₦airaland Forum

We seriously need to put pressure on CAF to discount the result of the last team in the group for fairness due to Eritrea withdrawal from Group E. If thats done and we win the last 2 matches we will qualify as one of the best runners up. And trust me, Nigeria will qualify because the teams that are in the playoffs are not really good. African representatives will most likely qualify to the World cup.

We need to seriously play this politics very well, CAF have adopted this method before, this can be done, but it seems our NFF is not interested in our success only to loot.

For me Nigeria isn’t a football nation anymore the whole system need to be overhauled it so sad were our national team can’t beat the likes of Lesotho and Zimbabwe can’t even beat Benin republic even CHAN team could not beat South Sudan and Zanzibar nation team that isn’t even recognized by FIFA we must leave sentiment aside and accept reality quickly maybe take 2 years break from football and start overhauling from NFF

CapitalCee:
We seriously need to put pressure on CAF to discount the result of the last team in the group for fairness due to Eritrea withdrawal from Group E. If thats done and we win the last 2 matches we will qualify as one of the best runners up. And trust me, Nigeria will qualify because the teams that are in the playoffs are not really good. African representatives will most likely qualify to the World cup.

We need to seriously play this politics very well, CAF have adopted this method before, this can be done, but it seems our NFF is not interested in our success only to loot.

Even if Nigeria are in play off with team like Comoros or Eritrea how sure are you we can even beat them lol

Alfryd:
🚨 TAKE NOTE 🚨

Two teams have already sealed their spot in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Intercontinental Playoffs:

🇧🇴 Bolivia (CONMEBOL)
🇳🇨 New Caledonia (OFC)

They’ll be joined by:

- 2 teams from CONCACAF (currently looking like 🇨🇼 Curaçao & 🇸🇻 El Salvador)

- 1 team from AFC (one of 🇶🇦 Qatar, 🇦🇪 UAE, 🇴🇲 Oman, 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia, 🇮🇶 Iraq or 🇮🇩 Indonesia)

- 1 team from Africa (via the playoff route)

Only 2 out of the 6 will qualify for the World Cup and based on the likely opponents, Africa's representative has every chance to go all the way.

#AfricaSoccerZone #FIFAWCQ

with all these kind names i dey see here
DRC
Cameroon
Madagascar
Gabon
go too beat them 🤣
imagine Cameroon v New caledonia or Gabon vs Curacao or madagascar vs El savador)…chai make FIFA help us naaa make we even make am to playoffs naaaa🤣🤣🤣….e go too easy walai

chrisooblog:
Ekong was poor for the goal let's call a spade a spade and not a farm implement.

Was midfield that basically cost us this game.

I defend Iwobi many times but his lack of urgency to shoot in critical positions is baffling because this same guy was popping up everywhere for the SE 6-7 years ago what changed? The less said about Ndidi the better.

If we can find decent replacements between now and December Osayi, Ndidi, Chukwueze should be thanked for their service and bid farewell. Ekong is definitely going after AFCON while with Iwobi I'm caught in two minds.

I was wrong about Dessers I'm humble to admit no be SE quality at all.

Nwabali, Bruno, Fisayo, Uche under probation.

Our midfield has been our weakest link for years now but with folks like bashiru and Uche I think we can still savage things. If Iwobi will play better from the wings there’s no point keeping him in his current position, just move him there as it’s becoming a waste of space and value. We need a leader in the middle of the pack to truly unlock defences and take the game by the neck. Enough of kasongo teams in Africa taking charge of our midfield for greater part of our games. It’s costing us decent results.

chrisooblog:
Ekong was poor for the goal let's call a spade a spade and not a farm implement.

Was midfield that basically cost us this game.

I defend Iwobi many times but his lack of urgency to shoot in critical positions is baffling because this same guy was popping up everywhere for the SE 6-7 years ago what changed? The less said about Ndidi the better.

If we can find decent replacements between now and December Osayi, Ndidi, Chukwueze should be thanked for their service and bid farewell. Ekong is definitely going after AFCON while with Iwobi I'm caught in two minds.

I was wrong about Dessers I'm humble to admit no be SE quality at all.

Nwabali, Bruno, Fisayo, Uche under probation.

