As the contract of the current coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro enters into it’s final six months, there has been talks about if he is worth an extension or not owing to recent run of results.

Peseiro has only won two out of the nine games he has handled the team and it came against Sierra Leone and Sao Tome and Principe both in the AFCON qualifiers. The only two games he has handled the team in competive games so far.

Reacting to the performance of the Saudi Arabia team after their 1-0 win over Argentina, the wife of former Super Eagles top striker Odion Ighalo urged the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to recruit the coach of the team Herve Renard saying he is a master tactician.

” He is a matter tactician. We need him”, Adesuwa Sonia Ighalo posted on her Instagram story after the 2-1 win recorded by Saudi Arabia against Argentina at the ongoing 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Her comment is coming at a time when it appears the Portuguese coach of the Nigerian team and the NFF appear to be heading for a divorce, as he hasn’t been paid for six months plus his deal has six months to go and there has been no talks over an extension.

Although Renard is no stranger to African football as he has coached Morocco and Zambia in the past. He might however be out of the budget of the NFF as he currently earns around $120,000 a month as coach of Saudi Arabia. $50,000 more than what Peseiro who hasn’t been paid for six months earns at that moment.

The future of the current coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro is up in the air with six months left to go on the one year deal he signed early this year.

Peseiro was due an extension after the postponement of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations to 2024 but talks have gone cold after preliminary exchange of ideas between the parties involved.

He is now free to look at other options if they come up especially as he hasn’t been paid since taking over as coach as first reported by Owngoalnigeria.com. The pay situation is also part of why he is mulling over quitting his role as coach.

Promised were made by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) that the minister for youths and sports, who accepted to pay the wages of the coach has already forwarded his case but that was three weeks ago and nothing has happened since then.

We also gathered that the coach hasn’t met with the new president of the NFF Ibrahim Musa Gusau since he was elected. The president wasn’t at the game played against Portugal in Lisbon , they were expected to meet there.

The Nigerian national team made global headlines by failing to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. The disappointment in the African country was so great that after the decisive match, numerous supporters of the “Super Eagles” stormed the pitch and gave free rein to their anger. That was a few months ago. The Nigerians are slowly turning their gaze towards the 2026 World Cup, but a lot needs to happen around the national team in order to increase its chances of participating.

The “Super Eagles” have been regular guests at World Cups in the recent past and have often impressed with attractive football. World Cups are also particularly popular for sports betting. Bookmakers offer special world cup bets and lucrative odds. There is still a great deal of disappointment in the African country with 200 million inhabitants. But this is slowly giving way to new hope. The joy of football is too great.

Background on the Nigerian National Team

The national team of Nigeria is managed by the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF). The team has already won the Africa Cup three times – most recently in 2013. The “Super Eagles” celebrated their greatest success in April 1994. There, the Nigerian national team finished fifth in the FIFA world rankings. Nigeria thus holds the record for the highest position in the FIFA World Ranking ever achieved by an African football team.

However, the national team of Nigeria has also been able to celebrate notable successes in the recent past. The Super Eagles have qualified for six of the last eight FIFA World Cups. Only the 2006 World Cup in Germany and the current World Cup 2022 in Qatar were not qualified for.

Accordingly, Nigeria is considered one of the leading nations in African football. The disappointment of failing to qualify for the 2022 World Cup was all the greater, and the team will now have to wait four long years to take part in the world’s biggest football tournament again.

The consequences of missing the 2022 World Cup: a sporting and financial disaster  

In addition to the sporting defeat, the financial damage of missing the 2022 World Cup is also a great disappointment. The association will lose several million US dollars as a result of not qualifying for the World Cup in Qatar. Not only will supplier deals and bonuses be lost, but the national economy will also suffer.

In the past, major sporting events such as a World Cup have always successfully boosted the economy of the African country. In the past, Nigeria was almost flooded with advertising campaigns. By not participating in the World Cup, the country naturally loses the global attention it had hoped for. As a result, sponsors, investors and financiers are also lost.

