₦airaland Forum

Why that is quite thoughtful , we should remember we are not the only body concerned and our interest cannot be an absolute, it is good we voice our grievances before the D-Day but it is far fetched to disrupt a carefully planned selection by FIFA. I think it is best we allow the official carry on , now that they are aware all eyes are on them, this way it will play in our favour because if they goof we will call it a foul play and I sure know those referees will err on the side of caution for that fear of doing wrong and losing their badge will be too much a price to pay on the alter of sentiments

semid4lyfe:
The South African Sports Minister openly stated that he does not want Nigeria to qualify for the World Cup.

“I wish for #Nigeria not to qualify…”

This is what @GaytonMcK, South Africa’s Sports Minister, said, regarding the @NGSuperEagles #FIFAWorldCup campaign... pic.twitter.com/Ar3QbHCyjq

— Osasu Obayiuwana (@osasuo) November 6, 2025

With that kind of bias coming from such a high-ranking official, it’s only natural for the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and Nigerian fans to be concerned so the decision to question and reject the appointment of South African referees for our World Cup Qualifier playoff against Gabon is completely justified.

No one expects fair officiating from a country whose top sports official has already shown open hostility toward Nigeria’s qualification for the World Cup. The NFF is right to demand neutral referees to protect the integrity of the match and avoid unnecessary controversy.

Nawa ooo hear excuse way striker dey give. 😂

Boniface you are a striker not a goalkeeper, if I check live score to see if you've scored that's because it is the constructed standard for a striker of your caliber .

mekabuachi:
Victor Boniface shares his thoughts on his performances with the Nigeria Super Eagles: "I'd say I'm just unlucky when it comes to scoring goals with the national team. I know there are a few matches where I played really well, but finding the net is currently the most crucial aspect in the world of football."

"If people don't even watch the game, they go on live score to see you has scored. When they see you score, you are Ronaldinho. You know, people don't watch the game. So, I'm sorry for those people that think that way."

One of my biggest childhood dreams as a footballer was to wear the green and white jersey and represent my country, which I managed to achieve through my own effort. I strived hard to reach this point, and I’m genuinely grateful for that."

"It doesn't work bad. It doesn't work good. That doesn't mean I'm a bad player or anything. I'm really happy I represented my country anyway,.

Seems like Boniface has given up on ever representing Nigeria again... Sad😪

When lookman scores in our next two games that sees us through to the inter continental playoffs, many will change mouth again . This is what we call plastic fan behavior.
We have said he is having a terrible start to the season due to his club issues. Some have even discarded his heroics at the last AFCON and said he was no main player. My goodness.
Is this how short football fans memory are?
They even said we couldn't have scored 4 goals if he started against Benin . Mind you the last time we played Benin we scored 3 goals with lookman also scoring.
I know we will all be happy to qualify for the intercontinental playoffs but I hope lookman makes a statement that seals his naysayers mouth up

Will Our friendly matches against south American teams not be honoured again?

I know it boils down to funds, but we can create a team B with players like Orban, Akinsanmiro and many other prospective eagles players to execute the games. While team A Eagles are on world cup playoff duty.

Mujtahida:
You ignore something crucial which TheGoodJoe often emphasizes - keep improving and with time the results will come.

Morocco hasn't won anything yet but the whole world acknowledges that they are onto something.

And they are as they've won the under 20s. Just as SA are on to something.

codemaniacs:
he is not out of his depth.. he was playing hero-ball like Lookman but he was pressing and closing down the Benin players.

Thanks to him SE was still pressing beyond 80mins.. even Tolu that was subbed on late was not really pressing...

Don't mind them, Segun will definitely be invited for our next games. He did a whole lot in the midfield and defensive wise although his offensive play was suspicious.

