The chances of the senior national team of Nigeria making it to the 2026 World Cup has been made more difficult by the recent 1-1 draw against South Africa in the last round of games in the world cup qualifiers, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
A win would have seen them go into the final two games of the qualifiers with better hope, with a potential three points deduction looming over South Africa for fielding an ineligible player in Teboho Mokoena in their 2-0 win over Lesotho.
FIFA usually punish teams who commit such offences with a three points, three goals deduction and the case of Bafana Bafana is not expected to be an exception despite the delays by FIFA.
However how the team found themselves in this difficult situation has been explained by a top player in the team, who spoke to OwnGoalNigeria.com on the condition of anonymity.
” It’s not a good position to be in, and we have to look at how we got here. The poor start with former coach Jose Peseiro who used the first two games in the qualifiers to settle scores and also prepare for the AFCON. We got two points off the games from a possible six”, he explained.
” Then there was Finidi George who to me was too eager to change things and the players maybe due to pressure and demands after the AFCON. He tried to instill a style of play with so many new players and it got us just one point.
” Now we have Eric Chelle, who probably would have won all of his games if not for the error by our captain in the draw against Zimbabwe and also his own goal against South Africa. His style of play has also not helped in so many ways but he is still unbeaten with eight points”, he stated.
He also took a swipe at the NFF on their handling of the situation of the team, and also how logistics could have been better. ” We played on Saturday against Rwanda. Travelled on Sunday to South Africa and only did shake up on Monday before the game on Tuesday. Why didn’t we play on Friday in Uyo?”, he queried.
” Then you look at the standard of the pitch in South Africa. The worse I have ever seen in my years in the national team. To think that the NFF didn’t send an advance team to check on the condition of the pitch when it was announced is bewildering. Many people there don’t know what they are doing”, he concluded.