Missing a World Cup also affects smaller companies. For example, national and international jersey sales will suffer from the non-qualification. While the jersey of the Nigerian national team at the 2018 World Cup in Russia was still one of the most popular jerseys of the tournament, there will not even be a Nigerian World Cup jersey at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Accordingly, it is clear that the “Super Eagles” will provide a huge boost to the national economy by participating in a World Cup. Missing out will cause huge financial damage to the country on the Gulf of Guinea. No wonder some of the players describe the failure to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar as the biggest low point in their own careers.

Reasons for Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar

The surprising dismissal of former national coach Gernot Rohr in December 2021 is regarded as a major turning point for the worse. At the time of publication, experts and fans could not believe their eyes. So sudden and unexpected was the news that the Nigerian Football Federation had parted ways with Rohr.

The separation was particularly unexpected because the 68-year-old football coach had achieved all of his goals at the time. In addition to qualifying for the Africa Cup, the team had also qualified for the finals of the World Cup. Nevertheless, he was sacked. The reason for this was the way of playing football, which was successful in terms of results, but no longer suited the demands of the association. The Nigerian national team was said to have shown too little dominance, especially against weaker opponents. Behind the scenes, however, the bad relationship between the former national coach Gernot Rohr and the federation’s president Amaju Pinnick is said to be the most likely reason for the premature separation.

Since then, the Nigerian national team has lost the plot in the World Cup qualifiers. Among other things, the team lost at home to the Central African Republic and had to settle for a draw against Cape Verde. In the end, as is well known, it was not enough for participation in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

A look into the future: World Cup 2026 as a big goal!

After the great disappointment, the football nation of Nigeria is now looking towards the 2026 World Cup with hope. The country longs for sporting success. With over 500 different tribes, Nigeria unites the most diverse traditions, people and cultures. Football is seen by many as the only activity that can break through all the country’s fault lines. No matter what culture or language, at matches of the “Super Eagles” the country unites behind their national team. Accordingly, a strong Nigerian national team is important for the African country.

For success in the future, however, some things have tochange. Especially in the association, certain personnel should be reconsidered and, if necessary, replaced. Too often, ego and pride dominate over professional competence. It is a matter of hiring the best possible coach, renovating the national stadiums and, above all, paying coaches and players on time. This is the only way to revive serious professional football in Nigeria.

There is enough talent in the team itself. A large part of the squad is young and plays in the highest European leagues. Whether it is Victor Osimhen, defensive strategist Wilfried Ndidi or defender Calvin Bassey – the Nigerian national team is stocked with top international players. For long-term success, however, a strategy is necessary. This requires a united federation, qualified coaches and motivated nationalplayers who enjoy playing for their country. Accordingly, it is time to usher in a new generation in Nigerian football.

Several leaders from the golden era have tried their luck for years without success. The result has been a host of scandals and mismanagement of funds and sporting talent. If the right lessons are learned from the disappointing past, qualification for the upcoming 2026 World Cup in North and Central America is quite possible.

The first upset of the ongoing 2022 World Cup in Qatar has been recorded with Argentina losing 1-2 to the tournament’s underdog Saudi Arabia in their opening group game.

Argentina took the lead via the spot through Lionel Messi but the gulf nation struck twice in the second half to goals from Saleh Alshehri and  Salem Aldawsari in the 48th and 53rd minute respectively.

Saudi Arabia’s win was piloted by Herve Renard who was at a time linked with the senior national team of Nigeria when Sunday Oliseh was about to be sacked as coach of the team in 2016. As a matter of fact it was the fact that he was contacted that made Oliseh to quit his role.

Oliseh in an interview with Complete Sports said the agent of the coach who has once again put himself in the global spotlight with the win over Argentina told him, he was contacted by the NFF but turned down the chance to take the job citing three reasons.

“They had their motives and what I did was in the best interest of the country,” Oliseh said.

“While I was coach of the team they tried to hire Renard who turned them down citing three major reasons.”

His personal assistant, Babangida went a step further by explaining how they knew.

“They were talking with Renard about him replacing Oliseh and it was his agent who told us,” he said.

“The agent wondered what is wrong with the NFF, but he assured him Renard won’t be coming to Nigeria.”

Can Nigeria’s defeat to Costa Rica be seen as a reflection of their poor run of form? Find out here.

The African Cup of Nations, more commonly referred to as AFCON, is the primary men’s football tournament in Africa. It has been held every two years since its inception in 1957, with the tournament sanctioned by the Confederation of African Football.

