₦airaland Forum

The same Ndidi who was praised to the heavens, is today the villain.

I thank the players for keeping this dream to this point. Life goes on.

GMBOFASIA:
so we need guardiola to win drc Congo with all names we parade

Guardiola will still prepare against any eventuality.

Foolish people too have opinions. And they never keep quiet.

Simon should be banned from that team…

For so long very mediocre, what does he even add to the team?

Leadership zero, drive zero, assist just once in a while, goals no, nothing just to loose penalties that could have won us the game.

Ragingthunder:
alhassan Yusuf?? I swear we are not ready in this country

Alhassan Yusuf is actually the most genuine central midfielder in the invited crop of players.
I even thought Onyeka will deputise Ndidi, while any of Alhassan or Onyedika starts in central midfield, with each one deputising the other.
I prefer Alhassan to Onyedika because of Alhassan's work rate, and also because i have seen Alhassan more in central midfield orchestrating offensive forays, as well as defensive transitions.

I prefer Onyedika in central midfield more than in defensive midfield, because of his ball distribution and understanding of space.
He is played in defensive midfield because of his ability to plug spaces and track players and positional discipline, but i think more will be seen of him in more central areas of the pitch.

Eric Chelle is a good coach, l like his composition of play and player movements, but understanding a player's specialty and strong points, producing the right mix of players, making compensations for player weaknesses, are the parts of coaching he is yet to master.

Painful defeat but World Cup is over. No Nigeria in the World Cup 😭😭😭😭. Hahaha let’s just turn our pain into jokes

9JAMac10:
let him gain the experience of coaching a national team at a major tournament. Nigeria can start properly rebuilding after the Afcon with a better qualified preferably Nigerian coach for 2030 and subsequent Afcon

No Nigerian coach should come near the Super Eagles now or in the foreseeable future.

Can the coach give a cogent answer for inviting tall man arokodare over Paul onuachu ?

Ragingthunder:
NOTHING HAPPENED

He walked off the pitch at half time with some discomfort. See below

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZSH3acW9YmJSG-iy8Aj/

What if we started the qualifying campaign without being complacent and beaten Lesotho in Uyo?

What if Finidi did not start critical back to back games against SA and Benin with a one cap home based Benjamin Taminu as right back?

What if Ekong hadn't forgotten how to intercept a ball he was the favourite to reach thereby letting Chirewa equalise for Zimbabwe in the 90th minute?

What if Osimhen had been fit to play every game in the qualifying group stage.

What if Ademola Lookman had managed to score even one goal in the 11 world cup qualifying games he has featured in for Nigeria to date?

What if Onyedika, the only champions league quality midfielder we have had been given the opportunity to play more than a total of 135 minutes throughout the 10 group stage and 2 play off matches?

What if Ejuke didn't leave Lemina unmarked in the 89th minute which lead to a goal and the need to play an extra 30 mins causing additional fatigue?

What if Eric Chelle had actually prepared for the eventuality of penalties in the playoff final? He very obviously did not.

What if the NFF is not so incompetent, the team didn't have to be managed by 4 managers over 10 group stage games?

We will never know...

We however do now know

We are the ultimate of yesterdays men.

semid4lyfe:
He walked off the pitch at half time with some discomfort. See below

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZSH3acW9YmJSG-iy8Aj/

Edit: Just learnt it was a hamstring injury that forced his substitution..

We should just use Afcon to rebuild if we can.

Give more players a chance for us to see what they can offer. If half of the list can be fresh legs that would be fantastic after all we never knew a Benjamin Frederick existed until that unity cup earlier in the year. Let’s use the Afcon to try out newer players or those with very few caps for tomorrow future. We already know what players we have had for 5 years and above can do. It’s time to give many others a chance.

9JAMac10:
let him gain the experience of coaching a national team at a major tournament. Nigeria can start properly rebuilding after the Afcon with a better qualified preferably Nigerian coach for 2030 and subsequent Afcon

Rubbish. Ogunmodede has coached Remo to 4 failed CAF Champions league campaigns. What more experience is he going to get?? Please dont make me angry this evening, People like you are part of the problem. There are no good coaches in Nigeria anymore. None, these guys don't even have CAF B license which is a basic requirement. Nigerian football is dead, Wake Up. The only thing that can keep us above water are the foreign-born players and coaches but the corrupt NFF and people like you dont want them because of your demonic "home based one of our own" agenda.

Ndidi's role play in these play off matches wasn't well defined.
Many commended Ndidi particularly because of his offensive contributions, but all that i saw was the gaps he kept leaving at the back.
I blamed the midfield for the goals we conceded and the poor positioning of the Center Backs
That is why I did not praise Ndidi's performances, but kept talking about the quality that he can bring when screening the back four, and in duels.
It is either Ndidi was not listening to instructions or that the coach doesn't know what he is coaching.