The only culpability Chelle has on Ekong is that he followed the "reasonable" voice and played an experienced captain in a nervy game. Beyond that, it was Ekong's besetting sin that showed up. Against Zimbabwe, on the right side (as someone would have us think is the better side), was he not caught ball watching too?

Meanwhile, what are you calling out Osayi for? He played with grit and urgency. Ndidi? Chukwueze? What did they do wrong?

The problem with the middle yesterday is that we take the ball too early (in our own half and at the midfield) to the flanks so the MFs have to draw closer to receive the ball while leaving the middle gaping.

Charles is right. Their passing game was aimless. They just ran the clock down with their downgraded tiki taka. They are not impressive.

Na your "Experienced" Ekong kill us. If not, we take the win.

We move.

JohnBullMySon:
Boss leave talk. Their passing game alone we can’t even match it. If you for watch match you for see.

COOL10:
Benin's 4:0 thumping of Lesotho yesterday has now taken them ahead of Nigeria with 14 points while Nigeria has 11 points. They also have a goal difference of 4 while Nigeria has two.

Papa Rohr is doing wonders

Wonders that didn't give them AFCON ticket.
Anyway, till we meet again in Uyo

chrisooblog:
Benjamin played the full match yesterday bro.

Yeah, na mistake, person don correct me. Thanks boss 🙌🏾😁

Goke7:
Zimbabwe sef na mumu, what were they thinking in the first place knowing SA was in their group. Zambia is your neighbour too, move your games there!

So u people don't know this?

Zimbabwe's home match against South Africa has been moved to Rwanda following Nigeria's protest.

GMBOFASIA:
Even if Nigeria are in play off with team like Comoros or Eritrea how sure are you we can even beat them lol

bros with the urgency we started displaying from Match day 6 to match day 8….if we continue that rush of blood, we will displace any team in the play off….our poor start is really rubbing on our current resilience to qualify….we will beat all those teams in play off if we qualify.
if we dare qualify to play off then just know that football gods is with 9ja to go to the world cup

Now that the all important SA Game has been played and "LOST" (technically drawn but we failed to get 3 pts so counts as a loss for me)... I believe the 3pts deduction case should not bother us anymore.

SA will head to the WC as grp winners.

As for Nigeria, we have an Afcon in december to prepare for. Thank God for Benjamin Frederick and Christantus Uche coming in at a time like this.

Looking forward to 2025 Afcon, 2027 Afcon, 2030 WCQs starting in 2028, 2029 Afcon and 2030 WC Proper (which we must qualify for).



Only Morocco has my support as usual heading to 2026 WC. My Maroc Boys at least don qualify and I expect them to do well again.
Senegal showed Champion spirit coming back from 2-0 down to beat DRC on their own home turf 3-2 in a must win game. That is how Champion teams respond.

Unpopular opinion: I don't think any points will be deducted from all the groups because of Eritrea's removal from Group E. I don't know where people are getting that info from and if it happens, it's going to be an unprecedented act in FIFA's history. The only point deduction I'm 100% sure will happen is South Africa's own.

Odunayaw:
Wonders that didn't give them AFCON ticket.
Anyway, till we meet again in Uyo

That's a different competition. Their World Cup dream is alive, and Papa Rohr is making it happen.

Benin are already pressuring FIFA to deduct South Africa's points. They now see they have a chance too.

I no wan do the ifs and the buts, but I no go give up till the final Matchday. One thing is certain, Éric Chelle is on the right direction. For a long while, a coach didn't bring the Tanimus and Sodiq Arnolds in a squad list, our bench and starting XIs are looking solid, we can even argue that why did so so person not start and so on, na squad depth be that.

He has the squad and he's using them accordingly, you don't produce result, you're out. He gave Boniface three to four matches, he didn't impress, he dropped him, he benched Ekong in a game and removed him in a match after just the first half. It shows he sees his mistakes and corrects them. He has been playing Ola Aina as LB since he came, but switched in this window. Even with all the experiments and getting to know his starting XI he has not still lost a game.

I believe in his project, I know we'll be formidable by the time he plays his 10th game with the Super Eagles, no be club football be this, it's harder because you don't have every weekend to experiment and finally get it right and this man has gotten a solid 7/10 since he took this job. He's not a clueless coach, I can bet anything on it.

