Former Green Eagles winger, Adegoke Adelabu, has advised Nigerians not to put their hope on Super Eagles’ success in next month’s Africa playoff for the 2026 World Cup saying that the team is technically unpredictable.
“How did we get to this stage in our football career as a nation?” Adelabu, now a sports scientist, queried.
“The most frustrating aspect of the whole ridiculous situation is that the government is not perturbed by the issue. We only use our success in sports for political propaganda and wasting of our resources by giving out money indiscriminately,” he said.
Nigeria’s hope of qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup received what some experts described as ‘massive boost’ on Thursday, after the Super Eagles officially emerged as the highest-ranked team on the FIFA table among all nations heading into the CAF and intercontinental playoffs.
It means that, if Nigeria wins the Africa playoff in Morocco this November, the Super Eagles will only need to win one match in the intercontinental playoffs to book their ticket to the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Before that, the team must first come out on top in a mini-tournament taking place in Morocco between November 13 and 16, where Nigeria will face Gabon in the semifinal and confront the winner between Cameroon and DR Congo in the final.
If the Super Eagles win in Morocco, they will automatically be seeded directly into the final round of the intercontinental playoffs thanks to their strong FIFA ranking. In that stage, Nigeria will face one of the semi-final winners, specifically the lowest-ranked among them, giving the Super Eagles a real edge.
While Nigeria is ranked 45th in the latest FIFA ranking, other counties in both Africa and intercontinental playoff are ranked lower. Costa Rica 47th, Cameroon 52nd, Iraq, 58th, DR Congo 60th, UAE 67th, Jamaica 69th, Bolivia 77th, Gabon 79th, Curaçao 86th and New Caledonia 150th. However, despite the strong ranking of the Super Eagles in the FIFA’s Ranking, Adelabu says it is not enough to raise the hope of Nigerians.
“The issue is, our players are technically unpredictable, but the god of soccer could be merciful on us again just to qualify and still come back with nothing.
“How long are we going to stay at this level of mediocrity is the question? What is happening to our league matches? What kind of players are we choosing to represent us? Are they the right kind of players or the players that the football agents want to market?”
According to Adelabu, a former player of IICC Shooting Stars of Ibadan and ex-manager of EKO United FC, there is no accountability in our sport administration.
“People just do what they like, but we know that one day, the right government will do the right thing about our sports.” It will be recalled that apart from last Tuesday’s match against Benin, which the Super Eagles won 4-0, the team struggled in all other nine matches to finish second in Group C with 17 points behind South Africa (18 points).
