African Football Discussion Thread Current Topic: 👉 AFCON 2025/2026

[Coyster]

That was a painful game to watch, it was a must-win match, but we didn't approach it in that manner. I do not understand what our coache's philosophy is, what brand of football is he trying to play, because i have watched all the games we have played since he became head coach, but i am yet to see any pattern, it is like we just play, hoping to get lucky and score.

It hurts that we would miss back-to-back world cups, but that is the reality right now. We need to go back to the drawing board and try to win the African cup of nations starting in a few months, that could appease the nation a little bit.

[Sim_card]

That was a painful game to watch, it was a must-win match, but we didn't approach it in that manner. I do not understand what our coache's philosophy is, what brand of football is he trying to play, because i have watched all the games we have played since he became head coach, but i am yet to see any pattern, it is like we just play, hoping to get lucky and score.

It hurts that we would miss back-to-back world cups, but that is the reality right now. We need to go back to the drawing board and try to win the African cup of nations starting in a few months, that could appease the nation a little bit.

When a coach doesn't have a game strategy and only depends on luck, this is how it turns out to be. I am not sad that Nigeria didn't make it to the world cup because it's better that they stay back than going to disgrace themselves over there. It's better for a more serious nation with passion and determination go to the world cup, who knows what will be their fate. It's not compulsory for Nigeria to be there when they have nothing to offer.

[Adbitco]

I would have to agree with you on this, because I don't understand the kind of pitch that the South African FA chose to use for the qualifying match Vs Nigeria. It's just as if it was a deliberate attempt to frustrate the other team with the pitch. It's not even looking nice, as if it's a match between two village teams up against eachother. The Nigerian team doesn't really understand what's at stake, maybe they don't want to qualify for the world cup because they have never been serious since the start of the qualifiers.

Can we just face the reality and agree that our players were just unserious from the beginning of this qualifying game? It's good to call a spade a spade and stop blaming the innocent pitch abeg. If the Super Eagle were serious from the beginning and win every match, we won't be here talking about this but they were busy taking every match for granted dropping important points and miraculously want to turn things around this crucial time. It's impossible thing to do for now, we should just forget about the upcoming world Cup and prepare for the next one. It's sad to see us watching other countries playing world Cup without participating for two consecutive seasons.

Why are you sounding as if you didn't read the last part were I clearly stated that they didn't want to qualify because they have been unserious right from the the qualifiers started, or did you miss that very part? Irrespective of how unserious they were, it's still ideal for them to play in that kind of pitch. I'm calling a spade a spade here in that very context.

[Majestic-milf]

I would have to agree with you on this, because I don't understand the kind of pitch that the South African FA chose to use for the qualifying match Vs Nigeria. It's just as if it was a deliberate attempt to frustrate the other team with the pitch. It's not even looking nice, as if it's a match between two village teams up against eachother. The Nigerian team doesn't really understand what's at stake, maybe they don't want to qualify for the world cup because they have never been serious since the start of the qualifiers.

The funny thing about this whole set up by South Africa is that even though their plan was to frustrate Nigeria by choosing a venue that's not sound, they too were not exempt because we saw how their own players were carted away injured. I've noticed something; teams who want to frustrate their opponents would choose a very bad location that their visitors aren't familiar with so that they won't be able to play well and they the hosts would be able to call the shots. I also noticed this sort of thing happening in the Bolivia vs Brazil game (I know it's not a topic to be discussed here but I just brought it up for reference).

[Agbamoni]

Edited out

It has been a norm in the Nigerian national team and management team to be crying over a spilt milk. We have competent players that can give us the result we so desire but they won't let them play due sentiments.
One may ask why, they know not, neither do they understand.

The African football is now beyond big names. When it comes to having big names on paper that can represent Africa in every part of the world, we will at least include 50% of the Nigerian squad but we all see a different thing in the World Cup qualifier competition.

This Nigerian team, needs to awaken. It is a shame with all the player they got they still didn't qualify for World Cup.