If everything goes well and we qualify, thank God. If it doesn't, we move on to AFCON. I no get energy to calculate anything now, I just can't wait for October.

Osayi has no end product. Wasn't particularly terrible yesterday but doesn't offer anything long term. Chukwueze aimless dribbles that don't deliver when it matters most. I've seen this movie many times to know we need desperate upgrades to Samu. Ndidi I like him but he's washed. The fact that we were able to get to the AFCON finals without missing his absence says that much.

Midfield over the past years post Mikel can't retain possession, make low level African teams midfield look like Spain, can't deliver defense splitting passes or score long rangers to save their lives. Really makes you appreciate the work Mikel, Etebo, and Onazi put in. Can't remember them ever struggling to impose their game on less gifted midfields. Even facing superior ones they gave as good as they got.

Don't blame Eric for trusting his captain just unfortunate Ekong choose now of all times to drop a stinker.

Odunayaw:
The only culpability Chelle has on Ekong is that he followed the "reasonable" voice and played an experienced captain in a nervy game. Beyond that, it was Ekong's besetting sin that showed up. Against Zimbabwe, on the right side (as someone would have us think is the better side), was he not caught ball watching too?

Meanwhile, what are you calling out Osayi for? He played with grit and urgency. Ndidi? Chukwueze? What did they do wrong?

The problem with the middle yesterday is that we take the ball too early (in our own half and at the midfield) to the flanks so the MFs have to draw closer to receive the ball while leaving the middle gaping.

QueenJazz:
Unpopular opinion: I don't think any points will be deducted from all the groups because of Eritrea's removal from Group E. I don't know where people are getting that info from and if it happens, it's going to be an unprecedented act in FIFA's history. The only point deduction I'm 100% sure will happen is South Africa's own.

it will.. it has happened before, make una dey do research na.

So how is fifa going to be fair to the second team of that group? Where is the fair play if they did not get a chance, the last team of every group would have their point deducted from the second placed team, then we would have the real points. Let’s just hope we win our last two games , and Zimbabwe finish last, Nigeria goes to the play offs.

We fans and NFF need to be sharp in identifying this things, I am grateful to this technical fans that are always picking this things, they are the real MVP if we qualify. That’s why we have technical teams, but apparently the technical team of NFF don’t know their jobs, pick up this things.

Nomyth:
So u people don't know this?

Zimbabwe's home match against South Africa has been moved to Rwanda following Nigeria's protest.

The deed has been done already and nothing matter anymore as the last two games for SA was played in the same country, city, stadium and dubious pitch!

Uche sef bring down my morale with the aimless shoot he fired towards the end.

Goke7:
Our midfield has been our weakest link for years now but with folks like bashiru and Uche I think we can still savage things. If Iwobi will play better from the wings there’s no point keeping him in his current position, just move him there as it’s becoming a waste of space and value. We need a leader in the middle of the pack to truly unlock defences and take the game by the neck. Enough of kasongo teams in Africa taking charge of our midfield for greater part of our games. It’s costing us decent results.

GMBOFASIA:
Even if Nigeria are in play off with team like Comoros or Eritrea how sure are you we can even beat them lol

We can beat them. You guys should stop all these talk, I know the super Eagles disappointed, but that doesn’t mean they won’t rally around and learn from their mistakes.

chrisooblog:
Uche sef bring down my morale with the aimless shoot he fired towards the end.

I swear 😫

I been think say na Chukwueze seff till I see the face 😫

Dannyxy:
it will.. it has happened before, make una dey do research na.

So how is fifa going to be fair to the second team of that group? Where is the fair play if they did not get a chance, the last team of every group would have their point deducted from the second placed team, then we would have the real points. Let’s just hope we win our last two games , and Zimbabwe finish last, Nigeria goes to the play offs.

We fans and NFF need to be sharp in identifying this things, I am grateful to this technical fans that are always picking this things, they are the real MVP if we qualify. That’s why we have technical teams, but apparently the technical team of NFF don’t know their jobs, pick up this things.

I'm a very poor researcher. Give me a good example let me catch up. Based on the available information I have, such a thing has never happened but I'm willing to be proven wrong.

chrisooblog:
Osayi has no end product. Wasn't particularly terrible yesterday but doesn't offer anything long term. Chukwueze aimless dribbles that don't deliver when it matters most. I've seen this movie many times to know we need desperate upgrades to Samu. Ndidi I like him but he's washed. The fact that we were able to get to the AFCON finals without missing his absence says that much.