With the 2022 Qatar World Cup just weeks away, national teams across the globe are readying themselves to take part in football’s most prestigious event. There are some notable absences, however, Italy are missing out on their second consecutive tournament, while Nigeria also failed to qualify. Nigeria, who also didn’t perform particularly well in AFCON, played Costa Rica in a friendly last month. Let’s look at how this game can be seen as a reflection of AFCON and Nigeria’s performance overall.

Costa Rica vs Nigeria

Costa Rica hosted Nigeria at home in San Jose on 10 November for an international friendly match. After a tetchy opening few minutes, Al-Wehda centre back Oscar Duarte opened the scoring with a seventh minute goal. The goal came from a set piece where forward Joel Campbell floated a beautiful ball into the box, leaving Duarte to toe poke it beyond the reach of Nigerian keeper Kayode Iyanu Bankole.

Duarte was replaced by defender Kendall Watson at the half time interval, with Watson going on to net Costa Rica’s second of the game. Campbell again showed his skills to provide the assist, slipping past the Nigerian defence to dig out a cross that Watson met with his head to double Costa Rica’s lead.

The Nigerian keeper was hooked shortly after and replaced with Nathanial Nwosu. While they didn’t concede any more goals, they didn’t create much of anything either, and Costa Rica saw out the game with ease to secure a well-deserved victory.

In fairness to Nigeria, they fielded a young side. However, the defeat came after a string of disappointing results that have left fans concerned about the direction of the team. The result comes as Nigeria’s sixth game on the bounce without a victory. They’ve lost to Algeria, Mexico, and Ecuador, and drew twice with Ghana which resulted in them missing a world cup spot.

Their form leaves much to be desired, with the recent defeat emblematic of their poor performances, particularly at AFCON.

Nigeria At AFCON

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AFCON is the biggest sporting event in Africa, with millions watching on the continent and across the globe. National teams strive to do their very best, with fans desperate to see their country’s side lift the title.

Nigeria got off to a flying start in the group, beating tournament favourite Egypt 1 – 0, Sudan 3 -1, and Guinea-Bissau 2 – 0 to top their group with an unblemished record and head into the knockout stages.

Nigeria vs Tunisia

Nigeria drew Ghana in the first game of the knockout stages. Pundits predicted this would prove to be an easy task for the group D winners, Tunisia had edged into the knockout stages despite coming third in their group. To tip the scales even more in Nigeria’s favour, Tunisia were a side crippled by injury and had seven key players missing.

Tunisia defended resolutely for the opening half before captain Youssef Msakni drilled a low shot into the net just two minutes into the second half. Nigeria’s evening only got worse, with Alex Iobi shown a red card in the 66th minute, just seven minutes after coming on as a substitute.

Tunisia’s grit and tenacity proved too much for Nigeria to overcome. The game finished with Tunisia one goal up and put an unexpected stop to Nigeria’s trophy dreams.

World Cup Qualification

Nigeria’s woes continued. They failed to qualify for the upcoming world cup after being held to a 1 – 1 draw at home to Ghana. The Jollof derby was a tense affair and ended in significant fan violence and disorder as the Nigeria supporters reacted to their team’s sub-par performance.

Conclusion

The defeat to Costa Rica can be seen as a reflection of Nigeria’s run of form, they capitulated after a positive start at AFON and made a dismal attempt at world cup qualification. They have a friendly against Portugal coming up, which could prove perilous given Nigeria’s fragile state.

New coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro is struggling to pass his ideas, tactics and message to the players of the Nigerian team due to his poor grasp of English language.

The Portuguese coach isn’t fluent in his use of English which is what most of the players understand and usually relate with. Most times the coach relies on FC Porto defender Zaidu Sanusi who speaks and understands Portuguese to help pass his message across.

In the game against Portugal, newly invited Boavista defender Bruno Onyemachi was relied upon even though his understanding of Portuguese isn’t as good as that of Zaidu Sanusi, who has been in Portugal since 2016.