[Youngrebel]

Edited out

It has been a norm in the Nigerian national team and management team to be crying over a spilt milk. We have competent players that can give us the result we so desire but they won't let them play due sentiments.
One may ask why, they know not, neither do they understand.

The African football is now beyond big names. When it comes to having big names on paper that can represent Africa in every part of the world, we will at least include 50% of the Nigerian squad but we all see a different thing in the World Cup qualifier competition.

This Nigerian team, needs to awaken. It is a shame with all the player they got they still didn't qualify for World Cup.

Though 2 games are still remaining for them to play and with the two games they can qualify if they play well and they will not if they don't play well, to qualify in the forthcoming world Cup is in their hands. Nigeria is on the 3rd position in the group c table which means there is hope for them to qualify in the world but the way they are playing, what is the difference between qualifying in the world cup and will be kick out from the group stage in the world cup.
Because I am not seeing this guys going further or beyond the group stage of the tournament. As for me they even tried because I had already confirmed that Nigeria would loss the game and I was surprised to see that they ended it with 1-1 draw.

[Doan9269]

That was a painful game to watch, it was a must-win match, but we didn't approach it in that manner. I do not understand what our coache's philosophy is, what brand of football is he trying to play, because i have watched all the games we have played since he became head coach, but i am yet to see any pattern, it is like we just play, hoping to get lucky and score.

Aside the coach being responsible for some of these lapses, we can also look into the way some of our players have been well and fully involved in their matches, while some are just playing as if they were being forced, i understand the fact that most of them would have think that the amount of money they earn form clubs is far better than what the country may offer them for playing and it does not worth having all their strength in it, while this same country is what brought most of them to the fame light they now enjoy as career in a professional manner.

[Sexylizzy2813]

With the way things are going it seems the NFF are not serious with their job like they don't know what to do and how to improve on where they have messed up. The Super Eagles lost their chances of staying on top right from the beginning of this World Cup qualifiers and just yesterday they could not beat South Africa to have a clear chance of qualifying after they played a 1-1 draw and now the NFF are coming out to issue blames on the Super Eagles captain Troost-Ekong and Dessers that they are to blame for the draw that happened yesterday and I wonder, where is our football going from here?
These are the same guys in the NFF who runs things concerning football and they have changed up to 3-4 coaches to manage the Super Eagles and they can't stick to any one, it is either they sack the manager or look for something to make the coach leave. This is no way to grow, they have been in charge for long and no improvement for the Super Eagles and they have the boldness to say the players I mentioned are the cause, too bad. It seems like their position doesn't have to change hands even if they fail and they can never accept that they have failed that's why they have the mind of pointing fingers on the players.

[Youngrebel]

With the way things are going it seems the NFF are not serious with their job like they don't know what to do and how to improve on where they have messed up. The Super Eagles lost their chances of staying on top right from the beginning of this World Cup qualifiers and just yesterday they could not beat South Africa to have a clear chance of qualifying after they played a 1-1 draw and now the NFF are coming out to issue blames on the Super Eagles captain Troost-Ekong and Dessers that they are to blame for the draw that happened yesterday and I wonder, where is our football going from here?
These are the same guys in the NFF who runs things concerning football and they have changed up to 3-4 coaches to manage the Super Eagles and they can't stick to any one, it is either they sack the manager or look for something to make the coach leave. This is no way to grow, they have been in charge for long and no improvement for the Super Eagles and they have the boldness to say the players I mentioned are the cause, too bad. It seems like their position doesn't have to change hands even if they fail and they can never accept that they have failed that's why they have the mind of pointing fingers on the players.

I wouldn't blame the NFF on this losing qualifier games but for them blaming the players is very wrong because they are the problem in the Super Eagles. They are there before the coaches and for that they know the players more than the coaches.
And as for me what the Super Eagles Club needs is good players and second is  good Coach. NFF is to be blame because they have not produced a good Coach to lead the team and in the other hand the coaches in turn have not told the NFF that there are no players in the team. If Victor Osimhen, Lukeman, Boniface and two or three others players not there then everything is ruined that day. Nigeria Super Eagles as it is, there is no players and that is the issue in the team before even the problem of the coach.