Midfield over the past years post Mikel can't retain possession, make low level African teams midfield look like Spain, can't deliver defense splitting passes or score long rangers to save their lives. Really makes you appreciate the work Mikel, Etebo, and Onazi put in. Can't remember them ever struggling to impose their game on less gifted midfields. Even facing superior ones they gave as good as they got.

Don't blame Eric for trusting his captain just unfortunate Ekong choose now of all times to drop a stinker.

Even against teams like France, Spain and Argentina those guys were decent. Our current midfield can’t carry us anywhere beyond scoring a goal in a match even against minnows

Eric Chelle and the Super Eagles will be African Champs by January 18th, 2026 if the squad keeps morphing in the right direction.

Bassey and Benjamin need more games together.

Tolu needs a few more games to permanently cement himself as our 2nd striker after Obvious First Choice Osimhen.

Chelle has to a find a way to fit in Christantus Uche into the Starting XI and utilise Iwobi closer to the final third and not further away from it as a deeplying orchestrator.

Chelle should find the best midfield synergy from strongest to bench options.

Chelle has to also realise when to and when not to use Simon Moses. He is not meant for every opponent. There are days a Chukwueze will suffice rather than a Simon.

BankyGee:
Benin are already pressuring FIFA to deduct South Africa's points. They now see they have a chance too.

I no wan do the ifs and the buts, but I no go give up till the final Matchday. One thing is certain, Éric Chelle is on the right direction. For a long while, a coach didn't bring the Tanimus and Sodiq Arnolds in a squad list, our bench and starting XIs are looking solid, we can even argue that why did so so person not start and so on, na squad depth be that.

He has the squad and he's using them accordingly, you don't produce result, you're out. He gave Boniface three to four matches, he didn't impress, he dropped him, he benched Ekong in a game and removed him in a match after just the first half. It shows he sees his mistakes and corrects them. He has been playing Ola Aina as LB since he came, but switched in this window. Even with all the experiments and getting to know his starting XI he has not still lost a game.

I believe in his project, I know we'll be formidable by the time he plays his 10th game with the Super Eagles, no be club football be this, it's harder because you don't have every weekend to experiment and finally get it right and this man has gotten a solid 7/10 since he took this job. He's not a clueless coach, I can bet anything on it.

If everything goes well and we qualify, thank God. If it doesn't, we move on to AFCON. I no get energy to calculate anything now, I just can't wait for October.

Dannyxy:
it will.. it has happened before, make una dey do research na.

So how is fifa going to be fair to the second team of that group? Where is the fair play if they did not get a chance, the last team of every group would have their point deducted from the second placed team, then we would have the real points. Let’s just hope we win our last two games , and Zimbabwe finish last, Nigeria goes to the play offs.

We fans and NFF need to be sharp in identifying this things, I am grateful to this technical fans that are always picking this things, they are the real MVP if we qualify. That’s why we have technical teams, but apparently the technical team of NFF don’t know their jobs, pick up this things.

Thank you very much, I was among the initial persons that identified this issue, instead of Nigerians picking up and amplifying it, we are throwing blame games up and down, in football results can go bad sometimes, its normal, the key thing is to find remedy.
Nigerians are masters of talking too much without any critical analysis, we are talking about discounting results from the bottom placed teams for fairness to equalise the group standings, the person you quoted was talking another thing. How is it now fair for the second placed team in the group that had just 5 teams, because if you award them 6 points from the withdrawn team, they would have been up there. Instead of picking things like this up, na to de do cho cho cho we sabi.

We seriously need to amplify this point and get CAF/FIFA to adopt it. If FIFA punish SA sef, Zimbabwe is guaranteed to finish last. Because Lesotho will be awarded the points

TheSuperNerd:
Now that the all important SA Game has been played and "LOST" (technically drawn but we failed to get 3 pts so counts as a loss for me)... I believe the 3pts deduction case should not bother us anymore.

SA will head to the WC as grp winners.

As for Nigeria, we have an Afcon in december to prepare for. Thank God for Benjamin Frederick and Christantus Uche coming in at a time like this.

