Nigeria may have qualified for the 2025 AFCON in Morocco, but there are calls for major team changes in time for 2026 World Cup qualifying tournament, which resumes in March.
The position of head coach is still vacant after Augustine Eguavoen took temporary charge of the team for the Africa Cup qualifiers, while selection and quality of the squad have been widely questioned.
On Tuesday, the ‘Super Eagles’, as the country’s team are fondly called, suffered a shock 2-1 home loss to Rwanda in a final Africa Cup qualifier.
The loss has prompted calls for Eguavoen to be replaced by a new foreign coach that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) promised since June.
“I am really not surprised we lost, I never expected anything spectacular,” said a furious fan, Isaac Friday.
“I have said it countless times, what we need now is a very sound coach that will put the players in their place and reduce their over-bloated ego.”
“The NFF should take the right decision about a permanent high-grade head coach,” added another fan, ‘Jay Jay’ Oyekale.
“We must now begin to look beyond this qualifier and take a deep look if this present team can win a tournament.”
The country’s qualification campaign for the 2026 World Cup is in shambles as they now languish second from bottom in a group that has Rwanda, South Africa and Benin the front runners on seven points apiece after four rounds of matches.
The World Cup qualifying series will resume in March 2025 with Nigeria away to Rwanda in Kigali.
“This loss won’t affect (Nigeria for the World Cup qualifiers),” Eguavoen maintained.
“We have learnt a hard lesson, we will evaluate and have the strategies to face them again.”
However, former international Victor Ikpeba said there is a need to bring in new players to create more competition.
An experimental team started against Rwanda with as many as seven changes from the last game against Benin after top stars like Victor Osimhen, Wilfred Ndidi and Alex Iwobi were dropped to the bench and Ademola Lookman, Ola Aina and Stanley Nwabali pulled out of the game.
“I am disappointed with the result and the performance of the team,” said Ikpeba, who is a member of the NFF technical committee.
“This was a chance for the other players in the squad to show whether they are good enough to be part of the national team.
“Unfortunately, they failed to turn up, they didn’t do well for themselves and the fans.
“There is therefore a need for new players to be called up so as to create more competition in the team.”
