It is back to the biblical times when David slayed Goliath.
Guinea Bissau, the team ranked 132nd in the world, took down Nigeria, rated as the 26th best team in the world.
It was not just the heavy 3-0 loss suffered by the Super Eagles in Bissau, but also the manner they fell without much of a fight.
Super Eagles coach Eric Chelle admitted after this disgrace that “the situation is not very, very good”.
It is now back to permutations again, just as it was for the ill-fated qualifying campaign to the 2026 World Cup.
With four rounds of matches to be played, the Super Eagles again find themselves in another precarious position, just as it was for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
They now have to win these games and hope leaders Guinea Bissau also drop points along the way as only one team will advance to the tournament proper on account of the fact that AFCON co-hosts Tanzania are also in this group.
In November, the Super Eagles will play home and away to Tanzania, and coach Eric Chelle has declared they have to win both games to get their qualifying campaign back on track.
On Tuesday evening inside the packed 24 September Stadium in Bissau, only the Wild Dogs of Guinea Bissau wanted to win this match and they went on to do just that.
The Super Eagles defense gifted the home team all three goals and the attack hardly troubled the Guinea Bissau goal to again reignite the debate that without Victor Osimhen, the Eagles do not have any bite upfront.
Ademola Lookman has struggled for form both for club and country in recent times, Jerome Akor has appeared lost when not playing alongside Osimhen and the relegation struggles of his new Italian club Venezia have certainly not helped his confidence, while others like Tolu Arokodare, Samuel Chukwueze and Moses Simon have not enjoyed as much confidence and game time from the Super Eagles coach.
The question again is – Are these top stars really prepared to give everything for the country even under the most horrible conditions?
Eric Chelle himself must take full responsibility for the capitulation in Guinea Bissau.
He has got the full backing of the NFF-NSC, but on this day he could not lift his team above the mediocre level they have sunk into so much so that one could say they were only lucky to have staged a Great Escape in the home game against Madagascar.
He is known to take risks and must now do so by freshening his first team as they face yet another round of permutations.
Like he himself has said, four qualifying games are a lot and anything could still happen in these games.
He and his team now know the hard way that there is no margin for error going forward.
It is not the end.