Talk of a guy who is only making his second appearance for the team. His first came in the friendly against Russia. A player that barely had time to train with the team in south Africa. He was quite decent from his wing

Wouldn't be surprised if conspiracy theorist in their country are interpreting it as a propaganda by America and the western world to frustrate the leadership of their military ruler Traore.

opes:
The Eritrea factor hit Burkina Faso the most. They earned 21 points from regular matches, but had 9 goals and 6 points deducted, which cost them a playoff spot

Well, football like many organisation has a hierarchy ..what we end up watching on the pitch is a result of the various interplay amongst the hierarchy that crafts it out. How does a team that does not have a home stadium to play its home games want to qualify above a team that has over 7 approved FIFA stadiums plus the complementary of arguably running the best league in sub Saharan African. Think about it this way and you'll agree that south Africa deserves that position. They fielded an ineligible player and still managed to get the job done. It is no fault of theirs that the other teams couldn't meet up to what should be the approved standard stadia. It is left to the other teams that take football seriously in their own interest to make substantial football development.
If they have to qualify for the next 10 world cups like this, it is absolutely fine given their investment in football. But to reduce their victory to playing 7 home games as nothing is absolutely unjustifiable. They lost to Rwanda away just as Nigeria lost to Benin on a neutral ground. They equally earned a draw in Nigeria.

Cocony:
Following the about to be concluded qualifiers, only SOUTH AFRICA does not deserve to be at the World Cup in my opinion. It is only in Africa I have seen a team play their home matches in the pitch of their opponent: 7 whooping home matches for South Africa and 1 neutral ground game with only 2 away matches of which they truly lost one(against Rwanda)
That was dubious from the onset. FiIFA and CAF should look into this next time to ensure a real neutral ground is used

Enoughpull:
We didn't score 4 against lesotho, suddenly we can score 4 against Benin? Let's just pray Rwanda do the favor of holding SA to a draw.. Finidi and Co put us in this mess

Exactly.
It is the hope that kills. It will be easier for Rwanda to play a draw/stalemate with South Africa than for us to score 4 goals against Benin. Let that sink in our heads.
We can play them 2 nil or even 3 nil. But that 4 nil is a stretch on our team's capacity. Given football and it's unpredictability I hope that we accomplish that 4 nil, however it is a far fetched expectation because we aren't your typical high scoring team.

Mujtahida:
A curse is a negative pattern. So let's dispel such utter nonsense from our minds. Since 2002, we qualified for 2010, 2014 and 2018 World Cups. Keshi who Oliseh mentioned as being part of the aggrieved triumvirate of coaches won the nations cup in 2013.

Didn't this same Oliseh say when he was super eagles coach they were attacking him with spiritual forces.

Id say Mr Oliseh really likes seeking relevancy and trends. He should equally seek therapy, and forget what looks like main character syndrome he displays. If he didn't have main character syndrome I see no reason why he should be having issues with Vincent enyeama or why he'd rather have Ahmed Musa as captain over John Obi Mikel. Well we are not all perfect , but then sometimes we must master the art of filtering certain information.

mekabuachi:
Benin Republic🇧🇯 manager Gernot Rohr :

"I don't think they will qualify (South Africa🇿🇦), we are better than them, and they play poor football. I think Lesotho🇱🇸 is far better than them."

"We look forward to a grand match against Nigeria🇳🇬 in Uyo."

#ATMSports #FIFAWC2026


Hmmm 😂

Sounds like fake news. Rohr does not talk like this. He is always pessimistic and modest in expectations

Beninois have invoked their voodoo gods ...you can see their handwork on the eagles plane windscreen

Rohr keeps reminding us how we were wrong to sack him.

Rohr has only one match to coach in his life.
He will be ultra defensive based on his personality..it will be a big surprise if Rohr comes all out to play.
Kudos to his Benin side. This is how managers make names for themselves

I doubt we'd beat this Benin side. More likely a draw.

Let's see how they fare against mamelodi sundowns to start with. I hope they are ready to chill with the big boys.

typicalgamer:
Remo stars beg to differ

.

Look at me desperately looking for link to watch the match only to come here and find out we are losing already. Desperation quickly comot from my eyes. I no won watch disaster abeg 😂

Off football, I wanna ask who is your Nigeria's greatest female athlete of all time.In America, they easily mention names like Serena Williams , Jackie kersee etc.

For me number one will be Mary Onyali... But Chioma' Ajuwa's gold medal will put her in many people's first place. And then Mercy Udoh Colin was great. Blessing Oborodudu ,was great , to be the greatest female athlete is debateale . Asisat Oshoala will retire as one of the greats but then she will be in third place for me from her discipline behind Perpetual Nwokocha. Blessing Okagbare , Tobi Amusan and Ese Brume were forces to recon with particularly Tobi's world record for Nigeria. I don't think aside Tobi we boast any world record .

