African Football Discussion Thread: {Current Topic: 👉 AFCON 2027 ⚽⚽}.

[IjawMan]

I admit it took me a few minutes to process what I was seeing; I actually thought this was a very safe bet—of course, I only wagered a small amount because I don't trust international matches but I didn't expect to see what I saw. This was my bet:



All I could think was: "How is it possible that those guys from Nigeria couldn't score a single goal and conceded three while playing against Guinea-Bissau?" In their last 20 matches, Guinea-Bissau had only won three times and the most shocking part is that they beat Nigeria by three goals to nil. What shocks me even more is that my country, for instance, has never lost a match against Guinea-Bissau. I know that back in 2023, Guinea-Bissau beat Nigeria 1–0, but I never imagined they would lose again and fail to score once more. Besides Nigeria's defeat, another big team also lost; I am referring to the following matches:

This is a typical super eagles performance that we saw today, if I say that am surprised about this performance I saw today then am not saying the truth. Because right from the first leg which was played in Nigeria it was obvious that the super eagles of Nigeria lacked that urgency and quality to perform. This Nigeria national team lacks inspiration from every indications it obvious that there is no drive in the part of the players. But even in the first leg we have to come back from a goal behind to win. But conceiving three unreplied goal against the opponents that we came against is not a good one. This only goes to show how low that, the super eagles of Nigeria has  become. Not even scoring a single goal.

This precisely what made me not to miss the super eagles of Nigeria in the world cup tournament of 2026, it would have been a disgraceful performance if they had made it to the big games. Nothing should be surprising about this, there was poor tactical display and distribution of ball that it was so bad that Nigeria could not score a single goal against Guinea Bissau. The victory was a complete demolition and not a narrow win for the Bissau boys.

[ArabBTC]

If am the Nigerian president i will halt footballing activities in the country for some time until the players, coach and technical crew have convinced me beyond doubt that such tragedy won’t reoccur anymore, like what really went wrong with the Super Eagles? The Nigerian team (Dream Team) once defeated Brazil in the past so am really wondering what could have affected the super Eagles to the extent that even in Africa they will be losing endlessly, just imagine them losing 3:0 to Guinea Bissau what a slap to the Super Eagles of Nigeria, the presumed giants of Africa, even to qualify for the just concluded World Cup they couldn’t.

Sincerely at this point i blame the players and will really be happy if all of them are replaced, i know everyone will want to blame it on corruption but i wont completely agree with that because far back when the Super Eagles performed well there was still corruption in the country but yet players like Jay Jay Okocha, Kanu etc stood their ground and represented Nigeria well regardless of poor welfare and corruption in the system, so this current players have no excuse for their incompetence. Super Eagles players like Osimen, Lookman, Iwobi etc play so well for their respective clubs but when they come back home they play so poorly.

To me it is high time drastic measures are taken like recruiting younger players from the Nigerian league who will definitely be eager to make name for themselves to come  and take over that mantle from this current Super Eagles squad that are obviously no more ready to give their best for their country, enough is enough.

[DubemIfedigbo001]

I have turned off my TV. I can't be watching this nonsense the Super Eagles are playing.  The field is bad. The players are choking on the field. They didn't qualify for the World Cup. Now the Super Eagles team don't want to qualify for the AFCON.  Tell me if these are the same players who play in Europe. How did they get there?

Apart from Osimhen, we don't have a striker in this team. Osimhen is the only striker who can score for Nigeria. All the rest are a bunch of woodwork that can't move their body.

I don't know what to say, but I am very surprised that we lost by this margin. It's been a long time since the Super Eagles were beaten by this margin. It has now become obvious that we don't have a good team. The Super Eagles struggled to beat Madagascar and have now been disgraced by Guinea-Bissau. Hope is not lost, as they can still make it to the AFCON if they improve.

