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

[Juicyhome]

With the high morale of expectations from the super eagles after their win over Rwanda, we were expecting them to easily beat the Zimbabwean team. But I was disappointed after the match, especially allowing the Zimbabweans to equalize that one goal, they could have worked away with all the points in that match. Zimbabwe, is a relatively small team compared to the star sturded Nigerian team, and I'm wondering what will happen if they eventually qualify and meet top teams in the world cup finals. By my estimation the previous match was far better than yesterday's match.

What do you expect from Nigeria team? the players are being careful not to get injury. they are not playing with their hearts, because they know if anything happens to them the government won't care for them. so when you see the Nigeria players with all the big big players they  have struggling with a low team like Zimbabwe you should know its not normal.

I pray they should not qualify to the world cup, they players do not deserve it, having just one winning out of 6 games, grew 4 is a shame to the players and the coach, they have reduced this country to zero, super eagle that used to be top team in Africa and other team used to be scared to play against is  now a team like Zimbabwe drew against, when the government does not care the  players will not be motivated to player well. That  is what i see with the super eagle.

[Marykeller]

Zimbabwe actually dominated Nigeria in front of their fans in terms of ball possession and it's quite shameful from my perspective. 6 matches played and only 7 points earned, it's remaining only 4 games and with the way they are playing they might not qualify. From all indications, the country will watch the 2026 World cup from home. If you ask me, it's even better because they will just go there to make up the numbers that's all.

It is already be marked that the Super Eagles are not going anywhere "to qualify for the world cup'' they ignorant lose their opportunity for that. They knows what's at stake for them, that everyone wants them to qualify because of the caliber of players in their squad, they choose to let everyone down, bringing our morales down to think otherwise that it would have be better that we use our local players to play any international match. If they lose or win, we know that the play with all their might for match victory, but they lose. Not for super eagles to play with their full squad, they didn't deliver as expected. That's a shame to accept

[knowngunman]

The Super Eagles of Nigeria has broken the hearts of Nigerians who are expecting a qualification after Nigeria missed out of the world cup in 2022, and they are also at the verge of losing out in the 2026 world cup now because their chances of qualifying have been narrowed after they played draw against an ordinary Zimbabwe. It was really a disappointing game, i just feel for Victor Osimhen who has been giving his best performance to see the Super Eagles qualify, last game against Rwanda he scored a brace, and he also scored the goal of Nigeria that got equalized today and now his efforts seems like it is not yielding fruits. The path to qualification is very difficult for the Super Eagles now as it will depend on a lot of factors before they can qualify for the world cup.

It's high time we open our eyes to reality and move on because there's no magic our super eagle can perform at this moment to see us participating in the upcoming World Cup. It's a pity to see the giant of Africa missing out from the world most watch and rated tournament for two consecutive seasons despite having top class players in the squad.

This was as a result of the chance they failed to utilise in the early stage of qualification matches that made them sit on the bottom of the table. Some mistakes can not longer be corrected and this is an example of such mistake. No amount of seriousness can even give us the ticket now. Although, I already lost the hope but revive the hope after our victory against Rwanda but again, the hope is now completely shattered.

[Sexylizzy2813]

I've long given up on expecting much from Nigeria when they're playing against small teams because they often give disappointing results. I was thinking that with how much force they were putting on  Zimbabwe they will have like three goals in the first half but I noticed that the boys were playing like any average team and if I'm not mistaken, it looked like Zimbabwe needed the points more than Nigeria.
 Whenever small teams defeat Nigeria, there's this lack of fear that  comes into the mind of the others because if this particular team can hold the super eagles down, why can't they?