[Agbamoni]

Though 2 games are still remaining for them to play and with the two games they can qualify if they play well and they will not if they don't play well, to qualify in the forthcoming world Cup is in their hands. Nigeria is on the 3rd position in the group c table which means there is hope for them to qualify in the world but the way they are playing, what is the difference between qualifying in the world cup and will be kick out from the group stage in the world cup.
Because I am not seeing this guys going further or beyond the group stage of the tournament. As for me they even tried because I had already confirmed that Nigeria would loss the game and I was surprised to see that they ended it with 1-1 draw.

Maybe you dont follow up on everything that is going on. Nigeria has no chance of qualifying anymore. Only one team is expected to qualify from the group and South Africa have got the point they needed to qualify. The strongest game they had was the Nigerian match and they managed to get a point, it is certain they will win the other two game, in fact they only need to win one and they are good to go. Benin in the second position need only one win and they might qualify as best loser to participate in the play off. So Nigeria has a slim chance to comes out second, if they fail to do so, it is all over for them.

[Oluwa-btc]

That was a painful game to watch, it was a must-win match, but we didn't approach it in that manner. I do not understand what our coache's philosophy is, what brand of football is he trying to play, because i have watched all the games we have played since he became head coach, but i am yet to see any pattern, it is like we just play, hoping to get lucky and score.

It hurts that we would miss back-to-back world cups, but that is the reality right now. We need to go back to the drawing board and try to win the African cup of nations starting in a few months, that could appease the nation a little bit.

No energy to put blames on the manager. I will go against the nff rather because they're bloody set of punks. Falling and failing back to back shows they're doing a lot of things wrong at the top. I was wondering my sorrows will be wiped away. I will complain and moan about Manchester United and do the same with Nigeria. Who else thought the stadium used for that game was far from standard? South Africans did that intentionally.

[Agbe]

Though 2 games are still remaining for them to play and with the two games they can qualify if they play well and they will not if they don't play well, to qualify in the forthcoming world Cup is in their hands. Nigeria is on the 3rd position in the group c table which means there is hope for them to qualify in the world but the way they are playing, what is the difference between qualifying in the world cup and will be kick out from the group stage in the world cup.
Because I am not seeing this guys going further or beyond the group stage of the tournament. As for me they even tried because I had already confirmed that Nigeria would loss the game and I was surprised to see that they ended it with 1-1 draw.

Maybe you dont follow up on everything that is going on. Nigeria has no chance of qualifying anymore. Only one team is expected to qualify from the group and South Africa have got the point they needed to qualify. The strongest game they had was the Nigerian match and they managed to get a point, it is certain they will win the other two game, in fact they only need to win one and they are good to go. Benin in the second position need only one win and they might qualify as best loser to participate in the play off. So Nigeria has a slim chance to comes out second, if they fail to do so, it is all over for them.

Nigeria is completely out of the out of the world cup qualifiers because as it stands Nigeria is currently sitting on third place and there is only one automatic place which south Africa has taken, even the best losers place too we don't fit into.

[Fiatless]

That was a painful game to watch, it was a must-win match, but we didn't approach it in that manner. I do not understand what our coache's philosophy is, what brand of football is he trying to play, because i have watched all the games we have played since he became head coach, but i am yet to see any pattern, it is like we just play, hoping to get lucky and score.

It hurts that we would miss back-to-back world cups, but that is the reality right now. We need to go back to the drawing board and try to win the African cup of nations starting in a few months, that could appease the nation a little bit.

Before now I was advocating that the coach should be given more time to build a philosophy. But from what I have seen he cannot mould the team to a certain pattern of play. The Super Eagles have been depending on luck and on Victor Osimhen. It's really painful that other big teams like Ghana, Cameroon, and others are still in the race to the World Cup, but the almighty Super Eagles is out. I don't think Eric Chelle should take us back to the drawing board, we need a change.

