Remo Stars Eagles’: I’m not a prophet of doom

I am definitely not one of the Nigerian football fans who are shocked that “ordinary” Sudan thoroughly thrashed the home-based Super Eagles at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations Championship (CHAN). I was neither disappointed nor embarrassed because I saw the show of shame coming. Soon after their shambolic performance in the opening match against […]

I am definitely not one of the Nigerian football fans who are shocked that “ordinary” Sudan thoroughly thrashed the home-based Super Eagles at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations Championship (CHAN). I was neither disappointed nor embarrassed because I saw the show of shame coming.

Soon after their shambolic performance in the opening match against defending champions, Senegal, I stated clearly that it would take a miracle for the same home-based Eagles to stay in the tournament beyond the group stage. There was nothing to suggest that the Coach Eric Chelle boys would perform any magic in their second match against Sudan.

As foreseen by many, the wingless Eagles indeed played worse than they did against Senegal. From one goal loss, they shipped in four goals for their joint-worst result in the competition. It would be recalled that the last time the home-based Eagles suffered such heavy defeat was in the final of the 2018 edition, which they lost by the same margin to the host country, Morocco.

Soon after the loss to Sudan, many people called to say that I was a prophet in the religion of football. Most of the callers said that for some time they noticed that each time I prophesied, it never failed. According to them, I had rightly foretold the football tragedy that happened on Tuesday at the Amaan Stadium in Zanzibar.

While I agree with my “fans” that I am indeed their anointed prophet, it is necessary for everyone to know that I am not a prophet of doom. I am only a patriotic Nigerian who wants the right things to be done at all times. What I do is to carefully analyse events to come out with a position or verdict that is oftentimes accurate.

In the case of the ongoing CHAN, there were early signs that nothing good would come out of the bunch of players that Chelle had assembled for the tournament. Soon after the final list of players was released, most football stakeholders saw the impending disaster. It was evident that the players selected were not the best in the Nigerian Premier Football League (NPFL).

After two humbling defeats, even if they manage to win their last group match against Congo on Tuesday, the home-based Eagles would head home to a well-deserved hostile reception by angry Nigerian football fans. Already, some fans have taken to the social media to clamour for a ban to be imposed on the players who have embarrassed the country.

While some have suggested that they shouldn’t be allowed to come near the Nigerian national team again, others are of the view that once the players land at the airport, they should be driven straight into a correctional centre (prison) where they must be kept to reflect on the shame they have inflicted on the country. As much as I don’t subscribe to such harsh reception for the sloppy Eagles, they must be told in unmincing terms that they have failed everyone of us.

It is indeed hard to stop hitting hard on the fact that despite the high number of Remo Stars players in the team, there is nothing to suggest that Nigeria has benefitted from that self-serving decision to hand over a whole national team to a single club. Did the players show any form of understanding or team cohesion in the two matches played so far? Obviously, personal gain was placed high above national interest.

Anyway, we can’t discuss the failure of the home-based Eagles without a mention of the coach appointed by the NFF to save the country’s 2026 World Cup ticket. Even before his poor performance in Zanzibar, Nigerians had shown some discomfort with the choice of Chelle. Those who were skeptical about his abilities will feel vindicated now that he is on a free fall with the CHAN Eagles.

Some of his fans may attempt to exonerate him with a thousand excuses, but as the saying goes, a coach is as good as his last match. So long as what we are looking at is the atrocious performance of the home-based Eagles, Chelle is guilty of technical and tactical ineptitude. He has not shown that he is tactically sound more than the indigenous coaches who were managing the team before he was brought in.

Soon after Sudan whitewashed Nigeria, Coach Kwesi Appiah said the Eagles were poor in football techniques and tactics. I can’t agree more because under the watchful eyes of Chelle, the “Remo Stars Eagles” played like sheep without a shepherd. In fact, some of us wished that the Abakaliki FC boys who took the 2025 Federation Cup by storm were taken to Zanzibar to represent Nigeria. Honestly, they would have performed better.

Still on the big gamble on Chelle, I make bold to say that unless something unexpected happens, this coach won’t qualify the Super Eagles for the 2026 World Cup. If he can’t deal with a small task, can he be trusted with a bigger and more sophisticated responsibility? I don’t want anyone to try to convince me that the players he took to CHAN were forced on him. What is evident is that he has shown a lack of capacity to select quality players. Secondly, the way he selected and used his players for the matches has left much to be desired.

In conclusion, it is right to blame Chelle and his employers for this latest embarrassment, but what has happened in Zanzibar is only a reminder of the poor standard of the domestic league. Some of us have never pretended that what we have as the NPFL is a professional league. It is only those who want to continue to deceive themselves that have held tight to their erroneous belief that the domestic league has evolved or is catching up with the developed leagues of the world.

Only recently, a former Super Eagles player and winner of the 2013 AFCON, Brown Ideye, shared the story of his ordeal in the hands of Enyimba FC, Nigeria’s most successful club. He narrated how the club is being operated without a proper structure and how things are done haphazardly, even with a Nigerian football icon, Kanu Nwankwo as the chairman of the club.

What Ideye said he suffered in Enyimba is not up to one quarter of what players in other NPFL clubs go through every season. Consequently, there is a constant exodus of the best legs in the NPFL who prefer to go for greener pastures in even obscure leagues where they are sure of regular payment of salaries and other entitlements.

This unfortunate situation means that those who are left in the NPFL are not the best players. In fact, any player who is above average in the Nigerian league is only waiting for an opportunity to japa.

Their physical bodies are here but their minds are playing for bigger clubs in Europe. So, as long as the domestic league refuses to embrace true professionalism, the CHAN trophy and the recently upgraded cash reward of over N4 billion will continue to elude Nigeria.