I agree with you because when these guys are on the pitch they changed their mode to very serious talking about Zimbabwe and the Super Eagles continue with that unserious attitude, this isn't the first time or the first game that we all think the Eagles will dominate a game from the beginning to the end but when the ref sound the whistle the whole ball game change and you'd think that the smaller countries are better than Nigeria. In the first half nothing to show that we are hungry for the win and to get the required 3pt, some of the players who played well just wasted their efforts because the team has a very weak mentality when going in a game, our approach is not the type you put your hope on that is aust win for the Eagles. The question is not who to blame but what we should be asking is do we deserve to even qualify for the World Cup? Take a look at the Rwanda we won some days back before yesterday's game are second which means they are more serious than we are and for all we have seen I think every win we get is by luck not by how good we are, we are not good any more because we haven't shown why we are called the giant of Africa.

[Promocodeudo]

A 90 minutes they would have all fall back, the changing they made rob super eagles of wining Zimbabwe, at the 87 minutes was when Zimbabwe was attacking the super eagles so what they just needed was additional assistance to intercept because few defenders was already becoming weak, so defenders was what the eagles wanted because nobody care about if they have to score another goal or not because protecting the they have was the priority, so instead of bringing the defenders,  the coach use Boniface to replace Victor Osimhen and few minutes later they saw the results of what they have done, so actually I understand Victor Osimhen furiousness that he didn't want to listen to anybody's opinion, even when they were trying to calm him, next time the coach will not be too hasty to think about goals than protecting there goalkeeper.

I think massive defense and massive attack would've work perfectly well at that point point they notice pressure in their 18 yard box, experience would've also showcase itself at that point but in football there are times footballers get confused on what to do because of pressure, I wouldn't want to criticize the manager now because I feel is too early to do that but he would've signal them to fall back whenever there's pressure in their back side, be it as it may the did has already been done, ordinarily Zimbabwe is supposed to be a work over for the super eagles of Nigeria but they turn to be a threat which means that super eagles team need more ground work because they stand a greater chance of qualifying unless they aren't ready for the needful.

Yea they shouldnt have allowed an equalizer, just imagine the time when the equalizing goal was score by their opponent, it is too bad, you are right, though adding goals is not bad but keeping a close eye on your opponent by tackling them seriously with leaving a breathing space for them to get what they want  would've been the best approach in achieving atleast 1 goal winning in that match, we hope for a good result next time but sincerely the manager got some work to do for himself in terms of hasty decision taking and for the success of the team.

[Roseline492]

A 90 minutes they would have all fall back, the changing they made rob super eagles of wining Zimbabwe, at the 87 minutes was when Zimbabwe was attacking the super eagles so what they just needed was additional assistance to intercept because few defenders was already becoming weak, so defenders was what the eagles wanted because nobody care about if they have to score another goal or not because protecting the they have was the priority, so instead of bringing the defenders,  the coach use Boniface to replace Victor Osimhen and few minutes later they saw the results of what they have done, so actually I understand Victor Osimhen furiousness that he didn't want to listen to anybody's opinion, even when they were trying to calm him, next time the coach will not be too hasty to think about goals than protecting there goalkeeper.

I think massive defense and massive attack would've work perfectly well at that point point they notice pressure in their 18 yard box, experience would've also showcase itself at that point but in football there are times footballers get confused on what to do because of pressure, I wouldn't want to criticize the manager now because I feel is too early to do that but he would've signal them to fall back whenever there's pressure in their back side,

A lot of things happen on the match I cannot even tell who is at fault because aside from Victor Osimhen unhappy there coach almost clashed with the Zimbabwe coach, after the match the Zimbabwe coach went to shake him but he was not happy to reciprocate and instead of the Zimbabwe coach to leave as he is not getting any response from him, I think he started saying what the super eagles coach may not like, so if not for some persons that was right there having in mind that this could result to something they could have been on the news yesterday. The defender that was looking at the Zimbabwe player deserves a serious blame because he had 60% chance to that ball than the scoring player of Zimbabwe, this is why some players like leaving a club even if they want him to stay because they are making Victor Osimhen to labour for nothing, actually the last time he went to World Cup he was not this good, so now he is very fit he wants nothing more than to go to the world Cup.