A better narrative is that they can still make something out of the competition if Osimhen is available. I've totally lost confidence in this team without Osimhen. We also need to Change That Bright Osayi Samuel, All goals came from a leak in his position. Nigeria's greatest problem is that we have no other striker besides V.Osimhen. If I was a coach, I would not include this current version of Lookman in my squad, he's lost much form.

Nigerian Midfield is fair, but defence and attack is nothing to write home about. The team lacks coordination and it is obvious they're not giving their best for the country because we obviously cannot compare their international performance to their club performance.

[Ruttoshi]

A better narrative is that they can still make something out of the competition if Osimhen is available. I've totally lost confidence in this team without Osimhen. We also need to Change That Bright Osayi Samuel, All goals came from a leak in his position. Nigeria's greatest problem is that we have no other striker besides V.Osimhen. If I was a coach, I would not include this current version of Lookman in my squad, he's lost much form.

Nigerian Midfield is fair, but defence and attack is nothing to write home about. The team lacks coordination and it is obvious they're not giving their best for the country because we obviously cannot compare their international performance to their club performance.

What if Victor Osimhen retires from playing for Nigeria, is this how the Super Eagle attack will be very weak. I haven't seen any difference in Nigeria football pattern since ten years ago, till date because they keep on playing like shit and disappoint the country in any competition they go to.

Other Africa nations football team are going and becoming better overtime but Nigeria national team is even getting worse. I think, it's high time the coach allow these guys to rest since, they have made money and don't want to struggle for their nation but only for their clubs and go to the street to pick quality footballers that are eager to play and make name for themselves. We have enough of them on the street as I'm typing this post.

[Karl_3000]

I was thinking the match will end in 2 goals but Guinea-Bissau netted another goal during extra time. Nigerian players are something else if they are disappointing us like this.
We are in group stage, we are playing with countries that we supposed to emerge as the number one on the group stage, but we were scored 3 goals while we store nothing.
This is very bad.

[Hewlet]

A better narrative is that they can still make something out of the competition if Osimhen is available. I've totally lost confidence in this team without Osimhen. We also need to Change That Bright Osayi Samuel, All goals came from a leak in his position. Nigeria's greatest problem is that we have no other striker besides V.Osimhen. If I was a coach, I would not include this current version of Lookman in my squad, he's lost much form.

Nigerian Midfield is fair, but defence and attack is nothing to write home about. The team lacks coordination and it is obvious they're not giving their best for the country because we obviously cannot compare their international performance to their club performance.

What if Victor Osimhen retires from playing for Nigeria, is this how the Super Eagle attack will be very weak. I haven't seen any difference in Nigeria football pattern since ten years ago, till date because they keep on playing like shit and disappoint the country in any competition they go to.

What annoys me the most is that we are still trying to drag Osimehn into this whole conversation as though a country that is as populated as we are can only depend on him for all our major games. we have all seen how England operate, sometimes they will leave out some of the players we think are the best of the best just because they are not in the best of form. is that not how a team should be built? should key players be fit 24/7?

As far as i am concerned, we don't have a worthy team that can represent us both locally and globally. allow this team play in the Nigeria professional league and you will see that they can not even win the league.

[Majestic-milf]

I was thinking the match will end in 2 goals but Guinea-Bissau netted another goal during extra time. Nigerian players are something else if they are disappointing us like this.
We are in group stage, we are playing with countries that we supposed to emerge as the number one on the group stage, but we were scored 3 goals while we store nothing.
This is very bad.

Can we all conclude that Nigeria's form is inconsistent because tell me why Nigeria will allow small teams take the lead before they realize they need to bounce back? Unfortunately for them, Guinea-Bissau weren't willing to take a chance; they had the wings of the Super Eagles for dinner and left no crumbs. Very poor performance from Nigeria, no coordination, few accurate passes and their composure in front of goal was very pitiful at best.
 As it stands, Nigeria are second in group L and have just three points from 2 games. The thing I'm most offended about is how they should be the ones leading the standings instead they let their nonchalant attitude put them in second. I just hope this loss serves as a lesson for them in their next games.

