatless]

Angola national team will play against Argentina in November in a friendly match, see that the Angola national team is not better than the Argentina national team in my opinion, but even so they managed to reach an agreement to play against the Argentina national team in November. you can read in this link

https://mundoalbiceleste.com/2025/05/01/argentina-could-play-angola-in-november-matches-in-china-and-qatar/

This means that these big teams accept playing against African teams. The problem lies with the African teams, who in recent years have been using politics in football. African leaders have been very pro-Russian and Chinese due to dictatorship policies, in order to remain in power and restrict the opposition. They are even taking this to sports.

Your arguments are valid and I think I was wrong. Angola is ranked 17th in Africa. Meanwhile, Nigeria occupies the 6th  position. Yet Angola was able to arrange a friendly game with a highly placed side like Argentina. The problem might be that the Nigerian Football Federation is not doing a good job in securing matches with quality national teams. Or, just as you said, politics is affecting the choice most African national teams make when it comes to choosing opponents for these friendly games.

[Pokapoka124]

Angola national team will play against Argentina in November in a friendly match, see that the Angola national team is not better than the Argentina national team in my opinion, but even so they managed to reach an agreement to play against the Argentina national team in November. you can read in this link

https://mundoalbiceleste.com/2025/05/01/argentina-could-play-angola-in-november-matches-in-china-and-qatar/

This means that these big teams accept playing against African teams. The problem lies with the African teams, who in recent years have been using politics in football. African leaders have been very pro-Russian and Chinese due to dictatorship policies, in order to remain in power and restrict the opposition. They are even taking this to sports.

of course these big teams accept to play against African teams, that is the reason for these games is to promote unity amongst all nation but how African countries approach these games is a bit different from how the foreigners play. This game should give Angola a clue of the competition to expect whenever they meet a foreign country in a tournament.