[Lida93]

However, Nigeria has broken their defense and is now leading with a 1 goal in the 74th minutes with a pass from Aina straight to Victor Osimhen who made it too easy to finish hitting the ball into the back of the  net of Zimbabwe. It's Nigeria 1 Vs 0 Zimbabwe.

After the coach took out Chukwueze, the next player he would have taken off should have been Ekong because he looked fatigued or not in the game at all. Osayi was overlapping into the attack and leaving just three men, mostly behind, which the Zimbabweans were looking to capitalize on, and they got their chance at the ending of the game, where our defenders felt the game was won and went into sleeping mode. Ekong was beaten with just one touch, and Nwabali could not keep it out.

Our chances of qualifying for the World Cup have reduced drastically.

The drive I saw in the game against Rwanda was not in this game. The Super Eagles were slow and  didn't push the attack. They got one goal and relaxed, and they paid for it by losing two points.

@Fiatless I am so disappointed than you can imagine because I had so much confidence on the Super Eagles winning Zimbabwe since it was a bottom team in the group. It was an opportunity for the Super Eagles to be in the second position after South Africa but they cheaply lose it to a draw just to settle in fourth position risking their chances of making it to the WC.

That's the only FIFA approved football stadium in Nigeria after the National stadium was vandalized few years ago and still in shitty situation because we have shitty football federation with clueless Govemment. We have other good stadiums that needs to be fixed to the FIFA required standard.

We have many other stadiums that should have been offered standard capacity and quality alongside the Godswill Akpabio stadium approved by FIFA but our leaders choose to play politics with them.

The Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in Port Harcourt should have been another stadium that would have been approved by FIFA for football competitions of this level due to the capacity and quality of facilities and esign but the state actors has decided to turn it to a political campaign ground which has led to vandalism of facilities. It's a shame that in the entire country it's just one stadium we can boast of for international games.

[Promocodeudo]

A lot of things happen on the match I cannot even tell who is at fault because aside from Victor Osimhen unhappy there coach almost clashed with the Zimbabwe coach, after the match the Zimbabwe coach went to shake him but he was not happy to reciprocate and instead of the Zimbabwe coach to leave as he is not getting any response from him, I think he started saying what the super eagles coach may not like, so if not for some persons that was right there having in mind that this could result to something they could have been on the news yesterday. The defender that was looking at the Zimbabwe player deserves a serious blame because he had 60% chance to that ball than the scoring player of Zimbabwe, this is why some players like leaving a club even if they want him to stay because they are making Victor Osimhen to labour for nothing, actually the last time he went to World Cup he was not this good, so now he is very fit he wants nothing more than to go to the world Cup.

For me, there's was no need for the super eagles manager to have acted that way my reason being that the suppers ageles defender missed priority so what next should he expect, Osimhen suffered to gat a goal, the allow the goal to be equalized for reason best known to them, if there's any person he should be angry with, I think it should be the defender not their opponent manager, despite that that handshake may allegedly be a sign of mocekey which I feel is normal too in the game of soccer, I don't still see any reason why he didn't reciprocate the gesture of a co manager, I maintain that the defender should be cautioned to avoid further repetition of what happened in that match, I think some players fails to understand that they are in for a serious business and I don't know the reason why they joke with things sometimes, super eagles messed up though it is a draw but they would've understand that once you've have a goal against your opponent and maintain it till the die minute, there shouldn't be a chance or loophole for your opponent to equalize, the 1 goal should've have guided with all they got but it is unfortunate that they've to allow such to happen.

[Majestic-milf]

What do you expect from Nigeria team? the players are being careful not to get injury. they are not playing with their hearts, because they know if anything happens to them the government won't care for them. so when you see the Nigeria players with all the big big players they  have struggling with a low team like Zimbabwe you should know its not normal.