[Ashawowo(OS)]

If am the Nigerian president i will halt footballing activities in the country for some time until the players, coach and technical crew have convinced me beyond doubt that such tragedy won’t reoccur anymore, like what really went wrong with the Super Eagles? The Nigerian team (Dream Team) once defeated Brazil in the past so am really wondering what could have affected the super Eagles to the extent that even in Africa they will be losing endlessly, just imagine them losing 3:0 to Guinea Bissau what a slap to the Super Eagles of Nigeria, the presumed giants of Africa, even to qualify for the just concluded World Cup they couldn’t.

It would have been better if the president invests in the sports sector of the country and it is not producing good results, then we can agree to this, but in Nigeria, the reverse is the case, sports receives little to no priority and players are not appreciated enough, so there is little motivation to give in their best. Where I blame these players is that they fail to understand that they're doing this for their career as well, they're playing as though they're doing the country a favour. It is now an established fact that without Osimhen, the squad is useless and struggle to win matches. I feel for the coach, even my village team can give a far better performance than these people representing our country.

[Jubilee58]

If am the Nigerian president i will halt footballing activities in the country for some time until the players, coach and technical crew have convinced me beyond doubt that such tragedy won’t reoccur anymore, like what really went wrong with the Super Eagles? The Nigerian team (Dream Team) once defeated Brazil in the past so am really wondering what could have affected the super Eagles to the extent that even in Africa they will be losing endlessly, just imagine them losing 3:0 to Guinea Bissau what a slap to the Super Eagles of Nigeria, the presumed giants of Africa, even to qualify for the just concluded World Cup they couldn’t.

Sincerely at this point i blame the players and will really be happy if all of them are replaced, i know everyone will want to blame it on corruption but i wont completely agree with that because far back when the Super Eagles performed well there was still corruption in the country but yet players like Jay Jay Okocha, Kanu etc stood their ground and represented Nigeria well regardless of poor welfare and corruption in the system, so this current players have no excuse for their incompetence. Super Eagles players like Osimen, Lookman, Iwobi etc play so well for their respective clubs but when they come back home they play so poorly.

To me it is high time drastic measures are taken like recruiting younger players from the Nigerian league who will definitely be eager to make name for themselves to come  and take over that mantle from this current Super Eagles squad that are obviously no more ready to give their best for their country, enough is enough.

Obviously the super eagle players did not perform well at all, and they played below expectation. Nigeria has many of these players who are doing very well in the international Leagues , and we do see how well, and confident they perform as they Play in their various leagues, but when it comes to representing their country, the reverse will be the case. In this very match between Guinea Bissau, and Nigeria, the Guinea Bissau team really took very big advantage of Nigeria super eagle, and scored 3-0 without a reply or a goal from the super eagle players. Obviously they have let down Nigeria soccer, and proven themselves incapable of representing our country Nigeria when it comes to soccer. As I was reading through the news, the Nigeria super eagle coach gave many excuses behind the reason why Nigeria super eagle players were not able to perform well which I think it is not enough for Guinea Bissau to defeat Nigeria 3-0.
Nigeria super eagle head coach Chelle complained that " the Guinea Bissau pitch was bad, and unfavorable to the Nigeria super eagle players, and further said their weather condition was also unfavorable to them, and thereby making Guinea Bissau to take advantage of that very match." But to me, this is never a good reason. Furthermore, i think the team is not in other, and it is better they make any problem confronting known, so that it will be properly resolved than going to let down the reputation of Nigeria super eagle.

