Nigeria’s dreams of returning to the FIFA World Cup ended yesterday in Rabat, Morocco, where the Super Eagles were outclassed and beaten by DR Congo in the African playoff final.

The Super Eagles were widely tipped to overcome the Congolese after their near-perfect display against Gabon, who they beat 4-1 in the semifinals.

But the East Africans, who defeated Cameroon in the semifinal, showed that football is won by determination and firm application and not pedigree, with the way they went about clipping the Eagles’ wings.

Yet, the story would have been different had the Nigerians made good use of the chances they had early in the game, which was decided after 120 minutes.

Frank Onyeka’s deflected shot after three minutes set the Super Eagles flying, giving Nigerians the impression that their team was on its way to a good evening in Rabat. The scores would have become 2-0 a few minutes later, but Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman contrived to block their paths when Samuel Chukwueze sent in a tantalising cross into the Congolese box.

Shortly after, the Congolese were on level terms when Meschack Elia capitalised on a miscued pass by Alex Iwobi to beat Stanley Nwabali for the equaliser.

Thereafter, the Red Devils took over proceedings, overwhelming the Super Eagles with their crisp passes and non-stop running in search of the winner.

Twice, they had the ball in Nigeria’s net, but those strikes were disallowed for infringements. The regular period petered out with no more goals, and the game had to enter into two added halves as the search for Africa’s representative in the inter-continental playoffs continued.

With no winner after 120 minutes, the tie went to penalties, where DR Congo proved the better marksmen. Nigeria missed its first penalty kick taken by Calvin Bassey, but goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali kept the Eagles’ hopes alive by saving the Red Devils opening kick.

But Moses Simon and Semi Ajayi missed their kicks, while DR Congo scored theirs to pick the ticket to the intercontinental playoffs billed to be held in Mexico in March.