I pray they should not qualify to the world cup, they players do not deserve it, having just one winning out of 6 games, grew 4 is a shame to the players and the coach, they have reduced this country to zero, super eagle that used to be top team in Africa and other team used to be scared to play against is  now a team like Zimbabwe drew against, when the government does not care the  players will not be motivated to player well. That  is what i see with the super eagle.

You have a point but the clear cut chances they were missing, does that have anything with minding themselves so they don't get injured? Let's face facts, these players tend to value that which is outside than their own. Nigeria still has this slavery mentality (I'm sorry if I'm being harsh). They prefer to work for the outsiders with all their strength then do a shabby job for their home country. Imagine when you don't have an opportunity to play for these foreign clubs, will you not put effort into making sure you do well at your national league?
 Nigeria will do everyone a favor if they don't make it to the world cup competition, no doubt but it's high time we stopped believing that nothing good can come out from the nation and rather put in the effort. I could remember when Victor Osimhen made his debut for the super eagles in 2017 as an U17 player, you could see the drive to do better from him and his mates and they ended up winning that trophy. Wanna tell me that the Nigerian football association wasn't wack then?

[Agbamoni]

With all the efforts Osimehn put in to score the winning goal. I expected the team to take the defending serious. Osimhen has all the right to be angry at his teammates. The way the equalizing goal came was too casual. I wonder if those guys are really professional footballers. How can they not pay attention till the end of the game. Anything is always possible in football, but you must put in your effort first. If the goal scored by Zimbabwe was a classic goal that would have been a different case, but it was so simple while all the defenders relaxed because the time stoppage time was almost over.

[Yucky]

With all the efforts Osimehn put in to score the winning goal. I expected the team to take the defending serious. Osimhen has all the right to be angry at his teammates. The way the equalizing goal came was too casual. I wonder if those guys are really professional footballers. How can they not pay attention till the end of the game. Anything is always possible in football, but you must put in your effort first. If the goal scored by Zimbabwe was a classic goal that would have been a different case, but it was so simple while all the defenders relaxed because the time stoppage time was almost over.

The Nigerian team is beginning to give off the vibe that village people are disturbing them from winning. Tell me, why is this happening during the qualifiers? They want to start performing poorly now? How are you going to maintain your stand at the  table them. Is this how they want to beat other countries in Europe and Asia?

Another thing is the corruption in Nigeria, which will not kill us. I know there are talented footballers in local leagues who are not being considered. Instead, they keep selecting people who are not even as good as some local players. Nigerians should go for real scouting; they should go for real football scouting. Talent is out there in local football clubs, hometowns, and football academies. Let them bring in fresh, younger talent.

Honestly, it was really disappointing to see their performance during the match. Thinking about the match is giving me a headache, so let's just not think about it too much.

[DubemIfedigbo001]

Honestly, I lost confidence in the Nigerian team qualifying for this world cup a long time ago. They started off as very unserious and just recently, they kinda meant business, but today's match, they would've done better. They knew what was at stake if they secured anything less than a win in the match and still they allowed those costly mistakes and worse of it all, allowed Zimbabwe to equalize. Just when I was happy that at least we're heading somewhere,  that last minute equalizer broke my heart honestly.

I was carried away by the energy that came with the new head coach Erick Chelle, and their performance against Rwanda, thinking they would win Zimbabwe but once again they disappointed me. They defended poorly in the match,failed to hold on to their lead, and in dying moments allowed Zimbabwe to equalize. This result puts the Super Eagles at serious risk of missing out on the 2026 World Cup.

I see they celebrated victory too soon because even after Osimhen's goal, they relaxed in a very bad way thinking that Zimbabwe has no way back in the game. It didn't occur to them that even though Zimbabwe doesn't have any future in the competition even if they won, but they can have another record for being the team that stopped Nigeria from qualifying for the world cup for the 4th time which they accomplished successfully.

What a shame!!!.

