Despite the increase in spots, Nigeria could miss out on World Cup 2026

They are saying madness is doing the fallacious factor repeatedly however anticipating a distinct consequence. Nigeria may very well be at risk of lacking one other World Cup in 2026 if we don’t put issues so as in good time to attain that set objective.

The unpardonable act of lacking the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 ought to have opened our eyes. But we appear to want to grasp that the identical issues that led to our lacking the Mundial are lurking round.

One of many major causes we missed out on the World Cup this 12 months was the egocentric and short-sighted determination to sack Gernot Rohr in November 2021. The person had fulfilled his a part of the contract by qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations and reaching the ultimate spherical of the World Cup qualifiers.

However Amaju Pinnick and his board mentioned they listened to the clamour of the individuals and the so-called soccer intelligentsia who referred to as for the sack of the German. This ill-thought determination continues to be being felt as we stumbled by the Afcon and didn’t beat Ghana over two legs beneath the interim supervisor Austin Eguavoen.

Nigerian worldwide soccer hit its ebb this 12 months as all of us watched one of the best 32 nations strut their stuff in Qatar. We should keep away from making one other mistake with about three and a half years to the following World Cup in the US, Canada, and Mexico.

Nigeria employed Portuguese coach Jose Peseiro in Could on a one-year contract. His contract was alleged to see him qualify for and play on the 2023 Afcon in Cote d’Ivoire. Nonetheless, the event’s postponement to January 2024 means Peseiro will not be on the helm after mid-2023.

Peseiro has three extra video games in control of the Tremendous Eagles in his present contract. Two video games towards Guinea Bissau in March and an away recreation towards Sierra Leone in June earlier than his contract runs out.

Once I met Peseiro in Doha through the World Cup, he had but to fulfill with new NFF president Ibrahim Musa Gusau to debate plans – his future on the job and that of the Tremendous Eagles. Mr. Gusau was busy through the World Cup and will probably be busy through the subsequent African Nations Championship in January, one other event we didn’t qualify for.

“My plan is to win the Afcon with Nigeria,” Peseiro mentioned. He sees the nation’s array of skills as able to dominating the continent after which happening to be top-of-the-line groups on this planet.

Nigerian soccer is at a crossroads. There is no such thing as a time to lose. What can we wish to do with Peseiro? Are we going handy him a brand new contract so he can cool down on the job and plan for the way forward for the Tremendous Eagles? How will we pay his salaries owed for nearly seven months?

Moreover, the home league has but to set a begin date. Will we proceed to break down the house scene whereas relying on non-public academies to ship younger Nigerians overseas? Or will we proceed to rely on a core of diaspora-born gamers to fill the Tremendous Eagles?

2023 is the 12 months of the FIFA Girls’s World Cup, which we managed to qualify for after ending fourth on the African Girls’s Nations Cup, following a few years of dominance.

There are loads of actions, however there’s little time. If we fail to plan, we could be right here in 2026 trying on the 9 or 10 African nations taking part in within the US, Canada, and Mexico from our TV screens.