I somehow think that the latter is the case, because how on earth can a player like Ndidi and Onyeka be on the pitch at the same time, when there are better combinations.

Predator87:
Rubbish. Ogunmodede has coached Remo to 4 failed CAF Champions league campaigns. What more experience is he going to get?? Please dont make me angry this evening, People like you are part of the problem. There are no good coaches in Nigeria anymore. None, these guys don't even have CAF B license which is a basic requirement. Nigerian football is dead, Wake Up. The only thing that can keep us above water are the foreign-born players and coaches but the corrupt NFF and people like you dont want them because of your demonic "home based one of our own" agenda.

. Hahaha I just want the best for Nigerian soccer ⚽️ and I believe only Nigerians with good intentions can salvage our football back to elite status again. Calm down I am unhappy we lost today let’s move on and profess solutions to Nigerian soccer ⚽️

Osimhen please whenever you on vacation in Lagos spend more time In the gym than hanging out with entertainers in the name of clout.

9JAMac10:
that coach is bang average. Osimhen has carried the team all along and masked this guys incompetence. Rather eguavoen take us to Afcon than this bald fraud

Eric Chelle at least believes in his players.
I knew we will not go far with Eguavoen, when i first heard him relishing and reliving the days of Segun Odegbami and Finidi George, rather than being content in and working with the crop of players within his grasp.

There is no wisdom in that. The bible clearly warns us to desist from saying that the former days are better, because the glory of the later days shall be greater than the former. This is the wisdom of God in display. God is ever evolving.

TheGoodJoe:
Nwabali's ball distribution is sound. But he needs to tone down with his risky ball holding decisions under pressure. He needs to scan and distribute the ball faster.

Confidence has a ripple effect. He wants the composure, He needs his backline not shaky.

Iwobi made Ndidi seem like prime Pirlo. It's time. Thank you Iwobi

Iwobi simon time to go, they consistently refuse to step up.

So without Osimhen no football yea, no na Osimhen eagles, such embarrassing performances not against Brazil or Argentina, Congo Dr, outplaying for almost 90 minutes because you don’t have osimhen, none of Simon chukwueze, Iwobi lookman could step, not even of of them, and that’s the reason we are here in the playoffs because of such mediocre players like them with weak mentality.

In a Final where you drop it and give all like you want it, see them casually strolling…

My own take is most of us that happens to watch super eagles during our golden days in the 90’s we are just having that nostagalia the earlier we realize that aside osimhen probably Federick the rest of the team are just average forget they are playing for epl and so on they are average players we can’t match most African teams anymore a lot of African teams are advancing and getting far ahead of the earlier we accept the fact cause a lot of us die hard supporters of super eagle the heartbreak is so much the rebuilding just have to start form the NFF

Subzerooo:
Nigerians eh

lol 😂 going forward among all our strikers boniface is the most technical among all of them though he has been unlucky I think he will do better paring with osimehn probably 2nd choice behind akor cause this tolu today was just off

Safe to say this current squad has only AFCON to play. By next world cup, 30 years is the least age amongst them including bassey!

Why is availability a problem for Osihmen? I know he might be injured. But man can’t just be available for save his life. Look at Haaland for example he plays all matches. Salah and Mane in their prime plays all matches.

CapitalCee:
Why is availability a problem for Osihmen? I know he might be injured. But man can’t just be available for save his life. Look at Haaland for example he plays all matches. Salah and Mane in their prime plays all matches.

Availability is the best ability.

Osimhen is a top top striker but his availability in big matches leaves a lot to be desired. I think he missed like 4-5 games during our WCQ.

“During all the penalties, the guy from DR Congo did some voodoo.”

Nigeria head coach Éric Chelle explains why tempers flared between him and the DR Congo staff at the end of the World Cup playoff final. pic.twitter.com/nMyTIcqlTT

— ESPN Africa (@ESPNAfrica) November 17, 2025

Funny Eric chelle is blaming the loss in voodoo by the Congolese people. See primitive inept coach wants to blame African voodoo hahaha what a jokester

Desabre is the first coach to outfox Chelle on the continent so far with the SE. On the balance of play DRC are deserved winners.

The absence of a genuine midfield controller was apparent for large spells yesterday. DRC were on the front foot for most of the match.

Sadly, this team misses out of a world cup in their prime. Naija may qualify for 2030 but by then, the squad will be aged and declining. What an anti-climax!

I can't come and kee myself because of Nigeria

Looks like I'll be supporting Haaland and Norway at the World Cup. This will be Norway's first World Cup appearance in 27 years, majorly due to Haaland's greatness.