Looking forward to 2025 Afcon, 2027 Afcon, 2030 WCQs starting in 2028, 2029 Afcon and 2030 WC Proper (which we must qualify for).



Only Morocco has my support as usual heading to 2026 WC. My Maroc Boys at least don qualify and I expect them to do well again.
Senegal showed Champion spirit coming back from 2-0 down to beat DRC on their own home turf 3-2 in a must win game. That is how Champion teams respond.

if the last place theory holds, that 3 point should still bother us. Lesotho unfortunately can still finish last. But with the points being given to the rightful owners , lesotho, zimbabwe can finish last and we will only be deducted 2 points instead of 4 if we beat lesotho and they finish last.

CapitalCee:
Thank you very much, I was among the initial persons that identified this issue, instead of Nigerians picking up and amplifying it, we are throwing blame games up and down, in football results can go bad sometimes, its normal, the key thing is to find remedy.
Nigerians are masters of talking too much without any critical analysis, we are talking about discounting results from the bottom placed teams for fairness to equalise the group standings, the person you quoted was talking another thing. How is it now fair for the second placed team in the group that had just 5 teams, because if you award them 6 points from the withdrawn team, they would have been up there. Instead of picking things like this up, na to de do cho cho cho we sabi.

We seriously need to amplify this point and get CAF/FIFA to adopt it. If FIFA punish SA sef, Zimbabwe is guaranteed to finish last. Because Lesotho will be awarded the points

someone here was saying that we should not bother about South Africa having their points deducted again when it’s even more important now, if Lesotho gets that point, they automatically top Zimbabwe no matter what happens, and if we finish second, we go to playoffs by having just two points removed.

Nigerians need to start having critical and sharp analytics skills of North African and even South Africa when it comes to sport, we are too docile, we don’t even know how to pick on technicalities, on the global stage a lot of teams are using technical knockouts off the the pitch to give themselves an edge when they can, you think Suarez using a hand to remove a goal in a quarter finals is not technicalities, France breaking onazi legs in a game, South Africa playing 7 homes games and so many others are not technicalities, let’s be playing while teams that are smart get the edge in technicalities.

We still have a chance instead of journalists and fans to be making a point , people are saying let’s move in to Afcon, like you are so sure of winning Afcon. Very docile group, only to criticize and criticize our players that’s why NFF don’t feel the need to work, after all the defeatist will blame player and coach and move on to the next project.

chrisooblog:
Osayi has no end product. Wasn't particularly terrible yesterday but doesn't offer anything long term. Chukwueze aimless dribbles that don't deliver when it matters most. I've seen this movie many times to know we need desperate upgrades to Samu. Ndidi I like him but he's washed. The fact that we were able to get to the AFCON finals without missing his absence says that much.

Midfield over the past years post Mikel can't retain possession, make low level African teams midfield look like Spain, can't deliver defense splitting passes or score long rangers to save their lives. Really makes you appreciate the work Mikel, Etebo, and Onazi put in. Can't remember them ever struggling to impose their game on less gifted midfields. Even facing superior ones they gave as good as they got.

Don't blame Eric for trusting his captain just unfortunate Ekong choose now of all times to drop a stinker.

You forget his wing was moribund for much of first half because the boys kept playing on the left.

For me, I'm not in a hurry to discard Ndidi. The problem is our coaches doing the same thing and expecting different results. I do not understand why Onyedika doesn't start. Thesupernerd has written too much on the subject of midfield combinations.

Truly, our MF should not be as disappointing as it is

Amedino99:
if the last place theory holds, that 3 point should still bother us. Lesotho unfortunately can still finish last. But with the points being given to the rightful owners , lesotho, zimbabwe can finish last and we will only be deducted 2 points instead of 4 if we beat lesotho and they finish last.

Zimbabwe will definitely finish last with or without the 3 points

chrisooblog:
Uche sef bring down my morale with the aimless shoot he fired towards the end.

He reduced in my rating with that nonsense

QueenJazz:
I'm a very poor researcher. Give me a good example let me catch up. Based on the available information I have, such a thing has never happened but I'm willing to be proven wrong.

the time it happened was highlighted by someone on this group, search for it.

Nigerian journalist fighting on Instagram
NFF singling out a player and criticizing him
God what did the fans do to deserve this😪