Here is what super eagle coach said: https://opr.news/4b61f801260930en_ng?link=1&client=ex_yl_bite

[Cossyblack]

If am the Nigerian president i will halt footballing activities in the country for some time until the players, coach and technical crew have convinced me beyond doubt that such tragedy won’t reoccur anymore, like what really went wrong with the Super Eagles? The Nigerian team (Dream Team) once defeated Brazil in the past so am really wondering what could have affected the super Eagles to the extent that even in Africa they will be losing endlessly, just imagine them losing 3:0 to Guinea Bissau what a slap to the Super Eagles of Nigeria, the presumed giants of Africa, even to qualify for the just concluded World Cup they couldn’t.

Sincerely at this point i blame the players and will really be happy if all of them are replaced, i know everyone will want to blame it on corruption but i wont completely agree with that because far back when the Super Eagles performed well there was still corruption in the country but yet players like Jay Jay Okocha, Kanu etc stood their ground and represented Nigeria well regardless of poor welfare and corruption in the system, so this current players have no excuse for their incompetence. Super Eagles players like Osimen, Lookman, Iwobi etc play so well for their respective clubs but when they come back home they play so poorly.

To me it is high time drastic measures are taken like recruiting younger players from the Nigerian league who will definitely be eager to make name for themselves to come  and take over that mantle from this current Super Eagles squad that are obviously no more ready to give their best for their country, enough is enough.

I know how it feels when you put so much expectation in your national team and they disappoint you, honestly it really feels bad.
Truly,the super eagles weren't playing the game from their mind,it now obvious to everyone that don't take national football seriously. Who do we blame then,the government for not providing standards welfare packages for players to motivate them or the players for playing poorly on the field? If we begin to cast blames it still won't change anything. The players are to be blamed for this poor performance because no one forced them to play for Nigeria, they honour the invitations, so they should take responsibility for the loss.

[knowngunman]

A better narrative is that they can still make something out of the competition if Osimhen is available. I've totally lost confidence in this team without Osimhen. We also need to Change That Bright Osayi Samuel, All goals came from a leak in his position. Nigeria's greatest problem is that we have no other striker besides V.Osimhen. If I was a coach, I would not include this current version of Lookman in my squad, he's lost much form.

Nigerian Midfield is fair, but defence and attack is nothing to write home about. The team lacks coordination and it is obvious they're not giving their best for the country because we obviously cannot compare their international performance to their club performance.

Let drop Osimhen at one side and think for a while. I know right now he's our best man and we are too dependent on him in attack to get goals but I think at least we should be able to defend our post without Osimhen even if we can not score goals. Or do we also need Osimhen to come and defend for us?

We can not lose focus on both defense and the attack at the same time for God sake. If we can not score goals we should be able to keep our defense tight and fight for at least a draw. We can't be that bad as giant of Africa that we claim to be. Let be honest, even if Osimhen returns we might still struggle to beat any team with this our current squad. They are just trash and we shouldn't expect anything from them.

[ArabBTC]

It would have been better if the president invests in the sports sector of the country and it is not producing good results, then we can agree to this, but in Nigeria, the reverse is the case, sports receives little to no priority and players are not appreciated enough, so there is little motivation to give in their best. Where I blame these players is that they fail to understand that they're doing this for their career as well, they're playing as though they're doing the country a favour. It is now an established fact that without Osimhen, the squad is useless and struggle to win matches. I feel for the coach, even my village team can give a far better performance than these people representing our country.

This is one excuse i don’t always accept, the fact that the Nigerian government isn’t doing well doesn’t stop the citizens from being patriotic, two wrongs can’t make a right, the Nigerian government isn’t investing much on sports but that shouldn’t stop the players from putting in their best for their country, mind you when they win it’s not just Nigeria that receives the glory, even the players individually gets singled out and signed by different clubs but why you see this current super eagles are not bothered is because a lot of them have already been signed in big clubs so they don’t have the zeal anymore, that is why i prefer they remove most of them and replace with younger upcoming stars that will put in their best so as to be noticed by foreign clubs.

See the Nigerian music/entertainment industry, they get little or no support from the government, yet the likes of Wizkid, Burna boy, Asake, Davido has written their names in the world of music, even with the poor support from the Nigerian government, so to me the super eagles have no excuse for their incompetence.