[Ronsbit]

Aside the coach being responsible for some of these lapses, we can also look into the way some of our players have been well and fully involved in their matches, while some are just playing as if they were being forced, i understand the fact that most of them would have think that the amount of money they earn form clubs is far better than what the country may offer them for playing and it does not worth having all their strength in it, while this same country is what brought most of them to the fame light they now enjoy as career in a professional manner.

I remember one time I came across an online dailies where one of the Super Eagles players made a statement about his colleagues not taking national matches seriously, and they came after him for making such a statement about them. And here we are now, seeing that there is every possibility that the statement he had made about his teammates is for real. Irrespective of how much they are paid for a national call-up, it should be seen as an honour and a privilege to serve their fatherland, and as such, should make their fatherland proud just like the Falcons did. It is quite unfortunate that the Super Eagles are no longer the Super Eagles we used to know, even the flying eagles are more enthusiastic than they are.

[Sexylizzy2813]

With the way things are going it seems the NFF are not serious with their job like they don't know what to do and how to improve on where they have messed up. The Super Eagles lost their chances of staying on top right from the beginning of this World Cup qualifiers and just yesterday they could not beat South Africa to have a clear chance of qualifying after they played a 1-1 draw and now the NFF are coming out to issue blames on the Super Eagles captain Troost-Ekong and Dessers that they are to blame for the draw that happened yesterday and I wonder, where is our football going from here?
These are the same guys in the NFF who runs things concerning football and they have changed up to 3-4 coaches to manage the Super Eagles and they can't stick to any one, it is either they sack the manager or look for something to make the coach leave. This is no way to grow, they have been in charge for long and no improvement for the Super Eagles and they have the boldness to say the players I mentioned are the cause, too bad. It seems like their position doesn't have to change hands even if they fail and they can never accept that they have failed that's why they have the mind of pointing fingers on the players.

I wouldn't blame the NFF on this losing qualifier games but for them blaming the players is very wrong because they are the problem in the Super Eagles. They are there before the coaches and for that they know the players more than the coaches.
And as for me what the Super Eagles Club needs is good players and second is  good Coach. NFF is to be blame because they have not produced a good Coach to lead the team and in the other hand the coaches in turn have not told the NFF that there are no players in the team. If Victor Osimhen, Lukeman, Boniface and two or three others players not there then everything is ruined that day. Nigeria Super Eagles as it is, there is no players and that is the issue in the team before even the problem of the coach.

The NFF are not in any position to blame the players, everyone is to blame so they shouldn't take it all out on the players. The preparation for this games especially the yesterday's game was poor and they [NFF] are only using politics to run the affairs of Nigeria football so let the players be. In that very game the South Africa side planned very well to choose a very poor stadium for that encounter and you could see how 2 players are out due to injury in that game.
Let's leave the NFF a bit, the players when they play for their club side you'd see them showing so much seriousness but coming as a team for the Super Eagles they fail to play as a unit, sometimes I ask of these guys understand themselves at all. For me Lookman is the main man since Osimhen wasn't present in that encounter and I would not mention Boniface, he hasn't convince us that he is suppose to be in that squad so he wasn't missed at all, just Osimhen that was missed.

[Ndabagi01]

That was a painful game to watch, it was a must-win match, but we didn't approach it in that manner. I do not understand what our coache's philosophy is, what brand of football is he trying to play, because i have watched all the games we have played since he became head coach, but i am yet to see any pattern, it is like we just play, hoping to get lucky and score.

It hurts that we would miss back-to-back world cups, but that is the reality right now. We need to go back to the drawing board and try to win the African cup of nations starting in a few months, that could appease the nation a little bit.