[MainIbem]

I was carried away by the energy that came with the new head coach Erick Chelle, and their performance against Rwanda, thinking they would win Zimbabwe but once again they disappointed me. They defended poorly in the match,failed to hold on to their lead, and in dying moments allowed Zimbabwe to equalize. This result puts the Super Eagles at serious risk of missing out on the 2026 World Cup.

I see they celebrated victory too soon because even after Osimhen's goal, they relaxed in a very bad way thinking that Zimbabwe has no way back in the game. It didn't occur to them that even though Zimbabwe doesn't have any future in the competition even if they won, but they can have another record for being the team that stopped Nigeria from qualifying for the world cup for the 4th time which they accomplished successfully.

What a shame!!!.

The Nigerian team defenders need to understand that this is a World Cup qualifiers it's not the CAF, so the need to be very serious cause many teams are so eager to play the World Cup, they need to be more serious and do better next time, they got too excited after Osimhen's beautiful header goal, they couldn't even focus and defend the ball very well, I'm blaming the defenders cause if they had focused on the game, Zimbabwe wouldn't get a counter and cause Nwabali to run out of the post to save the ball, I'm not saying they didn't try, they did, atleast Nigeria didn't lose but they need to do better and avoid errors like that if they want to qualify for the World Cup, The Nigerian team is strong enough to win games like these, they've got more qualify players, with high profile playing across Europe and some are even in top European leagues playing in their top teams so they were more favoured to win, based on experience, compared to Zimbabwe, well maybe luck wasn't on their side cause they missed many chances, but they have to do better next time, anyways i love Chelle's selection.

[SatoPrincess]

The Super Eagles play well when they attack but defensively they have many lapses which was evident in the result of the game yesterday as they easily gave away their one goal lead. Victor Osimhen was very furious at the scene after the game and had his team mates consoling him while he walked out of the pitch.

[buwaytress]

I got offered a ticket to the game ( State Governor paid for the whole tickets) but didn't make the trip; I haven't gone to our games for more than 10 years, even when it been hosted in my backyard. The team is not different from Chelsea; too many good players but bad mentality during games.

We're literally in one of the easiest group and should be winning those games comfortably but we're Nigeria and nothing works in this shitty country anymore. Bad lucks everywhere. Sorry for your ticket - history happened again.

Last time I watched my team I supported since childhood play was in 1999. Cup final game at a famous old stadium, and it was also the last time it hosted a football game. Night to remember, we lost and in the years that followed bad luck upon bad luck and finally club was forced to close down. 2 new clubs took the void, but none really resemble the old one, so I never followed. What happens when your team no longer exists? You just look back on the good old days and watch other clubs with no boyhood attachment.

What I mean to say is, watch the games. Before you lose out =)

Where are you Zim boys on this forum? Can't believe there's none.

[Cryptomultiplier]

With all the efforts Osimehn put in to score the winning goal. I expected the team to take the defending serious. Osimhen has all the right to be angry at his teammates. The way the equalizing goal came was too casual. I wonder if those guys are really professional footballers. How can they not pay attention till the end of the game. Anything is always possible in football, but you must put in your effort first. If the goal scored by Zimbabwe was a classic goal that would have been a different case, but it was so simple while all the defenders relaxed because the time stoppage time was almost over.

The Nigerian team is beginning to give off the vibe that village people are disturbing them from winning. Tell me, why is this happening during the qualifiers? They want to start performing poorly now? How are you going to maintain your stand at the  table them. Is this how they want to beat other countries in Europe and Asia?

Another thing is the corruption in Nigeria, which will not kill us. I know there are talented footballers in local leagues who are not being considered. Instead, they keep selecting people who are not even as good as some local players. Nigerians should go for real scouting; they should go for real football scouting. Talent is out there in local football clubs, hometowns, and football academies. Let them bring in fresh, younger talent.

Honestly, it was really disappointing to see their performance during the match. Thinking about the match is giving me a headache, so let's just not think about it too much.