[Obim34]

~snip

Imagine halting football because that sector isn’t performing well, meanwhile the President is nothing good to write about, what level of hypocrisy, that’s too absurd, when thinking of ways to help the sport.

I see lots of comments about Osimhen and his absence from the squad, with or without him, Nigeria were the favorite, we lost the game because our players were terrible, secondly the pitch was far beneath what a country should be using to host another country in a big competition like the AFCON (qualifiers), a huge disgrace to Africa and CAF for granting permission to use that pitch.

[Roseline492]

What if Victor Osimhen retires from playing for Nigeria, is this how the Super Eagle attack will be very weak. I haven't seen any difference in Nigeria football pattern since ten years ago, till date because they keep on playing like shit and disappoint the country in any competition they go to.

That's why I'm happy as Victor Osimhen is still very young and he is not retiring even eight years from now because this team is vulnerable without him, even if there was a country with more presentable squad in the group, Guinea Bissau wasn't a country I could believe they would score super eagles 3:0, some persons has been resenting others from hyping Victor Osimhen but I believe this lost should revive their unimportant thoughts against Osimhen because it could have been preventable with him. They have luck that Tanzania didn't have three points if not I'm sure they would have been tougher than super eagles on their last coming match.

[Agbe]

A great victory for my country, we’ve now qualified for the AFCON twice in a row, though unfortunately, we tend to be a disaster once we’re actually in the tournament. Still, let's hope we can secure a third consecutive qualification. To be honest, I didn't even have any hope that we wouldn't lose to Senegal; I actually bet on my country losing that match, so I was very surprised by their performance. They played a great game today and made my country proud.

Congratulations for the victory. I was really shocked because when Guinea-Bissau scored their first goal, there was still hope for me thought Nigeria would equalized and battle for the victory but ironically second goal came in again in the second half then I loss hope for Nigeria but was still thinking that they will score. And when the 3rd goal entered, all hope lost at once.

Ghana vs Gambia was another surprising match. Ghana without delay scored two goals and I f you saw the Ghana goalkeeper, ehn, was happy and was having the confident on the post. But when Gambia rose up. They equalized with Ghana 2-2 and scored them two goals in the second half of the match and ended the match with 4-2. I was surprised in that game. AFCON, whether qualifiers or main tournament, I don't like to bet unless I am very sure. Sorry for your loss.

[Franctoshi]

A great victory for my country, we’ve now qualified for the AFCON twice in a row, though unfortunately, we tend to be a disaster once we’re actually in the tournament. Still, let's hope we can secure a third consecutive qualification. To be honest, I didn't even have any hope that we wouldn't lose to Senegal; I actually bet on my country losing that match, so I was very surprised by their performance. They played a great game today and made my country proud.

It's funny seeing this statement, should qualification be a problem to Nigeria? if things happen to be in good state with the kind of talents we have in this country, there's no African team that should have match our strength, and we should be talking about the world cup not qualification to play in an AFCON competition, we did it in past and the evidence is there both on the world stage football, but our leaders choose to put us in this mess, it's wel.

Congratulations for the victory. I was really shocked because when Guinea-Bissau scored their first goal, there was still hope for me thought Nigeria would equalized and battle for the victory but ironically second goal came in again in the second half then I loss hope for Nigeria but was still thinking that they will score. And when the 3rd goal entered, all hope lost at once.

Ghana vs Gambia was another surprising match. Ghana without delay scored two goals and I f you saw the Ghana goalkeeper, ehn, was happy and was having the confident on the post. But when Gambia rose up. They equalized with Ghana 2-2 and scored them two goals in the second half of the match and ended the match with 4-2. I was surprised in that game. AFCON, whether qualifiers or main tournament, I don't like to bet unless I am very sure. Sorry for your loss.