In table Tennis Funkè Oshonsike has been to over 6 Olympics, which is great but she is not a global force to recon with.

Darkprime:
They're wasting their time, if true.

In soccer, any protests lodged to deduct points solely on the grounds of a referee's missed call concerning the goal's validity will not stand. There won't even be a replay. The reason is because there is a crucial distinction established in global sports law: disciplinary sanctions related to administrative integrity are entirely different from those related to sporting judgment. Sanctions resulting in match forfeiture (a 3-0 loss) and point deduction are usually reserved for serious breaches of competition statutes, not for referee errors. As we all know, these breaches typically involve FDC (FIFA Disciplinary Code) Article 19 (of felding ineligible player) or Article 20 (of match manipulation). And these are often matters of administrative fact that lie entirely outside the referee's on-field discretion.

So if South Africa are really serious about achieving the desired 3-point deduction because of the handball, they would have to prove that Nigeria had committed an intentional statutory breach by deliberately manipulating the match beforehand (FDC Art. 20). Since the core of the protest is a referee's judgment call, the legal mechanism for point deduction is entirely inapplicable. Na dem do themselves. They thought they were wise taking us to play football in a farm and removing VAR, now it has come back to bite them.

On a lighter note, I would like them to keep wasting their resources and strategic focus on the handball incident. Lol. At least their focus will be shifted immediately from preparation for the remaining World Cup qualification fixtures and it might taint their mindset. So yeah, let them keep chasing shadows.

South Africa actually had a world cup qualifiers match replayed against Senegal where the Ghanaian referee in the initial leg was suspended by FIFA. So I guess that's why they believe there is a chance that can happen. This only shows they are tensed and uncomfortable in their camp. I'm banking of Zimbabwe to do that magic.

elyte89:
They should not shiver ..Dey have d squad to get d necessary 4points …Dey av everything in deir hands

It's good they shiver and doubt themselves. Let them not get that 4 points and I pray FIFA grants them a rematch against super eagles, then we will show them who the real boss is.

TheSuperNerd:
Lukaku was actually a beast before he hit 17. And by beast, I mean "literally". U16 Lukaku was taller than Refs naa... at 13, he was an unfair freak of nature vs Fellow 13 yr olds. So it is no surprise he got into Anderlecht's first team by age 16.

Oh just seeing this.

Odunayaw:
I have grown used to insane stats for Pele but what is Lukaku doing there 😳
That guy deserves more credit than we care to give

Lukaku was a huge prodigy when he was a youngster at Anderlecht. At 16 he was built like a man already.

Danielnino00:
It seems like Onyedika and Dele Bashiru are injured, hence their omission from the list... But the midfield is still flat... Why drop Uche?? Too many strikers in the team...Osimhen, Moffi, Dessers, Adams, Tolu ..5 strikers...for what Na ?

It is a TEAM with or without any player.
Uche is still new in this team
He doesn't have a strong hold yet, either at midfield or offensive wise above the other players. He is not gonna play the DM role like Alhassan Yusuf who is actively playing that role, neither is his offensive intuition as natural as any of the forward. He is currently adjusting to life in EPL and barely getting time to play. However he will come good in a team like crystal palace if he buries his head to work.

TheSuperNerd:
Kwara Utd. So you could score 3 goals in Ghana but could not score 1 in Kwara... Na wa ooo.
Una well done. Kotoko coach don finish Kwara coach now.

But truly the way Kwara United coach spoke about kotoko after losing the first leg was unprofessional, but funny 🤣😅

I can only imagine the momentarily joy on the streets of port novo and the country of Benin right now. Although they're yet to qualify but this feeling will trigger positive ripples for our dear neighboring country. No be only South Africa get neighbouring country. We sef get Benin currently topping the group. I'd rather Benin have a taste of the world cup than south Africa. So we can say all Togo, Benin as well as the big boys on the coast of west Africa have participated at the world cup.

TheSuperNerd:
Official:

Ebenezer Akinsanmiro MOTM vs Fiorentina today.

