Former Super Eagles and Stoke City forward Osaze Odemwingie has called out the Nigerian Football Federation for blaming individual players for the team’s faults in their World Cup qualifying journey, Soccernet.ng reports.
The three-time AFCON Champions have had an unconvincing World Cup qualifying campaign as they were without a win in their first four games, under the tutelage of Jose Peseiro and Finidi George.
Under Eric Chelle, the Super Eagles are yet to lose, winning two games and drawing two, but that hasn’t helped in their qualifying campaign.
Nigeria needed two wins from two during the September International break, and despite their 1-0 win against Rwanda, dropped points against South Africa.
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In the post-match report of the game from the official NFF website, William Troost-Ekong and Cyriel Dessers took the majority of the blame, and this angered several fans and Super Falcons stars alike.
Reacting to the situation with the NFF, Odemwingie described the statement as unprofessional, revealing that such decisions show a high level of incompetence amongst the administrators.
“It is a sign that wrong people are working in our federation, it’s very unprofessional,” the former LOSC Lille man said in quotes revealed by Brila.
“These are people who work in certain positions without the required qualifications. They are just like fans — you can give that job to ordinary fans, and he will probably do a job as good as that person has done.”
“It’s very unprofessional and wrong. This is a problem when things get serious and get to an international level; you can’t act like a bushman.
“These people just acted like people from the tree, not really as an organisation that has aspirations to take Nigerian football to the next level.”
“You know, Nigerians, we have what it takes to get to the World Cup final, not the AFCON only.
“If we are to step up higher, everything must be ready for that step forward — but we are still talking about things like this.
“It’s a shame because we look childish, and this isn’t the time to pick on any player. You know the players have a legacy; it’s not the time to start looking for a scapegoat.
“The reason why we are like this is way bigger than the performance of one or two players,” the 44-year-old concluded.
In the meantime, the Super Eagles can tailor their focus to the upcoming AFCON 2025 competition, as a dream for the 2026 FIFA World Cup is out the window.