Nigeria style of victory is heartbreaking, if you have a high blood pressure, one should avoid their games if you're an emotional footballer viewer, they will definitely toy with your emotions a bit before giving you the result.

[samadam007]

A better narrative is that they can still make something out of the competition if Osimhen is available. I've totally lost confidence in this team without Osimhen. We also need to Change That Bright Osayi Samuel, All goals came from a leak in his position. Nigeria's greatest problem is that we have no other striker besides V.Osimhen. If I was a coach, I would not include this current version of Lookman in my squad, he's lost much form.

Nigerian Midfield is fair, but defence and attack is nothing to write home about. The team lacks coordination and it is obvious they're not giving their best for the country because we obviously cannot compare their international performance to their club performance.

Let drop Osimhen at one side and think for a while. I know right now he's our best man and we are too dependent on him in attack to get goals but I think at least we should be able to defend our post without Osimhen even if we can not score goals. Or do we also need Osimhen to come and defend for us?

We can not lose focus on both defense and the attack at the same time for God sake. If we can not score goals we should be able to keep our defense tight and fight for at least a draw. We can't be that bad as giant of Africa that we claim to be. Let be honest, even if Osimhen returns we might still struggle to beat any team with this our current squad. They are just trash and we shouldn't expect anything from them.

Exactly , I  don't know how some people reason. The Osimhen they’re mentioning does not have more than two legs. He has his position to play, so does his mates. Football is a team sport, and requires joint effort and coordination to win, not because one player was absent. Even if oshimen was present, I don’t think there would be much difference. Infact it might have been more than 3:0… we never can tell. Super eagles players are not putting in 80%, not to talk of 100% and it’s very obvious. Maybe they don’t rate rate African competition I don’t know. You could see the difference in their club performance compared to national.

[Sobz]

What if Victor Osimhen retires from playing for Nigeria, is this how the Super Eagle attack will be very weak. I haven't seen any difference in Nigeria football pattern since ten years ago, till date because they keep on playing like shit and disappoint the country in any competition they go to.

This is how the team have always been boring and this is what makes Victor Osimhen gets upset and people would say he is arrogant. Victor Osimhen is the only Nigeria player that plays with passion. He feels bad when the team is struggling,  he feels bad when they are losing and when his colleagues are not taking the game serious. If Victor Osimhen retires from playing from Nigeria,  the team will never remain the same because he even tries his best to motivate other players to make their game lively and success.

[Alonso_]

I was thinking the match will end in 2 goals but Guinea-Bissau netted another goal during extra time. Nigerian players are something else if they are disappointing us like this.
We are in group stage, we are playing with countries that we supposed to emerge as the number one on the group stage, but we were scored 3 goals while we store nothing.
This is very bad.

The bad side of the loose is that, their is only one team qualifying out from the group, because Tanzania are one of the host Nations, I don’t know if that is also applicable to other groups, now Guinea-Bissau is already having 6 points and Nigeria is once again lagging behind in performance and points in the table, it was a disappointing performance from the Super Eagles of Nigeria, I knew it was going to end with a loss, Super Eagles is going to find a way to get fans disappointed, in one way or the other they might end up not going to the Nations Cup, I’m just thinking if Nigeria can beat this Guinea-Bissau team when they come to Nigeria.

[Sammye3]

A better narrative is that they can still make something out of the competition if Osimhen is available. I've totally lost confidence in this team without Osimhen. We also need to Change That Bright Osayi Samuel, All goals came from a leak in his position. Nigeria's greatest problem is that we have no other striker besides V.Osimhen. If I was a coach, I would not include this current version of Lookman in my squad, he's lost much form.

What performance do you expect when players like Lookman, Chukwueze and Iwobi are mixed with players of lower quality? Anyone watching that match could see clearly that these players found it difficult to perform at their best because there was no creativity amongst other players too.

Victor Osimhen's absence was clearly noticed and it was confirmed that no Nigerian forward can bring the same impact he brings to the team.