Having a natural midfielder whose first lens of European football is in the Italian league is quite impressive. The boy is in his peak. And his MOTM performance is a testament of how much knowledge he embedded over time.

AndSunGorilla:
The sundowns are going DOWN!!!!

The SKY is the limit

elyte89:
C as fifa Dey whine us 🤣🤣🤣..dem say neutral venue yet approved South Africa 🇿🇦 for d clash with Zimbabwe 🇿🇼

We should be doing better, Benin republic should be playing their home games in Nigeria and not far away in ivory coast. They might both be francophone but that's where the advantage ends. However with Nigeria they share borders as well as cultural heritage. Why isn't Nigeria attractive enough for them. Why can we fix our Lagos stadium for them? Aren't we attractive enough for them. Despite how hostile south Africans are to other Africans , yet Lesotho , Zimbabwe etc play their home games there. And they are all in the same qualifiers group. Tomorrow it might be Niger, Chad , Cameroon, Togo or even Ghana. We should put ourselves up there for this situations. Fix Lagos stadiums now! And they will come.

They are bidding to host the common wealth games for Abuja, leave that and host the women's AFCON. It's a smaller project and less expensive and it improve a whole lot. But more importantly fix this surulere stadium.

TheSuperNerd:
Multiple caps Super Eagles Winger, Samuel Kalu joins Botev Plovdiv of Bulgaria as a free agent. Was unveiled yesterday.

The Nigerian league should aim a bit better to have players like his status return or play in a league club. Imagine this guy on the bench for Remo stars as they play CAF CL . It will create an upward effect on the players like Ngenge and the rest. Not when we are having Ismaila the RB leaving Remo to an obscure league

Point of correction. The NFF never chased Pesiero. It was after his team peaked during AFCON that he wanted a better offer. Should Pesiero have continued and not Finidi, we probably might have not found ourselves in this position even though he started with two draws. He found a team or discovered a team with the right tempo to grind out victories. He was also unknown to us when the NFF technical team brought him to us after the reign of Rohr.
Put this same boys under Chelle for two weeks and see if they will not reach another AFCON semifinals in the least sense. There is a dearth of technicality in our local managers. Eguavone in his last stint couldn't get to the semifinals of the AFCON even though his team played good football at the group stage, especially our one nil victory over Egypt who ended up in the finals only to lose to Senegal on penalty.

Let's forget all this stress and tension. Let's look forward to growing with Chelle as AFCON progresses and one thing we can be sure of is that we have a manager who will stay longer than Rohr and is quite younger than Rohr to do exploits with our team. Even when it's time for a new agreement it will not be as difficult as it was to convince Rohr. We the fans have to exercise patience.

Goke7:
But it was agreed here that we played rubbish in the AFCON, or were we that good? cos if I remember very well, that's why we chased Paseiro away, that our players were too good and world-class to be playing haram football. We need to put things in proper perspective, cos am one of those who still feel we ruined it all with the poor management of the Afcon success. Some tactics worked well for us that we just needed to build upon, but hey, we threw everything away in arrogance.

BankyGee:
Omo... Is it just me or Arokodare doesn't have good positioning?

And he doesn't press or "hustle" for the ball enough, he just seems to be strolling on the pitch most of the time.

I hope he gets better soon enough.

The EPL exposes your frailties...The sort of teams Asamoah Gyan was leading at Sunderland and scoring in the EPL. Or when Osase Odemwinge arrived from lille and was playing at West brom winning EPL player of the months twice in a season.
Tolu knew what he signed up for , we all knew it here that Wolves was bound for relegation.
Christantus Uche was smart enough to avoid them. This sort of risk it all approach to the EPL is not good for many. I hope he doesn't fall under the weight of the mounting pressure, because he looks like a soft and easy lad.
The same thing Paul Onuachu did when he went to Southampton. Only to find his foot at Turkey.

Better bring on chukweze , no better winger out there.

Sainty92:
In as much as I like Frederick's calm defensive presence, I still have the feeling that this game can be a tight game where Ekong bullet header from a corner kick can just give us a 1-0 victory.
The coach has the final decision anyway.

Na ekong bullet own goal ooo. But thank God for bassey