Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the 2026 World Cup was a systemic collapse, with blame shared among a tactically deficient coaching crew, underperforming players, and a corrupt and dysfunctional football administration.
By Nij Martin
The image is a painful one for any Nigerian football fan: Chancel Mbemba wheeling away in celebration as his penalty hits the net, the DR Congo bench erupting, and the Super Eagles standing frozen, their dreams shattered in a cloud of Rabat sand. The 4-3 penalty shootout loss to DR Congo was the brutal, definitive end to Nigeria’s 2026 World Cup journey, but it was not the cause. The cause was a months-long, slow-burning fuse of institutional failure that finally detonated on that Moroccan pitch. The question echoing from the stands to the online forums is simple: who is to blame? The answer, however, is not simple at all. It is a complex and damning indictment of an entire football ecosystem.
The most immediate and visible culprit lies on the touchline: the coaching crew. Under the guidance of Eric Chelle, the Super Eagles displayed a shocking lack of tactical identity and in-game management. The decision-making before and during the fateful match was baffling. Starting Ademola Lookman and Samuel Chukwueze despite their poor form in the previous match backfired spectacularly, as “Lookman gave the ball away repeatedly, seemed unsure of his runs,” while “Chukwueze struggled even more, offering little thrust going forward and even less defensive support.” This starved the attack of creativity and left the defence exposed.
Furthermore, the team’s over-reliance on Victor Osimhen was exposed as a critical strategic flaw. The moment he was substituted at halftime with a suspected knock, the team’s structure disintegrated. As the analysis notes, “Once he came off… Nigeria instantly looked confused… There was no trigger for the press, no coordinated movement in attack, and no force threatening Congo’s backline.” A competent coaching setup would have a proven Plan B, but Chelle had none, a point hammered home by the observation that “the decision not to invite Paul Onuachu looms large. Nigeria needed a plan B. They had none.” The substitutions, particularly removing Alex Iwobi, further weakened the midfield, leading to a “second half [that] was defined by panic clearances, hurried defending and a complete inability to string passes together.” This was a team that was not just beaten, but tactically outmaneuvered and mentally broken by its own bench.
However, to place the blame solely on the coach is to ignore the players who failed to execute on the pitch. Beyond the heroic efforts of Victor Osimhen, the performance was littered with individual errors and a glaring lack of passion. Alex Iwobi’s costly turnover led directly to DR Congo’s equalizer, a moment of lost concentration at the highest level. Stanley Nwabali, despite his penalty heroics, was a liability in open play, making a “needless, dangerous error” that should have resulted in a goal. Most damningly, there was a visible absence of the fighting spirit expected from the Super Eagles. As one fan bluntly put it, “The entire team is to be blamed!… They’re not playing to defend the Badge, no Passion nothing. As if they were begged. The only exception is Osimhen!” When highly paid professionals are out-fought and out-thought by their opponents, they must accept a significant portion of the responsibility.
Yet, the roots of this failure run deeper than any single match or squad selection. They are entrenched in the chronic rot of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). The choices made at the administrative level set the stage for this disappointment. Fans rightly question the initial decision to appoint Finidi George over a candidate like Emmanuel Amunike, and his subsequent controversial start. As one commenter stated, “Finidi came in and said he don’t need Oshimen. Was using WC QUALIFIERS to scout players can u imagine.” This was followed by the hiring of a “4th division coach” in Eric Chelle, a move that signaled a staggering lack of ambition.
The NFF’s failures extend far beyond coaching appointments. The organization is widely accused of systemic corruption and a complete lack of long-term planning. As the blame list ranks it, the “NFF :- Embezzled funds and no proper structure for Nigerian football” is the primary issue. This trickles down to affect the team directly, from issues around unpaid bonuses and incentives to a domestic league that is poorly managed and cannot serve as a reliable talent pipeline. The entire structure is broken, and the national team’s performance is merely the most public symptom of the disease. The Federal Government and Sports Ministry are complicit through their inaction, “allowing NFF to destroy one thing that makes Nigerians happy.”
In the end, the search for a single scapegoat is futile. The loss to DR Congo was the culmination of a perfect storm of failure. It was the tactical rigidity of the coach, the individual errors and lack of hunger from the players, and the corrupt, shortsighted administration of the NFF. As one fan astutely summarized, it’s “The usual suspects: poor team management, lack of discipline, missed chances, and maybe too much faith in ‘giant of Africa’ hype without backing it up on the pitch. It’s a whole system failure, not just the players.”
The consequence is a devastating reality: Nigeria will have missed three consecutive World Cups, a 12-year absence from the global stage. A golden generation of talent, led by Victor Osimhen, may never showcase their abilities on the world’s biggest stage. The pain of the penalty shootout will fade, but the structural rot remains. Until there is a complete and sincere overhaul from the very top, the Super Eagles’ flights of fancy will continue to crash land long before they ever reach the World Cup.