I had a headache also after waiting endlessly for a second goal from the super Eagles, but that never came. I was even praying at a time that the pressure of the Zimbabweans don't pay off to make them win ahead of the draw they already got as it was nearing the final few minutes, but am glad it wasn't worse and Osimhen proved efficient upfront and were it not for few defensive lapses that may always be an issue and it's a point to note to work on so as not to fall prey to sharper strikers when they as a team get make an appearance in international competitions and qualifiers.

[igebotz]

Last time I watched my team I supported since childhood play was in 1999. Cup final game at a famous old stadium, and it was also the last time it hosted a football game. Night to remember, we lost and in the years that followed bad luck upon bad luck and finally club was forced to close down. 2 new clubs took the void, but none really resemble the old one, so I never followed. What happens when your team no longer exists? You just look back on the good old days and watch other clubs with no boyhood attachment.

What I mean to say is, watch the games. Before you lose out =)

Where are you Zim boys on this forum? Can't believe there's none.

Just like any other Nigerians; we're only watching with less expectations and with zero attachment. We do not longer pay attention to home based players and do not longer have them in the squad like we used to in the past. We only have established players from Europe who only care about club games and not ready to take risk on international duties.

The last time we won comfortably with 4-5 goals was ages ago..

The problem with other African countries is they don't exist anywhere on the Internet. You can only find Nigerian communities. There's is no single Zimbabwean on this forum.

[Ambatman]

The drive I saw in the game against Rwanda was not in this game. The Super Eagles were slow and  didn't push the attack. They got one goal and relaxed, and they paid for it by losing two points. It might sound stupid, but I have said that Nigeria shouldn't play its home games in Godswill Akpabio Stadium. The last game was a loss to Rwanda and now it's draw. NFF should check for other venues because we have other good stadiums in Nigeria.

uh-huh did you watch the match?
The players played better than I expected from the Nigeria team (haven't watched our match in years)
The players were good
But the team was bad and not to mention luck wasn't on their side.
After the first 20 minutes of missed chances
I knew we couldn't win the match.

Osimhen is goated, a true striker.

[CryptoHeadlineNews]

With all the efforts Osimehn put in to score the winning goal. I expected the team to take the defending serious. Osimhen has all the right to be angry at his teammates. The way the equalizing goal came was too casual. I wonder if those guys are really professional footballers. How can they not pay attention till the end of the game. Anything is always possible in football, but you must put in your effort first. If the goal scored by Zimbabwe was a classic goal that would have been a different case, but it was so simple while all the defenders relaxed because the time stoppage time was almost over.

To be frankly speaking, Victor Osimhen has all the right to be angry with the rest Super Eagle's players, of which if I was to be in his shoes, I would have done the exact same thing, because I will blame both coach Eric Chelle for removing Victor Osimhen at 87 minutes into the end of the game, of which we all saw how Zimbabwe was able to score an equalizing goal just 3 minutes immediately he was removed, implying maybe I'd hw had been on the pitch till the end, Nigeria would probably have won. And  it's quite unfair, considering how dedicated he was to seeing Nigeria qualify for next year's world cup. However, it's just too sad, Nigeria wouldn't be participating in next year's world cup.

[Coyster]

What da fuck are you talking about?
Do you mean that our chances of qualifying is very slim or we have no chances of qualifying again? I have seen the people in our group and if I may ask, how do we get to here?  

If you read my post, you'd have understood exactly what i was talking about; i said it was the final nail in our hopes of qualifying, it is easy to understand what i meant.

Having said that, mathematically there is still a chance (you know we Nigerians like "maths" in our football), but realistically we cannot qualify, there are four more games left and we are in fourth position on seven points, six points behind South Africa in first place (though South Africa might be deducted of three points for fielding an ineligible player). Our best hope of qualifying is through finishing second and hope we are one of four best runners-up who will compete in a play-off for the final spot.