” It’s a problem when you don’t understand what the manager wants you to do due to language. It’s part of what we are facing with Jose Peseiro. Some times he speaks to us in Portuguese and we have to rely on Zaidu to help out. When he understands English properly, we will no doubt interprete his tactics, messages and ideas better”, a player of the team told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

The player who spoke on the conditions of anonymity however praised the coach for his willingness to improve in his fluency in English saying it’s getting better by games.

” He is really improving but in matches and pre match talks the tension sometimes makes it hard for him to pass his ideas but you can see that he is trying and hopefully he will be fine in a few months time”, he rounded up saying.

The international friendly game between Nigeria and Portugal which was played in Lisbon on Thursday wouldn’t have gone ahead if not for the intervention of coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro.

Players of the Nigerian team have only been paid their match bonus once in three years with bonuses for over ten games still unpaid. They were ready to down toll and not honour the game until they get a commitment from the new president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Ibrahim Musa Gusau.

Gusau didn’t travel for the game like some other back room staff of the team citing paucity of funds. The players were left disappointed as the game would have afforded them the chance to meet the him and table some of their problems and way forward before the start of competitive games next year.

In his absence, they decided to make thei case by snubbing the game but were talked out of it by Jose Peseiro, whose idea it was for the game to be played against his country of origin. His intervention saved Nigeria from what would have been a monumental disgrace at the world stage.

Peseiro told the players that he hasn’t been paid as well and pleaded with them to give the new president time to fully take stock of the situation he is in before taking any further step. He said he is aware that measures are been put in place to clear his salary and the bonuses of the players.

The international future of the rising star of the English national team Bukayo Saka was at some point contested for by the senior national team of Nigeria, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Saka has since become one of the trusted lieutenants of coach Gareth Southgate but before making his way into the senior national team set-up of England, Nigeria tried to lure him to the Super Eagles.

Eligible for Nigeria through his parents, the Arsenal winger was first spotted by the Nigerian team selectors shortly before he made his debut for Arsenal as a 17 year old. He was playing in a game for the U23s.

Former Nigeria U20 coach Paul Aigbogun approached Saka to be a part of his U20 team in 2018 after watching him when he went scouting for kids of Nigerian heritage in top teams in the English Premier League. Positive discussions were held with Saka’s camp open to the idea.

Then his debut for the first team of Arsenal saw England quickly hand him a call up to the U20 team around the same time as Nigeria. It was also then that the former president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick also took notice of him.

As an Arsenal fan, Pinnick saw and also read good things about the rise of Saka and sort to try luring him to play for Nigeria at senior level. He spoke with the boy’s mother who was said to be uncomfortable with the manner she was approached.

She felt he was too loud for her liking and also said a lot of stuff which she felt were not needed as per the first time they were talking. His father was keen on his son taking his time before pledging his international future.

However all of that ended when he got his first call up to the senior national team of England. He honoured it and has remained with the group where he opened his goal account at the World Cup in Qatar with a brace. It was his decision to reject Nigeria and play for England that made Pinnick to say Nigerian have his type scattered around football academies hence won’t beg him to represent the Super Eagles.

“Saka is an excellent prospect but we have other players in his position who are playing so well,” Pinnick said in an Instagram Live chat in 2020.

“We have talents everywhere so we won’t beg people to play for Nigeria. It is about ardour and fervour, If it’s their desire and they merit it, they’ll be given a chance to represent Nigeria.”

The present coach of Athletic Bilbao Ernesto Valverde  was the front runner for the Super Eagles job before Jose Peseiro was appointed as coach six months ago, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Valverde impressed during the course of the interview with his rich CV which includes coaching Barcelona putting him atop every other contender for the job. Aside Peseiro, Philip Cocu and former coach of the French team Laurent Blanc.

The NFF later settled for Peseiro who wasn’t the best during the interview due to reasons bothering on the fact that his salary demand was the lowest and also he accepted several terms which Valverde, who came top wasn’t willing to accept.

” Aside his salary which was on the high side. He also wanted to bring a team of six backroom staff and rejected having Nigerian coaches as part of his crew. He also wanted a separate salary for his assistants unlike Peseiro who agreed to pay his foreign assistants from his $50,000 a month pay”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

Valverde went ahead to pick the job of the coach of Bilbao and has since moved on from the Super Eagles job by doing very well with his team in the LaLiga while Nigeria have only won two matches since Peseiro was appointed as coach.