President of the Super Eagles Supporters Club, Vincent Okumagba, has attributed Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup to poor handling of the team during the qualifying campaign, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Nigeria is not among the 48 nations competing at the World Cup, extending the Super Eagles’ absence from football’s biggest stage after also missing out on the 2022 edition in Qatar.
Reflecting on the disappointment, Okumagba said the tournament’s commencement without the Super Eagles has been painful for Nigerian supporters, especially given the historic nature of the competition being jointly hosted by three countries.
“The World Cup has started without our darling team, the Super Eagles. It hurts so badly because this is a time supporters look forward to. It is even more painful because this is the first time three countries will be hosting,” Okumagba said.
While acknowledging the team’s shortcomings during the qualification campaign, the supporters’ club president absolved the players of most of the blame, pointing instead to decisions that affected the team’s chances.
“However, we cannot put all the blame on the players because we have seen what they can do under the new coach. I think we lost it with the management of the team from the beginning. If we had this quality of coaching crew, we could have qualified even with some games to spare.”
Nigeria’s qualification hopes suffered a series of setbacks, with the team failing to win any of their first four matches in the 10-game qualifying campaign.
After a dramatic twist of fate that saw teams across all groups lose valuable points following the withdrawal of Eritrea, the Super Eagles edged into a playoff spot but lost 4-3 on penalties to DR Congo in the final.
Despite the disappointment, Okumagba urged the Super Eagles to learn from the experience and approach future qualification campaigns with greater urgency.
“We are not there yet, but I think valuable lessons have been learnt and I will urge the team to amass points as early as possible in the next qualifying series.”
The absence of the three-time African champions has also been felt among supporters, whose colourful presence and energetic backing have become a familiar feature at major international tournaments.
“Now, some of us are just there supporting any team from Africa that we feel we love. The world will miss us, the world will miss our songs,” he added.
Following their outings in recent friendly matches, the team is currently ranked third in Africa and 26th in the world.
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