It is very sad to see that we’re going to miss not going to the World Cup back to back. Nigeria has one of the best teams in Africans but since we don’t have the best coach to manage it, we’re not able to be productive enough to give Nigeria the win whenever we play. I still respect Rohr and I’m still baffled at how he was sacked, I think if he’s still in that position, he would have been a better manager to the Nigerian team with the great squad we have at our disposal now. This is about us going back to the drawing board because we have really missed a lot and need to actually get back on our feet to battle for what we’ve lost to other African teams.

[Ojima-ojo]

That was a painful game to watch, it was a must-win match, but we didn't approach it in that manner. I do not understand what our coache's philosophy is, what brand of football is he trying to play, because i have watched all the games we have played since he became head coach, but i am yet to see any pattern, it is like we just play, hoping to get lucky and score.

Aside the coach being responsible for some of these lapses, we can also look into the way some of our players have been well and fully involved in their matches, while some are just playing as if they were being forced, i understand the fact that most of them would have think that the amount of money they earn form clubs is far better than what the country may offer them for playing and it does not worth having all their strength in it, while this same country is what brought most of them to the fame light they now enjoy as career in a professional manner.

Players get motivation for various reasons, and in the match we noticed two things, which is the conditions in which the game was played, since is away game, the south African side will definitely play whatever politics to put and keep them at advantage, secondly if you noticed you see that most of your country players are playing very well at club's side but when you talk about their national team their are always poor performing, this shows discontentment.


The fed need to look at that aspect of players welfare as a means of motivation for better performance.

[Odohu]

That was a painful game to watch, it was a must-win match, but we didn't approach it in that manner. I do not understand what our coache's philosophy is, what brand of football is he trying to play, because i have watched all the games we have played since he became head coach, but i am yet to see any pattern, it is like we just play, hoping to get lucky and score.

It hurts that we would miss back-to-back world cups, but that is the reality right now. We need to go back to the drawing board and try to win the African cup of nations starting in a few months, that could appease the nation a little bit.

I was not expecting the Super Eagles to win that match with ease in their home considering the rivalry between both countries and the brutal nature of that country towards Nigeria. Do you know that so many people reported on social media that the Super Eagles were delayed for hours by refusing to bring bus to transport them, which made them even train on the street and not a pitch. Another report had it that the pitch where the match was played was their worst pitch and that they have been training to master it before the match. These are all social media reports which may be true or false but given then antecedents of SA, there is no smoke without fire. To avoid any harm to Nigerians, like they always do with pleasure, it is better the match ended in a draw... by now you would have been hearing that Nigerian shops were looted and Nigerians killed.

[Issa56]

Nigeria is completely out of the out of the world cup qualifiers because as it stands Nigeria is currently sitting on third place and there is only one automatic place which south Africa has taken, even the best losers place too we don't fit into.

I don’t know why some people are still think maybe the super eagles are still having hope to qualify for the World Cup, the super eagles are currently in the third position. South Africa is currently seating at the first position on the table, and they have automatic ticket for the World Cup already, and the super eagles are not even among the best loser, so there is nothing for the super eagles.

Seriously it’s shameful to see super eagles not qualifying for the World Cup, with the kind of squad the super eagles are having, they still struggling to win all these weak countries. I don’t really know who to blame for this super eagles poor performance, but seriously the eagles need a better coach, what they have currently is not a coach.

[Callido]

It such a pity that Nigeria might not qualify for the world cup, but I am not surprised because I don't think they deserve it anyways. The issue is not about the last match against South Africa, but they have been fumbling all along.
Sometimes I feel the boys really don't take playing for the country seriously. I would have loved to watch them in the world,  but the chances are very slim. We can all see how the South Africa team are serious at every match they have played throughout the qualification and they deserve to be at the world cup. I wish them all the best and pray The Super Eagles learn from this mistake and try to improve next time.

Nigerians already gave up like we have any chance to qualify for the World Cup, i don't want to say but Nigeria is unfortunate again that we can't progress beyond our equals and those who we surpass in the sports. It is really a disappointing moment for we Nigerians, our best in all the matches played wasn't enough to guarantee us a spot. What else is it to be surprised about, we all know how to build patience to wait for another World Cup Qualifiers.