Will heads roll after Super Eagles’ flop?

I would have said Nigerians are presently in tears following the failure of the Super Eagles to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, but I have remembered something – not all Nigerians are in mourning mood. Sometimes, I wish to have the kind of apathy that some people have towards football, particularly the Super Eagles. […]

I would have said Nigerians are presently in tears following the failure of the Super Eagles to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, but I have remembered something – not all Nigerians are in mourning mood. Sometimes, I wish to have the kind of apathy that some people have towards football, particularly the Super Eagles.

I remember how on the night that the Super Eagles crashed out of the 2026 World Cup Playoff, I was literally dying, but next to me was my colleague, Mr Itodo Daniel, who went about his duties as if nothing had happened. I wished I were like him because I knew he went home and slept peacefully like a baby.

My condition was different because right there in the office, I was completely upset. I lost the motivation and energy to work, not to talk of writing the news of the football disaster that had unfolded before my eyes. Meanwhile, as if to add salt into my injury, my editor, Isiaka Wakili, piled pressure on me to turn in what I wished I wasn’t “forced” to write. By the way, I have just discovered that apart from his proficiency in the use of the English language, Alhaji Wakili is also a lover of sports, especially football.

In the end, I managed to write how the more ambitious DR Congo had just ended Nigeria’s 2026 World Cup hopes. I wrote in tears and a heavy heart. It was hard to believe how the Super Eagles surrendered the Inter-continental Playoff ticket to the Leopards of Congo.

 Of course, the signs were evident, but I still hoped that a miracle would happen as usual. Unfortunately, the god of soccer, that many people think is Nigerian, turned his back on us. The Super Eagles were reduced to ordinary fowls used for dinner by DR Congo’s Leopards.

It was indeed a miracle how the Super Eagles dragged the Congolese players into extra time. Their opponents should have ended the contest in regulation time because they were in firm control of proceedings soon after Victor Osimhen was taken off.

Maybe the god of soccer wanted to bring the Super Eagles so close to the Promised Land even as they were not going to enter into it. So, they were within a touching distance of a FIFA Playoff ticket, but lack of nerves from the six-yard spot scuttled their ambition.

Funny enough, Eric Chelle caused an ugly scene when he transferred aggression on his opponents, accusing them of deploying “juju” (voodoo) during the penalty shootout. The coach was on the verge of punching someone before he was restrained by members of his technical crew.

Sadly, he didn’t remember the chances his profligate players had squandered in the course of the match. He didn’t think about his tactical blunders, especially when he left his captain William Troost-Ekong on the bench when the penalty shootout was imminent. Everyone knows that in the present squad, Ekong is one of the best penalty takers. His conversion rate is quite high.

 The Franco-Malian also forgot that he didn’t prepare his team for the final moments even as he was aware that the match might be decided on penalties. So, he made so many mistakes, but in the end, he tried to shift blame to someone else.

However, most people no longer listen to stories about the efficacy of voodoo in football. Even if it was potent in the past, science and technology in sports have demystified it. Yet, Chelle who still believes in the power of “juju” to win matches failed to arm his team with one.

Following the latest World Cup mishap, most Nigerians are already hammering on the need for a surgical operation to be carried out on the team and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). Football fans are not happy with the physical and mental torture they are exposed to by the present team and its managers. The fans say they now watch the team with their hearts in their mouths. In fact, those who have high blood pressure no longer watch the Super Eagles because they already know the consequences. Indeed, those calling for heads to roll have enough reason to do so. Things are simply getting from bad to worse, and the only way forward is corrective surgery.

Moreover, on the two previous occasions that the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the World Cup, most of the people responsible, especially the leadership, paid the price. When Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup and the then NFA president, Pa Ibrahim Galadima made that infamous comment that the World Cup wasn’t Nigeria’s birthright, he was forced to leave.

In 2022, Amaju Pinnick was almost succeeding with his unprecedented third term ambition until the Black Stars of Ghana threw the spanners into his works by snatching the World Cup ticket from the Super Eagles right here in Nigeria. That calamity effectively aborted Pinnick’s political ambition as he was forced to abandon his third term aspiration.

Therefore, the feeling among most Nigerians is that the present leadership of the NFF should face the same “punishment” for bringing Nigerian football into disrepute. However, Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau who is having his first term will surely like to go for a second term in office. Before Pinnick broke the jinx, no other president of the NFA or NFF had done more than a single term.

So, the least Gusau will be aiming for is a second term as NFF president. The Super Eagles may have attempted to rock his boat but with the present composition of the football federation and the method of leadership selection in place, it would be extremely difficult to push aside the Zamfara State born football administrator.

The system has been configured to make it impossible for an “outsider” to break into the circle. Football stakeholders like my friend Hon. Lumumba Dah Adeh and former Nigerian international, Chief Segun Odegbami can attest to this sad fact. In the past, these people with the prerequisite knowledge and experience in football administration were frustrated from coming in to make their contributions.

So, the need for heads to roll immediately is obvious. However, it is not going to be an easy task because those heads are secured with impregnable helmets. It will, therefore, require the federal government’s intervention, if we are ready to risk FIFA ban, to roll away the heads that have brought us so much misery.

I don’t wish misfortune to befall anyone because I have an idea of what it means to occupy or reach certain juicy positions in Nigerian football. However, if sacrificing some people who have failed to bring about positive changes would help Nigeria to reclaim her lost glory in football, no sacrifice should be considered too much.

Moreover, if heads are to roll, most of the Super Eagles who contributed immensely to our embarrassing failure must be included. Those who have consistently put self-interest above national pride should give way for others with the right mentality to come in. We have suffered enough humiliation in the hands of people who are quick to hold us to ransom.